Jacket programmes are usually specified from a size chart and judged six months later on a shop floor. These four checks close the gap.

Size from the shoulder

It is the only measurement a tailor cannot correct. Sleeves, waist, length and buttons are routine alterations; the shoulder seam sets the armhole, the sleeve head and the hang of the front.

Two people with a 40-inch chest can need different jackets, and often do. Ask for fit samples in the shoulder blocks rather than sending a list of chest sizes.

Ask which construction you are buying

Fused, half canvas or full canvas. A supplier who has specified their own garment will tell you in one word.

Fused is glued. Heat and moisture break the bond over time and the cloth lifts away in ripples that cannot be repaired. That is fine for a short run and a poor idea for a programme on a weekly cleaning cycle.

Specify side vents for anybody who moves

A single centre vent pulls open the moment somebody sits or reaches, and drags the back of the jacket out of line.

Side vents cost almost nothing and are the difference between a jacket that still looks right at the end of a shift and one that does not.

Make sure somebody is holding the records

“40R” is a label, not a standard, and two makers’ versions of it are visibly different garments.

Ask whether the pattern block, the maker, the cloth reference and the individual measurements are held against your account, and whether a reorder is quoted against that record or re-briefed from scratch. It is free, and it is the whole reason a team still matches in year three.

Draft the women’s jackets on their own block

Shoulder slope, armhole position and waist placement are all different. A scaled-down men’s block is wrong in several places at once and the wearer gets blamed for it.

It costs nothing extra on a programme of any size, and fit sample sets should include both blocks.