The Jacket Won’t Button: Tuxedo and Formal Wear Rental in St. Louis
Revised November 10, 2026
What is included in a tuxedo rental package?
It depends on the tier. A base rental may cover only the jacket and pants. A mid-tier package adds the shirt and tie, and a complete package adds a vest or cummerbund, a pocket square, cufflinks and shoes. A low starting price usually means the base tier, so ask for the exact item list before you agree to a price.
Keep reading ↓The jacket won’t button. You find that out the morning of the visitation, standing in front of the closet in your socks, pulling the two sides of a dark suit toward each other, a suit that fit fine a couple of years ago. The shirt collar bites. The trousers you were counting on stop an inch above your shoes. Somebody downstairs is asking what time you need to leave, and the honest answer is soon.
Formal wear rental gets sold as a wedding thing and a prom thing, all champagne and group photos. It is also the quiet answer to a morning like this one: the funeral, the court date, the job interview at a downtown firm, the cousin’s wedding you can’t afford to buy a suit for. You don’t need to own black tie. You need to look right for one day and hand it back.
Before you spend a dollar, know two ways people in St. Louis cut that cost, one of them all the way to zero. Most guides skip both.
The first is for the job interview or the fresh start. The St. Louis Suit Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit at 12101 Woodcrest Executive Drive, Unit 110, collects new and gently used suits to donate to individuals in need, people just entering the professional world or getting back on their feet. Besides giving to groups around St. Louis, it takes applications from individuals, and its application process aims to place suits and other business attire with men and women who show selfless character despite a lack of resources. It says it collects and distributes approximately 20,000 pieces of business attire a year.
The second is for the groom or the couple. Generation Tux, which runs a page for renting in St. Louis, says your own suit or tuxedo rental is free when you have 5 paid rentals in your wedding party. The Black Tux, with a showroom in Des Peres, advertises saving $200 when you suit your wedding party with it. If you’re the one organizing six groomsmen anyway, that’s your jacket covered, and the money goes to the band or the bar tab instead.
Here is the one thing to know before you call anybody, because it’s where most of the money hides. A low starting price can mean less than you think. The Black Tux, which runs a showroom in Des Peres, says some rental companies advertise low starting prices that only cover the jacket and pants, so the shirt, vest and tie each carry separate charges. Its own pricing guide breaks rentals into tiers: a base level covering jacket and pants, a mid-tier that adds a shirt and tie, and a complete package with a vest or cummerbund, pocket square, cufflinks and shoes. The number on the sign is often the bottom rung.
So the question that saves you money is short. What exactly is in this price? Say it on the phone, then say it again at the counter, and have them read the list back to you item by item. Shirt. Vest. Tie. Cufflinks. Shoes. If any word is missing from the answer, ask what it costs to add.
You can do this in person in St. Louis, and you don’t have to buy anything to start. Savvi Formalwear, whose legal name is St. Louis Formalwear, invites people to schedule a free style consultation and fitting at its stores. Inside the city there’s the University Loop store at 6185 Delmar Boulevard, (314) 725-2150. Out at the malls, Savvi lists West County at 19 West County Center, (314) 821-0070, and the Galleria at 1483 St. Louis Galleria Street, (314) 727-0088. Call ahead, tell them the date and the event, and ask the plain question: can you fit me today, and if not, when?
Renting by mail works for a wedding months away, since Generation Tux ships orders 14 days before the event, but it can’t help with a visitation tomorrow. When time is short, the phone call to a local store comes first.
What is included in a tuxedo rental package?
It depends on the tier. A base rental may cover only the jacket and pants. A mid-tier package adds the shirt and tie, and a complete package adds a vest or cummerbund, a pocket square, cufflinks and shoes. A low starting price usually means the base tier, so ask for the exact item list before you agree to a price.
Shoes are the piece people forget. You can wear your own if they’re dark, polished and actually fit with dress socks, but scuffed work shoes under a rented tuxedo show up in every photo. The Black Tux puts shoe rental at $25 to $45 on top of the base price, and damage protection at $12 to $20, so add both to the number you were quoted before you decide what you can spend.
Then make the counter write it down. A one-page receipt that lists every piece, the pickup date and the return date is the thing you’ll be glad you have when a vest goes missing in a hotel room or the return slips a day.
Is renting really cheaper than buying?
For one event, almost always. A suit you’ll wear again to work, church or interviews earns its keep. A tuxedo mostly hangs in a closet getting tighter. Renting hands the storage, the cleaning and the going-out-of-style problem to somebody else.
Think about the last suit you bought for one occasion. It’s probably still in the dry cleaner’s plastic at the back of the closet, smelling faintly of the cedar block somebody tucked in the corner, a size you aren’t anymore. That’s the real cost of buying for a single day. The math only flips if you wear black tie several times a year, every year. If you’ve got three weddings this year and a reunion next, ask the shop whether buying beats renting four separate times. A good shop will tell you straight.
How does renting actually work, from measuring to return?
The arc is simple. You get measured, you pick the package, you pay or leave a deposit, you collect the outfit before the event, and you return it by the date on your receipt. Everything is built around your event date, so the first thing any shop asks is when.
