Asia is renowned for inexpensive tailors who can quickly sew up fantastic custom-made suits. But I've tried it twice and didn't like the results. How can I tell a good tailor from a bad one?

A: The custom-made ill-fitting suit should be a crime. Tips from friends can be helpful, but no tailor should pass muster without a careful inspection of his work. Manu Melwani at Sam's Tailor in Hong Kong (Bill Clinton and Tony Blair are former clients) says one way to tell if you're going to end up with a cheap suit is to look at examples of the tailor's work, often hanging in the store.


Construction. Feel the jacket between your fingers and you should feel a middle layer: This means there's a separate fabric that will hold the shape of your jacket—this is the mark of a quality jacket.

Lining. "If the lining is poor, you know everything else is bad," says Mr. Manu. "Bad lining can shrink or rip and ruin the whole jacket." A good lining should be made of a mix of silk and rayon.

Functional buttonholes. Badly tailored suits, like many off-the-peg numbers, will have closed buttons at the wrist. Mr. Manu says a good jacket should have functional buttons at the wrist that are cleanly hand-sewn and sturdy.

Quality fabric. Take the sleeve, scrunch it up, and let it go. The sleeve should return to its natural position in an unwrinkled state. No amount of good sewing will make up for low-quality fabric.

Adjustable pants: The odds are high you'll gain weight, sometimes lose it, but likely gain it again. Pants should be adjustable with extra fabric so they can be expanded with your waistline.

Service. "A good tailor will spend time to know your body," says Mr. Manu, who boasts that he takes 32 different measurements from each customer. "Make sure he spends time to know your body, and you have to spend time too. It's like a medical checkup." Minus the blood tests, of course.