Why Suits Don't Fit Athletic Builds | Sydney Tailoring
2 Feb 2026
Why Your Suits Never Fit: The Athletic Build Problem
Women with athletic builds face an impossible choice every time they shop for suits: buy one that fits your shoulders and watch it hang shapelessly everywhere else, or choose one that fits your waist and feel it strain across your back every time you reach forward. This isn't about finding the right brand or trying more stores. Standard women's suiting was never designed for bodies with broad shoulders, defined arms, and minimal curves - it was designed for an imaginary average that doesn't account for the strength and diversity of women's bodies.
At Isadora Nim, we understand this frustration because we hear it from women regularly. The fashion industry has spent decades adapting men's patterns for women's suits, or designing for bodies that simply don't reflect how many women are actually built. Made to measure reverses this approach entirely - designing suits specifically for your proportions, not forcing your body into predetermined patterns.
What Is an Athletic Build? (And Why Does Standard Sizing Fail It)
An athletic build typically means broad shoulders, defined arms, developed back muscles, and minimal difference between waist and hip measurements. Your shoulders might be the same width as your hips, or even broader. Your waist-to-hip curve might be subtle - perhaps 2-4 inches instead of the 8-10 inches standard patterns assume exist on all women's bodies.
These proportions develop in many ways. Professional athletes build them through years of training. Women who strength train, swim competitively, practice dance, or participate in sports like football, rowing, or CrossFit develop broad shoulders and strong backs. Some women are naturally built this way without any athletic training at all - broad shoulders and straight torsos are simply natural variations in how women's bodies exist.
The common thread: standard women's suit patterns weren't designed with any of these bodies in mind. They were designed for an assumed feminine silhouette that simply doesn't account for the reality and diversity of women's physiques.
We've been working with Jesse Wardlaw, an AFLW player with St. Kilda Football Club, on a custom suit for an awards night. After 8 seasons of professional football, her athletic physique embodies everything that makes standard sizing impossible: broad shoulders from years of strength training, defined arms, strong back, minimal waist-hip difference. Her experience represents what countless women with athletic builds encounter when trying to find suits that actually fit.
Why Do Shoulders Never Fit Properly on Athletic Builds?
Shoulders fail to fit because standard women's suit patterns calculate shoulder width, armhole size, and back width based on bust measurements and assumed body proportions. These assumptions link measurements together in ways that don't reflect how athletic bodies are actually shaped.
A Size 12 jacket assumes you have Size 12 shoulders, Size 12 bust, Size 12 waist, and Size 12 hips - all in proportions the industry has decided are "standard" for that size. If you have Size 12 shoulders but a Size 8 bust, or Size 12 shoulders but minimal waist-hip difference, the entire pattern fails.
This isn't about your body being "wrong." It's about an industry that designs for imaginary averages instead of real women.
The Sizing Up Trap
When a Size 10 doesn't fit your shoulders, the obvious solution seems to be sizing up to a 12. The shoulders might fit, but now you're wearing a Size 12 waist, Size 12 hips, and Size 12 sleeve length designed for a completely different body. The jacket hangs straight from your shoulders with no shape, drowning your frame in excess fabric.
Jesse described years of this exact compromise: buying jackets sized for her shoulders, then accepting all the loose, shapeless fabric everywhere else. The jacket fit one part of her body while overwhelming the rest.
This is the trade-off standard sizing forces on athletic builds - compromise on fit, or don't wear suits at all.
Stop compromising between sizes. Experience precise custom tailoring at our complimentary Isadora Nim Trunk Shows, February 13–14 in Sydney.
What Causes the Back to Pull Tight?
You've experienced this: standing still, the jacket seems fine. Then you reach forward to greet someone, or grab your bag, or simply move naturally and the entire back of the jacket pulls tight across your shoulder blades. The fabric strains, restricts, reminds you constantly that the jacket wasn't designed for a strong back.
This happens because standard patterns don't measure back width independently. They calculate it based on bust size, assuming a certain relationship between how your chest measures and how much width you need between your shoulder blades. Women with developed back muscles from swimming, rowing, strength training, or simply natural build need more width than these calculations provide.
The result, you're constantly aware of your jacket. You adjust your posture. You avoid reaching too far. You modify how you move to accommodate clothing that should be accommodating you.
Why Does the Waist Hang Loose When Shoulders Fit?
When you size up to fit your shoulders, the waist becomes a different challenge entirely. Standard patterns build in waist suppression - the shaping that creates definition from bust to waist to hips. This suppression is calculated based on assumed curves: the pattern expects your hips to be significantly wider than your waist, creating the shape the fabric is designed to enhance.
Athletic builds with minimal waist-hip difference don't have the curves this suppression was designed for. The result: excess fabric that hangs loose because it's trying to skim over hips that aren't as full as the pattern expects.
How Does Standard Waist Suppression Work?
Standard patterns create waist definition by taking in fabric from the bust to the waist, then releasing it again through the hips. The amount of suppression - how much fabric gets removed at the waist - is calculated based on the expected difference between bust and hip measurements.
