8 Under-the-Radar Suit Brands That Every Man Should Know

Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. We may earn a commission from these links. Here’s how we test products and why you should trust us.P. Johnson, Saman Amel, J.Mueser, Setchu, Husbands7 min readIt’s easier than ever to buy a suit. Mall mainstays like J. Crew make very good ones in a range of fits, with a seasonally rotating selection of new and interesting cloths. Affordable specialists like Suitsupply and Spier & Mackay offer impressive quality while pricing everything from two-button jackets to full-fledged tuxedos for far less than it seems they should be able to. And there’s no shortage of direct-to-consumer brands (Proper Cloth is a favorite of ours) with such an array of sizes that you can tune in your fit to near perfection—though you should still visit an alterationist to ensure that your suit is nipped and tucked for your unique body shape.Options abound. And even if the suit is less of a fixture in most men’s wardrobes than it was even a couple decades ago, the accessibility and variety of choices are positive things in our book. But that sort of ubiquity cuts both ways. Now that every guy can get his hands on a great-looking suit that he’s wearing not because he has to but because he wants to, how is the devoted fan of tailoring supposed to stand apart from the pack? Get suited up by a brand that the pack hasn’t heard about, of course.To help you in that endeavor, we’ve pulled together this list of tailored-clothing brands that have yet to pop up on the radar of your average suit-buying bro. If you’re a style hound, you may have heard of a couple of them—but we’re betting you can still learn a thing or two from this list.NatalinoNatalinoLondon-based Natalino is the brainchild of former investment banker Nathan Lee, who developed a fascination with classic menswear while working at Merrill Lynch. He decided to go for it with his own brand in 2018, focusing on Neapolitan styling and—knowing that he and his friends loved bespoke but didn’t want to spend quite so much for everyday clothes—accessible pricing. If the focus on cost makes you think of fast-fashion-y flourishes and trend-driven fits, worry not. Natalino’s style is nothing if not classic, with high-rise trousers and jackets with fuller chests and lower buttoning points. Flannels and worsted wools represent the core of the suiting program’s fabric offerings, and navy and gray figure heavily into the color palette, though you’ll also find olive, brown, and tan, especially in the warmer months. Natalino isn’t flashy, but extremely wearable and well-suited (sorry) to mixing and matching with the rest of your nice, normal wardrobe.SHOP NATALINO​Anglo-ItalianAnglo-ItalianLet’s stick around London for just a little bit longer—hey, it is the home of Savile Row—and take a look at Anglo-Italian. The brand was founded in 2017 by Jake Grantham, who logged time at venerable retailer The Armoury before hanging his own shingle in Marylebone. The aesthetic is a mix of Italian and English. The Italian side shows up more in the cut and construction, and the English sensibility presents itself in the fabrics, colors, and patterns. It’s a potent combo, made even stronger by Anglo-Italian’s focus on the sort of high-end tailoring that makes a jacket or suit a true investment piece. A full, floating canvas means that jackets have depth and dimension that you simply can’t achieve in fully fused or half-canvassed garments. Hand-work throughout, especially on the arm holes and collar, translates to something hugs your body in all the right places but doesn’t feel restrictive. If you like an English vibe but don’t want to feel like you’re wearing a suit of armor—and you’ve some savings in your bank account—you should pay close attention to this brand.SHOP ANGLO-ITALIAN​Nina Penlington BespokePeter ZottoloIf you’re in the mood for something a little different, Nina Penlington is a very good name to know. She trained on Savile Row as a cutter, working at spots any tailoring fan worth his salt will know—Dege & Skinner, Gieves & Hawkes, Edward Sexton—before decamping to Devon and starting her own operation. What makes Penlington so interesting isn’t just her training, which is of course hugely valuable when it comes to getting a suit that fits impeccably, but also her rebellious edge. Instead of focusing solely on the sorts of classic styles that draw so many men to English tailoring in the first place, she has developed a sort of speciality in suits inspired by Westernwear. You can get something with those famous “smile” pockets, a curved yoke, and an attitude that sits somewhere between country and rock ‘n’ roll. Is that the best thing for your first and only suit? Probably not. But if you love tailoring and also like to have some fun, Nina has absolutely got you covered.LEARN MORE ABOUT NINA PENGLINGTON​Saman AmelSaman AmelStockholm is unlikely to rank