RipSaw
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RE: Buying a first suit
(11-16-2011 08:58 PM)basilransom Wrote: (11-14-2011 12:35 AM)RipSaw Wrote: Another excellent site: atailoredsuit.com/mens-style-guide-tailored-suit.html
For their prices, those suits look terribly uninspiring. I would not recommend them.
Suit Supply ( http://www.suitsupply.com/shop/1./Suits ) looks promising; I don't have any personal experience with them, but they've gotten good write ups, and they seem to be good for the price of $400-700. Brooks Brothers is solid too, in the 1818 lines. Here is a review of Suit Supply from the WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...84478.html
I went into Macy's the other day, and tried out their suits. They all felt awkward. You can't imagine what a better suit feels like until you've tried one on. I have a suit from Polo Blue Label, made by Corneliani I believe, and it is vastly superior to everything from the cheaper labels. When I try on the cheap suits, it just feels wrong, because the suit is stuffed with padding in the chest and shoulders, and doesn't drape well. In my experience, Brooks Brothers is the cheapest maker of decent suits.
Here is a trailer of a documentary on Neapolitan tailoring, for an idea of how nice suits look and wear:
A Tailored Suit is made to measure. Suit supply isn't. They're not in the same class.
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| 01-01-2012 01:51 AM |
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kimleebj
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RE: Buying a first suit
(12-09-2011 06:27 AM)xmlenigma Wrote: wool merinos get very hot & sweaty.
What I really want is jackets/ suits that are thin, light and can be put on any time, even in relatively warm weather.
Try lightweight, tropical wool. You can wear a (dark colored) lightweight suit in the winter, but a heavy or even all-weather wool suit will be oppressive in summer heat and humidity.
Again, I wore suits for work, not game. But be careful about these suit reviews. There are different styles (natural versus padded shoulders, two versus three buttons versus double-breasted, sexy European verus British versus American sack), and the fit is important. Get a jacket that fits well, with a nice drape on your body, and decent tailoring. That is worth several hundred in quality.
Again, get something versatile in a dark, solid color. You can get a textured fabric (houndstooth, faint glen plaid) without a strong stripe or plaid. Then you can wear it anywear and dress it up with shirts, ties, and accessories. Solid suits don't have problems matching patterns at the seams, and are more forgiving of tailoring. You could buy an expensive suit with an orange windowpane plaid, and a cream-colored linen suit. But you will only wear them once per year with the matching tie. In contrast you will easily find a lightweight grey or navy suit that fits great, and you will wear it often.
Sales occur after Christmas and July 4th. So get out there and get a bargain now!
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| 01-01-2012 12:42 PM |
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xmlenigma
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RE: Buying a first suit
(01-01-2012 12:29 PM)CGS Wrote: (12-09-2011 06:27 AM)xmlenigma Wrote: I have some Custom Tailored suits. But, the 100% all wool merinos get very hot & sweaty.
What I really want is jackets/ suits that are thin, light and can be put on any time, even in relatively warm weather.
What fabrics would I go for at that time?
Linen or seersucker are generally considered warm weather suit material. You're just going to look like somebody shot you with a wrinkle gun after you wear one for more than a few hours... and they generally look good in pastel/light colors only.
I seem to be seeing Linen & Cotton as the options or a blend.
Isnt there some kind of fabric that would resist wrinkles but be cooling?
(01-01-2012 12:42 PM)kimleebj Wrote: (12-09-2011 06:27 AM)xmlenigma Wrote: wool merinos get very hot & sweaty.
What I really want is jackets/ suits that are thin, light and can be put on any time, even in relatively warm weather.
Try lightweight, tropical wool. You can wear a (dark colored) lightweight suit in the winter, but a heavy or even all-weather wool suit will be oppressive in summer heat and humidity.
Again, I wore suits for work, not game. But be careful about these suit reviews. There are different styles (natural versus padded shoulders, two versus three buttons versus double-breasted, sexy European verus British versus American sack), and the fit is important. Get a jacket that fits well, with a nice drape on your body, and decent tailoring. That is worth several hundred in quality.