Imagine a pattern designed for someone with a 10-inch difference between waist and hips. You have a 4-inch difference. That pattern has 6 inches of extra fabric that doesn't relate to your body at all. It doesn't create shape - it just hangs there, making the jacket look baggy and unstructured.
Why Fitted Jackets Don’t Work for Athletic Shoulders?
On the opposite end, fitted jackets with aggressive waist shaping look elegant on hangers. Then you try to wear one over athletic shoulders and it simply won't close. The back strains, shoulder seams sit too narrow, and the beautiful shaping that looks so feminine in photos becomes physically impossible to wear.
This happens because these patterns assume a specific body type: narrow shoulders, fuller hips, pronounced curves. When your shoulders are your broadest point instead of your hips, the entire silhouette the pattern was designed for becomes inverted.
Jesse experienced both extremes: jackets sized for her shoulders that had shapeless, hanging waists, and fitted jackets with beautiful lines that simply couldn't accommodate her shoulder width and back strength.
What's the Armhole Problem Nobody Talks About?
Armhole circumference is the fit problem most women don't even know they're experiencing until they wear a suit with proper armholes for the first time. When fabric cuts into your underarms, when you can't raise your arm comfortably, when reaching across your body pulls the entire jacket - these are all armhole problems.
Standard patterns calculate armhole size based on bust measurements, not actual arm development or shoulder build. Athletic bodies with defined shoulders and arms need larger armhole circumference than standard patterns provide. The difference might only be 2-4 centimeters, but those centimeters determine whether you can move freely or feel constantly restricted.
You might not even realize you're modifying your movements to accommodate poor armholes. You don't reach as far, don't lift as high, adjust your entire physical presence to work around a jacket that should be working with your body.
Why Is This About Celebrating Strength, Not Hiding It?
The fashion industry has long associated athletic builds with masculinity, as if strength and defined muscles somehow make women less feminine. This is nonsense. Women's bodies exist in infinite variations, and broad shoulders or strong backs don't make you less of a woman, they make you exactly who you are.
At Isadora Nim, we design suits that celebrate how you're actually built, not how the industry thinks women should be built. Feminine doesn't mean narrow-shouldered. Power doesn't mean copying menswear. Your suit should enhance your natural presence and strength, not hide it or fight against it.
Modern femininity doesn't shy away from strength and command - it embraces both. Your athletic build deserves suits designed to work with your body, creating shape and definition that makes sense for your actual proportions.
What Actually Works for Athletic Builds?
Made to measure reverses the standard approach entirely. Instead of forcing your body into predetermined patterns based on imaginary averages, the pattern is built around your actual proportions.
This starts with measuring everything independently - shoulder width, shoulder slope, armhole circumference, back width, bicep circumference, waist placement. Every measurement that standard sizing calculates is instead measured directly on your body. Then the pattern is drawn specifically for these proportions.
Shoulders are fit first, properly. Then waist definition is created based on where your waist actually sits and how much shaping makes sense for your build - not excessive hourglass curves you don't have, but definition that enhances your natural silhouette.
Jesse's custom suit demonstrated this transformation. Her shoulders fit perfectly from the first fitting because they were measured specifically for her frame. Her armholes accommodated her shoulder and arm development without restricting movement. The waist suppression created definition appropriate for her build - clear shaping that enhanced her silhouette without pretending she had curves that didn't match her athletic body.
Want to understand exactly how this process works? Read our complete guide to custom suit measurements.
Who Else Deserves Better Than Standard Sizing?
Professional athletes aren't the only women dealing with these fit problems. Athletic builds are far more common than the fashion industry acknowledges:
Women who strength train
CrossFit, weightlifting, bodybuilding, regular gym work all develop shoulders, arms, and backs that standard sizing can't accommodate.
Swimmers and rowers
Years of these sports create shoulder and lat development that makes standard jackets impossible.
Dancers
Professional dancers develop strong, defined bodies with minimal curves. The strength required for dance creates proportions standard patterns ignore.
Corporate professionals
You need polished suits for work, but your body doesn't fit the corporate uniform standards. You shouldn't have to choose between professional appearance and actual fit.
Women naturally built this way
Broad shoulders, straight torsos, athletic proportions exist on women who've never played sports or set foot in a gym. Your natural build deserves suits designed for how you're actually shaped.
If you've ever compromised on fit because nothing else was available, you understand this problem.
Read more: Getting Suits That Actually Fit Your Body
What Are Your Next Steps?
Understanding why suits don't fit is liberating. It's not your body - it's an industry that designs for imaginary averages instead of real women.
Our Sydney trunk shows demonstrate what changes when suits are designed for your actual body. You'll see fabric samples, understand the measurements that matter for athletic builds, and experience the difference between forcing your body into standard patterns versus having patterns built around you.
We've refined an approach that celebrates strength instead of fighting it. 10 appointments available February 13-14 at Meriton Suites, 528 Kent Street, Sydney CBD.