How to Choose a Quality Suit Part One

How to Choose a Quality Suit Part One monkeysee.com See how the experts do it. Hi, my name is Matt Landsberg with Eric Finn Custom Clothiers. We’re talking about how to purchase a suit and how to make a suit fit well. In this particular segment we’re going to talk about what makes a quality suit. People frequently ask me why, what’s the difference and price between a off the rack suit just $200 and a higher end suit that’s can be upwards of $2,000 or $3,000. First thing to consider in a suit is the fabric, that’s obviously the first thing you see and really has lots to do with how a suit performs. Fabrics are rated and a lot of people heard about suit for ratings. Well you start out as a suit for; you can just have a 100% wool and suit for 100’s up to suit for 220 or suit for 250. What that means is how thin individual strand of wool is measured in microns. So for example a suit for 100 is going to be about 18.5 microns whereas a suit for 200 or 220 will be around 13 microns. Just as a frame reference, the human hair is around 60 microns so you can get my idea of how thin that is. Now why does that matter. The thinner that piece of wool is basically the more luxurious the fabric is going to finish and feel so it’s just an overall luxurious finish. It also has a bit more sheen to it and has a tendency to perform better. However, I’ve got a lot of people who come to me and say, “Well Matt, do you have a suit for 200” and I say, “Well, is there any particular reason you want a suit for 200.” In my opinion marketing plays a big role in the higher suit for numbers. Once you get above that, a suit for 150, the difference between a suit for 150 and a suit for 200 is pretty irrelevant and in some cases I have seen a higher quality fabric as a super 100 from a top quality brand versus a super 200 of a lesser known fabric. As most people know fabrics and cloth can be bought all over the world but this is one time where I really believe in the brand of the fabric purchasing a fabric that is from a reputable mill is really worthwhile versus getting something that maybe made in a place that’s not quite as well known for their milling abilities and so one might be a suit for 200 and the other one might be a suit for 100, or a suit for 150 but it’s going to perform ultimately better than that suit for 200. Other things to consider with the suit is that the chest piece, the chest piece is made of canvass and it’s an important aspect to know that the canvass has been preshrunk. When you put a suit through the dry cleaner or in the real hot environment, hot and steamy environment, if the canvass piece was in the chest that gives a suit a lot of its shape, if that hasn’t been preshrunk then it’s going to shrink when you put it in a dry cleaner. We’re going to have all kinds just using the fabric is going to pucker and that’s something that happens out will really shorten the life of the suit is that you can go and ask your local retailer if the canvass has been preshrunk. This is one of those things and if I want a few times where you can usually depend on the brand to know whether it’s been preshrunk everybody should preshrink the canvass but you can’t guarantee it but those with more to loose particularly those with a higher in brands know that it’s a good idea to preshrink it otherwise you’re going to be unhappy with that suit after a year or two. The other thing about the inside of the suit, something you can’t see is whether or not it’s fused or it’s a hand sown interfacing. When it’s fused that’s basically glue just pressing the canvass piece up right against the cloth. There’s a way you can tell if a suit has been fused, one way you can just reach for example right above the pocket and if you can feel the fabric independent of anything else, if it feels pretty thin it’s just fabric you know it’s not fused. When it is fused you’ve got a little bit thicker canvass and fabric together and the downside again will something being fused as it when it goes to the dry cleaner and that glue can shift over a period of time when it gets hot and moist it will slide and that again causes puckering or basically kind of buckling within the suit. And it looks poorly made and it’s something that you don’t want to have in your suit. When I deal, you want a hand sown interfacing this of course cost more handwork in the suit but it’s something to consider.