Again, get something versatile in a dark, solid color. You can get a textured fabric (houndstooth, faint glen plaid) without a strong stripe or plaid. Then you can wear it anywear and dress it up with shirts, ties, and accessories. Solid suits don't have problems matching patterns at the seams, and are more forgiving of tailoring. You could buy an expensive suit with an orange windowpane plaid, and a cream-colored linen suit. But you will only wear them once per year with the matching tie. In contrast you will easily find a lightweight grey or navy suit that fits great, and you will wear it often.
Sales occur after Christmas and July 4th. So get out there and get a bargain now!
I wonder what is tropical wool? I am talking not in terms of game. But in terms of lifestyle to always be suited up.
But given the heat in asia.. and summers in texas, I doubt if any wool will help. What kind of wool is tropical wool? Is it really going to be cooler?
I have some contacts who used to be in the custom suit business in Asia. They have some of the best tailors and workmen.
I'd just like to figure out what fabrics would be best to have.
I am considering .. cream.. biege.. steel gray.. etc kind of lighter shades whether solid.. or some kind of pattern.
I wouldnt mind a navy one as well but that would make it a little warmer and I have one anyways.
So, is Linen the way to go? Anything that would resist "the wrinkle gun" effect  ??
The Suit Supply Spring/ Summer Collection has some Linen / Cotton suits that look decent. I am wondering if I could take inspiration from them and go look for similar fabrics and get them stitched by my contacts.
The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.
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| 01-02-2012 12:22 PM |
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Basil Ransom
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RE: Buying a first suit
(01-01-2012 01:51 AM)RipSaw Wrote: (11-16-2011 08:58 PM)basilransom Wrote: (11-14-2011 12:35 AM)RipSaw Wrote: Another excellent site: atailoredsuit.com/mens-style-guide-tailored-suit.html
For their prices, those suits look terribly uninspiring. I would not recommend them.
Suit Supply ( http://www.suitsupply.com/shop/1./Suits ) looks promising; I don't have any personal experience with them, but they've gotten good write ups, and they seem to be good for the price of $400-700. Brooks Brothers is solid too, in the 1818 lines. Here is a review of Suit Supply from the WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...84478.html
I went into Macy's the other day, and tried out their suits. They all felt awkward. You can't imagine what a better suit feels like until you've tried one on. I have a suit from Polo Blue Label, made by Corneliani I believe, and it is vastly superior to everything from the cheaper labels. When I try on the cheap suits, it just feels wrong, because the suit is stuffed with padding in the chest and shoulders, and doesn't drape well. In my experience, Brooks Brothers is the cheapest maker of decent suits.
Here is a trailer of a documentary on Neapolitan tailoring, for an idea of how nice suits look and wear:
A Tailored Suit is made to measure. Suit supply isn't. They're not in the same class.
You're comparing a Porsche to a 3 Series. A Tailored Suit costs $1200-1500 per suit, while Suit Supply costs $400-700. And I'm not sure A Tailored Suit is Porsche quality either. Do you work for them?
There aren't many reviews on A Tailored Suit, and even if there were... Satisfaction with MTM off the internet is not terribly high, because it's fraught with problems. They don't measure you. When you have different people measuring, or one unskilled person measuring, you get imprecise measurements, and a less than optimal fit. They also don't make a pattern just for you, as they do in true bespoke. They fit a pre-existing pattern to your (imprecise) measurements.
I don't have experience with MTM, but those who do say that MTM is not custom 'enough' to be much improvement over a well-chosen off the rack suit. Unless you have very strange proportions, you're better off finding a line of off the rack suits that already fit you.
If I wanted to spend a grand or more on a suit, I'd look into getting an off the rack number from one of the Italian makers, or possibly a Hickey Freeman. Or buy a new suit off eBay. Maybe a custom number from Asia if I was already there.
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| 01-02-2012 12:40 PM |
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kimleebj
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RE: Buying a first suit
(01-02-2012 12:40 PM)basilransom Wrote: There aren't many reviews on A Tailored Suit, and even if there were...
If I wanted to spend a grand or more on a suit, I'd look into getting an off the rack number from one of the Italian makers, or possibly a Hickey Freeman.
Yes. Foremost, a suit must fit well. A true fully-custom suit requires multiple fittings. A semi-custom has one fitting. If it comes back bad then you are screwed. I have had a mediocre experience with semi-custom, and Consumer Reports shared my opinion.
