Peter Manning NYC

Peter Manning NYC was founded by Tanya and Johan Taft in 2012 to address a specific gap in men’s clothing: the man who is 5’8” or shorter and who finds that standard men’s sizing is consistently, systematically wrong for his body in ways that no amount of off-the-rack selection resolves. Standard men’s clothing is designed on a proportional system calibrated for men in the 5’10” to 6’0” range. For a man who is 5’6”, a suit jacket in his chest size will be too long in the body, the sleeves will be too long, the trouser rise will be too deep, and the trouser length will require significant shortening. Alterations can address some of these problems but cannot fix the underlying proportion.

Peter Manning’s approach is to design from the ground up for the 5’8” and under range, producing garments whose proportions are correct before alteration rather than requiring the kind of structural work that changes the fundamental character of a garment. A jacket cut for a 5’7” man has a body length appropriate to that torso, sleeves proportional to that arm length, and a lapel width that is scaled to the garment rather than borrowed from a taller man’s template. The result is a suit or jacket that fits without the compensatory tailoring that standard-size garments require.

The Georgetown store at 1413 Wisconsin Avenue NW is shared with Reddz Trading in the same building. The Peter Manning space carries the full collection: suits in wool and seasonal fabrics, sport coats, dress trousers, chinos, dress shirts, casual shirts, and the outerwear that completes the wardrobe. The fit guide that the brand maintains for its customer base, built around the specific body proportions of men in the 5’4” to 5’8” range, helps customers identify the size within the Peter Manning range that will fit correctly.

Washington’s professional culture generates consistent demand for well-fitting suits and tailored clothing, and the Washington man who is 5’8” or shorter has the same professional wardrobe needs as his taller colleagues but faces a retail environment that does not address those needs directly. The Peter Manning model, which builds the clothing around the customer rather than asking the customer to accommodate the clothing, is the practical solution to a problem that a significant portion of the professional male population encounters on every suit-shopping trip.

The brand’s online presence at petermanningnyc.com carries the full range, and the measurement guide and size finder on the site are the tools the brand has built to make online purchasing of proportional menswear possible. For the Georgetown customer who wants the in-person experience of trying on correctly proportioned garments, the Wisconsin Avenue address provides that opportunity. Hours run Monday through Friday from 11am to 6pm, Friday and Saturday to 7pm, and Sunday from noon to 5pm. The Wisconsin Avenue store at 1413 is accessible from the Georgetown Circulator and from the upper Wisconsin parking.