How early to book
Earlier than feels necessary when a group has to match, because the popular sizes and colors go first. The groomsman who waits for the last week takes whatever is left on the rack, and it shows when six men stand in a line under a church’s bright lights. A single rental for a sudden event is a different call: ask the store directly what it can have ready, and when, before you hang up.
Pickup and the last try-on
Try on every piece at pickup, in the store, under the bright light by the mirror. Button the jacket. Sit down in the trousers. Raise both arms. Look at the sleeve over your wrist and the hem over your shoe. Measurements get you close; the try-on catches the half inch that ruins a photo, while there’s still time to swap it.
The return
The return date is on the paperwork, and online rentals run on their own clock: Generation Tux asks for the return within 3 days after the event. Store rentals set their own deadlines and late fees, so read the date on your receipt before you leave the counter, especially if the event is out of town.
The number before the extras
The Black Tux, which has a St. Louis showroom in Des Peres, says most rentals fall between $150 and $300, with the average around $205. Generation Tux’s St. Louis page lists tuxedos starting at $139. Shoes add $25 to $45 and damage protection $12 to $20, so confirm what the starting price leaves out.
What else can you rent besides a tuxedo?
More than the word suggests. Formal wear shops rent suits as well as tuxedos, in colors for weddings and proms, plus vests, ties, pocket squares, suspenders, shoes and cufflinks. For a funeral or an interview, a dark rented suit solves the same problem a tuxedo does for a gala: you wear it once and hand back the dry cleaning.
For a wedding party, the coordination is the real service. One shop can keep everyone’s measurements, put the whole line in one color and cut, and make sure the groom’s lapel matches the groomsmen’s down the row. A lineup where one jacket sits wrong is the frame the camera keeps, so read up on what a photographer costs in St. Louis before you book either one. And if the night includes a ride, here’s what a limo costs in St. Louis, where the headline rate is never the whole bill either.
Somebody always ends up hungry after the reception. Here’s what Dominican food to order in St. Louis.
How do you get a rental tux to actually fit?
Get measured in person, not over the phone, and go to that final try-on no matter how busy the week is. Sizes drift between makers, and a jacket cut slim runs smaller than the number on its tag. A group only matches if every member gets fitted, including the uncle who swears he’s the same size he was in college.
Small checks save the day. Confirm the shirt takes the studs you were handed. Make sure the shoes fit with the socks you’ll actually wear. Every one of those is easier to fix on a Wednesday at the counter than in a parking lot on Saturday.
How do you choose a formal wear shop in St. Louis?
Treat the first visit as an interview. Walk in with your date and your event, and ask two or three shops the same questions. What does the all-in price include, item by item? When is the final try-on? What happens if a piece arrives wrong the week of the event? What are the deposit, the damage terms and the return date?
Ask to see the actual garment and feel the fabric between your fingers. A rental that has been well kept hangs straight on the rack, with crisp creases and no shine at the elbows. Listen for specifics. A shop that quotes a price without asking about your event is guessing. One that slows down to measure you properly and walks you through the timeline is telling you how the day will go.
Need something that fits by a certain date? Browse tuxedo and formal wear rental shops on St Louis Near Me Directory, call two or three, and ask each one the same thing: what’s in the price, and how soon can I try it on?
If you’re the formal wear shop, the tailor or the one-person alterations counter, the people reading this need you on a deadline. Put your packages, your fitting hours and your turnaround where they can see them and turn that search into more customers: list your shop.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to rent a tuxedo or buy a suit?
For a single formal event, renting a tuxedo is usually the cheaper route, and you skip the tailoring and the storage. Buying a suit is a different call, because you actually wear a suit again. The rule of thumb: rent what you need once, and buy what you’ll wear often.
How much on average does it cost to rent a tuxedo?
The Black Tux, which has a showroom in Des Peres, says most rentals fall between $150 and $300, with an average around $205, and Generation Tux’s St. Louis page lists tuxedos starting at $139. Shoes and damage protection usually cost extra, so ask what the starting price leaves out before you compare.
How far in advance should you rent a tux?
Earlier than feels necessary when a group has to match, since the popular sizes and colors go first. Online rentals need lead time too: Generation Tux ships orders 14 days before the event. For a sudden event, call a local store and ask exactly what it can have ready, and when.
What are common tuxedo rental mistakes?
Trusting a low starting price without asking what it covers, since some cover only the jacket and pants. Skipping the final try-on. Guessing measurements over the phone. Not getting every group member fitted. And skimming the contract, so the deposit, damage terms and return date surprise you later.
How long can you keep a rented tux?
Not long. The rental is built around your event, and the return date is on your paperwork. Online, Generation Tux asks for the return within 3 days after the event. Store rentals set their own deadlines and late fees, so confirm the date before you leave the counter.
Do you keep the socks when you rent a tux?
Ask when you book, because policies vary from shop to shop and the contract you sign is what counts. Read the item list on your receipt: whatever is on it as a rental goes back, and anything listed as yours to keep stays home.
What happens if you damage or stain a rented tux?
It depends on the contract, which is why you read it before signing. Some rentals offer damage protection for an added fee, and The Black Tux puts that at $12 to $20. Serious damage can bring a repair or replacement charge, so ask what the deposit and the damage policy cover before the outfit leaves the shop.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.