School Ensembles - How to Measure for a Tuxedo

 

When measuring your students for concert attire please use this guide to help ensure that you receive the correct sizes based on the measurements you provide.

For your convenience we have provided these measuring guidelines with instructions and pictures.

We recommend that measurements are taken by one or two designated people rather than having each individual family measure their student. This ensures measurements are consistent across the group. If there are questions about measurements for a student we would hopefully be able to speak directly with the person who took the measurements.

  • All measurements should be taken in inches.
  • Make sure to hold the tape measure straight. 

How we determine your Jacket Size & Length:

Chest Size:
Place measuring tape under arms and measure around the broadest part of the chest just under the underarm with no more than two fingers between the tape measure and the body.
Arms should be relaxed at the side. 

Chest Measurement

Overarm:

With arms down to the side, place measuring tape around the broadest part of the chest and shoulders, again with no more than a finger or two between the tape measure and the body. *This especially necessary to determine jacket size for someone who is particularly broad shouldered.*

Overarm Measurement

Jacket Length

Jacket lengths range from Short, Regular, Long, and Extra Long. 
The following list shows height ranges that generally coincide with the appropriate length jacket. Keep in mind some people have longer waists, and others have longer legs. We also will reference the sleeve length to determine jacket length. 

Short 5'0 - 5'7
Regular 5'8 - 6'0
Long 6'1 - 6'4
Extra Long 6'4 +

 

Neck Size

Measure around the neck where a shirt's collar would be buttoned.
Measure with two fingers between the tape measure and the neck to determine the neck size for the tuxedo shirt or you can measure as we have without any fingers in between the neck and tape measure and add 1" to the measured size. The Shirt size for the example shown would be 16 1/2"

 Neck Size Measurement


Small fits a 14" - 14 1/2" Neck Size
Medium fits 15" - 15 1/2" Neck Size
Large fits    16" - 16 1/2" Neck Size
X-Large fits 17" - 17 1/2" Neck Size
2XL fits      18" - 18 1/2" Neck Size

 
Sleeve Length

Place the tape measure at the base of the neck centered on the spine.

Sleeve Measurement Top

Tape measure must go from the center back over the top of the shoulder, down to the point of the elbow and then down the arm to an inch and a half past the wrist bone. It is best to measure a little longer than shorter if you are between sizes. 

Sleeve Length Side 

Sleeve Lengths come in sizes 30/31, 32/33, 34/35, 36/37 and 38/39.
The taller the person the longer the sleeve will likely be.

Determining your Waist Size

Wrap a tape measure over a shirt around your waist at the height you usually wear dress slacks. Do not measure over the pair of pants that you are wearing. Tuxedo pants are made to be worn at the natural waist (your navel). Keep one finger between tape and body. You do not want these pants to be baggy in the waist or length.

The Tuxedo Pants included with our School Tuxedo Special are an elastic comfort waist which means they expand between two sizes. They do not adjust smaller. They come in even sizes 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, etc. 
Please write your exact measurement and we will select the appropriate size based on all of the measurements for that students.
For example a 31 1/2 waist measurement, in most cases receive a 32 waist pant. 

 Waist Measurement

 Pant Length

The Tuxedo Pants included in this package are New and will come to you unhemmed. They will need to be hemmed before the student wears them for a concert.
However, it may be helpful to measure their Outseam and take note while you are taking all of the other measurements.

Simply measure from the top of the waist band on a pair of dress slacks or pants that fit you well to the floor. 

Pant Length Outseam Measurement
You will be looking for the length that allows for a slight break on the top of the shoe and for the pants to stop just above the heel in the back.  As you can see the measurement here is 42 inches. 

Outseam Pant Break

When in doubt please do not hesitate to contact us for assistance.  Emails are usually answered within 24 hours.
Urgent questions can be answered by phone at 919-644-8243 Monday - Friday 10am to 5pm Eastern Time.