The short answer is that you should expect to spend a minimum of $800 for a quality suit and a maximum of $3000 unless you’re a true suit connoisseur who wants something bespoke and made from the finest materials in the world.
The long answer is a bit more complex because the real figure you should be considering is the cost per wear of a suit. The first question you should ask yourself when buying a suit is how many wears you will get out of it. Divide the total price of the suit by that number of wears to arrive at a price. I usually shoot for a cost per wear of, at most, $5.
If you’re shopping for a tuxedo or something highly formal that you only anticipate wearing, say, 40 times over its lifespan, I wouldn’t recommend spending more than $200. That’s because $200/40=$5, which is my own personal “magic number” for maximum cost per wear. Of course, that number might change for you based on factors like how important the occasions at which you’re wearing the suit will be. That being said, good luck finding a decent-looking tuxedo, even one bought off the rack, for $200./
If you’re looking for a suit you plan to wear semi-regularly for years to come, I encourage you to spend a bit more. For instance, let’s say you buy a made-to-measure business casual suit for work and you anticipate wearing it 200-300 times over the next five years. You spend $900 on the suit, meaning the cost per wear is $900/250, or $3.60. The upfront cost of the suit is more than double that of the tuxedo, but the cost per wear is nearly three times lower.
In other words, you should spend more on suits when you’re going to wear them more. And the question to ask isn’t how much you should spend upfront, but how much you should spend PER WEAR.
It was a conversation on a topic similar to this post that inspired the $899 suit at ATL Tailor. The upfront price point is just high enough to justify use of premium-grade materials that will make the suit last for years and years. Because it will last so long, you’ll get at least a few hundred uses out of it. The result will be a cost per wear that is well below the $5 “magic number.”