The London Lounge

What is it and why is it important to a proper fitting coat?

I asked a tailor to be careful that the coat he was making for me grip my neck snugly.

He answered, not to worry, we use a 3 inch back neck.....

Not sure what he meant.

uppercase

= distance between the two points where each shoulder seam intersects the collar. If it is too wide, the collar will gap. 3 inch sounds a little tight, though (or I might be used to different measurements - my coats usually have a 4 inch backneck).
Apropos tie knots (earlier topic) - I looked up the NIcky knot and realized that, since I first learned how to tie the Pratt knot, my routine somehow changed and I ended up actually following the Nicky steps, without realizing something was different. Therefore, what I was recommending to you a few days ago was actually the NICKY knot.
C

Anonymous wrote:= distance between the two points where each shoulder seam intersects the collar.

I understood it was the distance between where the shoulder seam meets the collar and where the center backseam meets the collar -- i.e., 1/2 of the measurement described above. If so, 3" is a good backneck on an average sized guy. 4" sounds impossibly small for a shoulder seam to shoulder seam measurement.

You measure the back nect from the center back seam, at and along the collar line, to where the collar meets the shoulder seam.

The size of the back neck is important to the fit of the coat but, as discussed inanother thread regarding balance, this is even more important to the way your collar will hug your neck. Most coats off the rack a,d csome MTM are too short in the back and, no matter how small you make the back neck width, they will never stay in place and hug the neck properly.

Also, in bespoke, the shoulder seam lays wherever the cutter decides it should lay. Some move the shoulder to the front making the back neck wider, whereas others keep it to the make making it smaller. Both coats will fit and hug the neck if the balance is correct.

Occasionally I have a new client who will specify for his trousers how far from the crotch seam his back waist band should be in order for his trousers to fit comfortably and look good. It's a bit like saying how long is a piece of string. Take the overall measurement from the back to the front waistband along the seat seam and pick a point where the inside leg seam should be. It makes no difference to the fit at all.

Leonard

Anonymous wrote:
= distance between the two points where each shoulder seam intersects the collar.

I understood it was the distance between where the shoulder seam meets the collar and where the center backseam meets the collar -- i.e., 1/2 of the measurement described above. If so, 3" is a good backneck on an average sized guy. 4" sounds impossibly small for a shoulder seam to shoulder seam measurement.

I think that conceptually the backneck is defined as the distance between the points where the shoulder seams meet the collar. However, in tailoring terms it is expressed as half that distance (like many other measures that refer to a line of symetry).
Most of my coats measure 4" (10 cm) from the back center seam to the shoulder seam / collar intersection (20 cm - or 8" - from shoulder seam to shoulder seam). I thought 3" sounded too little, but now that I think of it Mr. Logsdail is obviously right that it all depends on the cut of the front and back pannels and how far behind the shoulder line is designed to go. I checked again the backneck of several of my coats yesterday and even found one with an 11 cm backneck (4.33") and it still hugs the neck properly, but the shoulder line is noticeably different from the other coats'.

Excellent discussion of back / neck measurements here
http://thelondonlounge.net/gl/forum/vie ... ht=pupilla

-Oscarsfan