In contrast, you can go to high-end department stores (Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Neimann-Marcus, Dillards) and try on the jackets. You can also try the separates at Brooks Brothers or Joseph Banks. Then you will find a jacket that fits beautifully. Adjust the sleeves, pant waist and cuffs, and you are done.
The semi-custom stuff over the internet is just going to get you a standard jacket based on a few measurements. It will be hit or miss. Go to a real store (or several) and try on the darned jackets. Then you will know. It will be cheaper and take less time too.
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| 01-02-2012 02:37 PM |
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Basil Ransom
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RE: Buying a first suit
(01-02-2012 02:37 PM)kimleebj Wrote: (01-02-2012 12:40 PM)basilransom Wrote: There aren't many reviews on A Tailored Suit, and even if there were...
If I wanted to spend a grand or more on a suit, I'd look into getting an off the rack number from one of the Italian makers, or possibly a Hickey Freeman.
Yes. Foremost, a suit must fit well. A true fully-custom suit requires multiple fittings. A semi-custom has one fitting. If it comes back bad then you are screwed. I have had a mediocre experience with semi-custom, and Consumer Reports shared my opinion.
In contrast, you can go to high-end department stores (Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Neimann-Marcus, Dillards) and try on the jackets. You can also try the separates at Brooks Brothers or Joseph Banks. Then you will find a jacket that fits beautifully. Adjust the sleeves, pant waist and cuffs, and you are done.
The semi-custom stuff over the internet is just going to get you a standard jacket based on a few measurements. It will be hit or miss. Go to a real store (or several) and try on the darned jackets. Then you will know. It will be cheaper and take less time too.
Exactly.
You also don't really know how a suit is cut until you try it on. You can have two jackets of different makers, with the same exact sizes, chest, shoulder, waist measurements, etc., and they will fit very differently. At that point, all the measurements in the world won't matter. That's why trying on different suits in different sizes will give you more choice than opting for a single MTM suit.
If you've already found a maker with a cut to your liking, eg Brooks Brothers, an MTM might make more sense. Then again, if your proportions aren't strange, I'm not sure it would be much better than an off the rack suit with some post-purchase tailoring instead.
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| 01-02-2012 03:04 PM |
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Prowl
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RE: Buying a first suit
If you're going to do MTM eventually, your best bet up-front is to buy something off the rack, have it tailored, and get CLOSE. You can then send this garment to your MTM provider and say "change x, change y". You will end up with a better final product via this method than you will via body measurements. Just got to Zara and try stuff on, get alterations done, then when you're ready you can send it to a MTM shop and get them to use it as a template for you.
SuitSupply is decent, Thick as Thieves is better (i.e. full canvas, more options, more flexibility, same price).
Obviously full-blown bespoke is always best, but not everyone is going to spend $4k/suit. I would if I could rationalize it, but I can't.
DISCLAIMER: I don't know what I'm talking about and my posts are opinion, not advice.
Gmac Wrote:your time > her feelings
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| 01-03-2012 12:42 AM |
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thegmanifesto
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| 01-04-2012 07:45 PM |
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Roosh
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| 01-05-2012 11:36 AM |
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thegmanifesto
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| 01-06-2012 12:08 PM |
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thegmanifesto
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RE: Buying a first suit
(01-06-2012 02:15 PM)Brian Wrote: what do you mean by loss of mobility? i just put on a suit jacket to try and answer your question and basically once you get your arms above parallel to the floor it stiffens up.
El mech -
Yeah, I am not sure I follow 100% either.
But to answer your question, yes, a Custom Suit will help immensely.
It is Custom to your body. Nothing is more comfortable. I can sleep in Custom Suits.
When someone tells me, "I don't like suits, they are not comfortable".
I don't even have to ask "Is it Custom?"
Because 10000% of the time the answer is "No".
Look for suits with "higher armholes", that could be your antidote.
- MPM
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"Can't be like the rest", is the most I'll confess.
(This post was last modified: 01-06-2012 02:20 PM by thegmanifesto.)
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| 01-06-2012 02:19 PM |
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kerouac
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| 05-17-2012 12:04 PM |
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The following 1 user Likes kerouac's post:1 user Likes kerouac's post
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