When To Compromise On Suit Fabric - Buying Men's Suits With Little Money - Focus On Fit
First
Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, I'm going to be talking about compromising on fabric.
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The question today is compromising on fabric, when do you do it?
I had a gentleman write me and he's asking, "Antonio, my biggest problem is I'm starting
from scratch with no money.
Even given that budget, bearing in mind the aforementioned sin about fabric, I want to
avoid cheap polyesters suits, but what about wool polyester blends?
For example, 80% wool, 10% polyester.
Is this a reasonable compromise on fabric and price?
Would this suit be appropriate for an interview?"
Well, I can't answer the last one because I don't know the color.
I don't know your complexion.
I don't know what type of an industry you're interviewing in, but I can say that it is
okay when you are very short on money or even if you’ve got a little bit, but you don't
wear a suit very often or you just want to be more -- you just don't need the highest
end fabrics because fabric is something that can really ratchet up the price of a suit.
You can find a custom suit maker and for his labor, he will charge, let's say, $500 to
$1000 to make a suit, but the price of that suit is going to go up quite a bit depending
on if you use from a no-name factory out of China or if you're using something, let's
say, from Holland & Sherry.
That can have a huge effect on price and you're not necessarily going to see much of a difference.
Let me take that back.
You will see a big difference between the two I described, something from Holland & Sherry
versus something that's a 50-50 blend coming out of China, but once you get into the higher
ends, the difference between a $5000 suit and an $8000 suit, you are splitting hairs.
What you're going after here and with the higher end fabrics, it's about scarcity.
It's about the fact that there is only so much Super 180 or Super 200 of this fabric
even being made, so they set a price on it to kind of exclude -- that's what it is.
It excludes a lot of people based off price from purchasing.
Now, I'm not saying that it isn't worth what people are willing to pay because to me, that's
the open market and whatever it sets, I'm not going to argue there, but I am saying
that for this man starting off, going with a blend is probably a very smart decision.
Now, a 50-50 blend he's going to want to stay away from, the reason being even if it's a
good wool, that amount of polyester is going to take away a lot of the properties of the
wool so it's not going to breathe as well.
In addition, it's not going to have this long of a life.
But once you start looking at 80-20 blends, then all of a sudden, that's not too bad.
That is an acceptable compromise.
You're going to want to feel the fabric.
You're going to want to make sure that it suits your needs that you're going to be comfortable
wearing this, but this may be a great suit and a great deal because that's one of the
reasons brands and companies introduce blends, is so that they can lower the price, that
they can have a suit.
For men who money is a huge barrier, they can get in there and get that suit.
Beyond fabric, I would say the big thing you need to focus on is fit.
You've heard me say it before -- fit, fabric, style.
Well, there's a reason I always say "fit" first because it is the most important thing.
My friend, Grant Harris, just talked about it.
It's one of his big things beyond anything -- fit, fit, fit.
Now, let's get back to fabric.
That's what your question was about.
You're going to see a lot of 80-20 blends out there, some 70-30 blends, some 90-10 blends.
Price will help you determine what is good, but you also want to look for a brand, so
realize that if it's something coming from a company like Zegna that even if it is an
80-20 blend, it's probably going to be better than an off-the-rack suit that you're going
to see over at Dillard's.
I'm not going to say that Sears or Dillard's are producing bad suits, but that's not what
they specialize in.
So go to a good menswear store and look at their 80-20, their 70-30 blends, and feel
those.
That's going to give you an idea.
And then make sure you go look at some higher end suits, maybe in the $1000 to $2000 range
that are 100% wool, feel those fabrics.
That will give you an idea of what it can be, and then go see if you're wiling to compromise.
Again, I've got actually a suit that I'm tearing apart and kind of looking up.
It's made by Walmart, $40 for the jacket, 100% polyester, but you know what?
For the right man and the right situation, that's better than nothing.
I mean, if he's naked, he's going to get arrested.
Seriously, it is what it is and go with the best you can afford.
I've talked about thrifting.
That's a great way to kind of find something, but if you can't thrift or you're just not
finding anything out there, then compromising on fabric is a good deal.
All right.
This has been Antonio Centeno with Real Men Real Style.
I will see you guys in the comments.
Bye-bye.