PKZ

Paul Kehl founded PKZ in 1881 as a men's outfitter, and the letters still stand for Paul Kehl Zürich. For a wedding it is a strong choice: a family company now in its fifth generation, with a made-to-measure service built around the wedding and 41 stores across Switzerland, so the groom, the best man and the guests can all be dealt with under one name.

Paul Kehl's outfitter, still family-owned after five generations

Kehl started out in Winterthur with a clothing factory, opened the first branches from 1896 in Basel, St. Gallen, Lucerne, Lausanne, Winterthur, Zurich and Geneva, and the company gave up its own Swiss production in 1974 to concentrate on retail. The group's seat is in Urdorf in the canton of Zurich. The St. Gallen-Bodensee tourism board calls PKZ the oldest fashion house in Switzerland, still in family hands, which is a fair thing to tell your parents when they ask who is dressing the groom.

For a couple planning from abroad, the useful fact is scale. PKZ runs 41 stores across Switzerland, an online shop and around 170 international brands, plus four house labels: Paul Kehl, Paul, Pauline and Burger Collection. You do not have to track down a single small atelier to find the name, and the women's side of the house trades under the same roof, which helps if a bride or a mother of the bride is shopping too.

The made-to-measure wedding service

Weddings have a page of their own, headed Massbekleidung für Hochzeiten (made-to-measure clothing for weddings). It is written for the groom, the best man and guests alike, and it makes a simple argument that we like: a suit cut to your measurements, with a matching made-to-measure shirt, fits and feels better than one off the rail. The cloth choice runs from tweed, wool and linen to velvet, and the range suits any kind of wedding, any season and any location. Fine details such as ornamental patterns, a discreet sheen or a narrow stand-up collar can give a classic three-piece suit or a tuxedo a character of its own, and the patterns and colors are picked by you.

So a velvet tuxedo for a winter evening and a linen three-piece for a summer lunch can come from the same house.

The person to talk to is the made-to-measure adviser Saverio Tartamella, reachable on the telephone numbers shown for him. The company's service line, 0848 759 759, is staffed Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 20:00 and Saturday from 09:00 to 18:00. That is a generous window if you are calling from another time zone and want to fix an appointment before you fly in.

The full made-to-measure range is offered in the flagship stores, for customers with individual wishes, so ask which store carries it before you plan the trip. Goods ordered online can be exchanged or returned at a local store.

Shirts, shoes and accessories under the same roof

PKZ is a full fashion house, and that is part of the appeal for a destination wedding where a suit is only one item on the packing list. Shirts, business shoes, belts, ties and other accessories sit in the same catalog. Stylists help with personal shopping, and the house publishes its own fashion magazine, INSIDE. In 2014 PKZ opened a women's fashion house of over 3000 square meters on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse, by the tourism board's count the largest in Switzerland.

There is a loyalty program: registering earns a 10% welcome discount, and the shop offers free shipping, a 21-day return window and free returns in all stores. Treat these as the shop's general terms rather than conditions of the made-to-measure service, and read them on the day you order.

What the reach gives you

Many branches, long phone hours and a name that Swiss guests recognize add up to something a single atelier cannot offer: a groom and a best man who live in different Swiss cities are each likely to have one of the 41 stores within reach, and the made-to-measure suit can come with a made-to-measure shirt to go with it.

German and French pages, one service line

The pages are available in German and French only, with no English version, so a call to the service line or a message to service@pkz.ch is the practical route if you want to confirm anything in advance. Raise lead times, prices and English-speaking advisers in your first contact.

Founded in 1881, family-run in its fifth generation and answering its service line on Saturdays, PKZ has our recommendation for a groom who wants a made-to-measure suit with a shirt to match.