high on most folks’ lists of suit-making strongholds. But for just over a decade, the city has been home to one of the coolest tailoring brands out there. Saman Amel was founded in 2015 by a pair of childhood friends named Dag Granath and (you guessed it!) Saman Amel. The flagship atelier is in the Östermalm neighborhood, with a second in London, along with trunk shows held in Zurich and New York. Clients come to one of those locations to be fitted and work with the team to choose fabrics and details, but the made-to-measure clothes themselves are crafted in Italy. The house style, then, is informed by Italian tailoring tradition—think softer shoulders and lighter construction—but tempered by a signature sense of Scandinavian subtlety. It’s not self-serious. Just cool, calm, and collected. Though the lion’s share of the clothing is available only if you’re willing to make the trek and buy in person, a selection of ready-to-wear pieces is available exclusively at Mr Porter.SHOP SAMAN AMEL​J.MueserJ.MueserIf you were to round up a dozen of New York’s most podcast-friendly, deeply online menswear heads and ask them for their essential shopping locations, we’d be willing to stake a pretty large wager that each and every list would include J. Mueser. The tailoring house was established in 2008 and quickly became a go-to for in-the-know dudes who like to blend N.Y.C. attitude with Neapolitan sartorial sensibilities. And, indeed, most of the clothes you can buy from J. Mueser are made in Naples, though select garments are done in New York or other workshops. The vibe is rarely loud, though you should look out for some funky shirts (a yellow western snap-front with sawtooth pockets, perhaps) and some powerful pinstripes or nubby tweeds to complement the classic worsted wools. You can go fully bespoke—that is, get a pattern made just for you—or opt for made-to-measure or even a wide array of ready-to-wear garments.SHOP J.MUESER​HusbandsHusbandsThere’s a difference between a suit that can be sexy and a sexy suit—and any creation from Parisian brand Husbands certainly falls in the latter camp. The brand, named for the 1970 Cassavetes film of the same name, was founded in 2012 by lawyer-turned-designer Nicolas Gabard. Clothes are available off the rack or made to measure, but the look remains the same: long, lean, and a little bit louche. Lapels are fat. Shoulders strong and defined. Jackets stretch past your rear end while trousers sit high on the waist and end with a wide, flared hem. It’s all very ’70s, yes, but also very 2020s. It’s probably the most difficult brand on this list for the average joe to wear. But if you’re the right kind of guy—self-assured in your style, a bit rakish, and slim—Husbands might be just the thing you need in order to transform into a slinkier, sexier version of yourself.SHOP HUSBANDS​P. Johnson P. JohnsonPatrick Johnson, the founder and designer of the semi-eponymous tailoring label P. Johnson, didn’t start out making clothes. His first stint, albeit brief, was in winemaking. He left that behind to establish his brand in Sydney in 2009. “There is a tension between art and science in winemaking and in clothing,” he told Esquire in 2022. “It’s a good thing.” As with good wine, the tension in the creation doesn’t necessarily reveal itself in the final product. The P. Johnson look is balanced—even serene. Jackets, befitting their Italian construction, are soft and wear more like a cardigan than the “suit of armor” feel you’d get from a shop on Savile Row. The color palette tends toward earthy neutrals alongside classic gray and navy; the texture is subtle. These are clothes that invite a closer look instead of screaming for attention. And while most of the offering is made to measure and available only after an in-person consultation—there are showrooms all around the world—the ready-to-wear offering online is a very good window into Johnson’s world.SHOP P. JOHNSON​SetchuSETCHUThe most fashion-forward label on this list is also the youngest. Setchu was founded in 2020 by Satoshi Kuwata, the Japan-born, Milan-based designer who cut his teeth on Savile Row and at Givenchy before striking out on his own. By 2023, the brand had won the coveted LVMH Prize and earned the praise of industry vets like Marc Jacobs. Though Setchu produces a wide range of styles, the “origami jacket” is both a signature piece and one of our favorites. Inspired by the creases of the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, the genderless jacket has a whiff of the avant-garde while remaining wearable in real life. It’s also got two different styling options: You can simply button it up like a classic double-breasted or belt it to define the waist. Is it something your grandfather would have worn? Probably not. But it’s a look at what tailoring can become when viewed from a different perspective. Plus, thanks to those creases, it folds up nicely for travel.SHOP SETCHU