Suits Vs Sports Jacket Style Battle [0:00:00]
You only have so much money. Seriously, gents, you’ve got limited funds and you need to
make a choice, sports jacket or a suit? In today’s style battle, I’ve got the
suit versus the sports jacket. You can only buy one. Which one should it be? Find out,
gents, in today’s video. Round one. Price. Now, you may be thinking
this is an apples to oranges comparison. You can’t truly compare a suit to a sports jacket.
A suit is a jacket and trousers made from the same material. Sports jacket also known
as an odd jacket is a jacket by itself. So, how do you compare jacket by itself with a
jacket and trousers? So, to better do this comparison, let’s
level the playing field. I’m going to share with you guys some insider secrets that I
learned running and owning a custom clothier. So, let’s start off with the jacket. Whether
it’s a sports jacket, whether it’s a suit jacket, blazer jacket, the thing is jacket
is the apex of men’s fashion. There’s a lot that goes into a jacket that people
don’t see. Of course, the amount of material used is going to be more than any other type
of garment. And, what you don’t see is the inside, actually
the structure the canvassing right here. You don’t see actually the buildup of the shoulder.
And, when it comes to buttons, when it comes to all the stitching and details, the costs
that go into a jacket are going to be higher than any other garment.
Now, that’s important to understand because higher cost from the manufacturer’s perspective,
that means more risk and that they’re probably going to make less money when they sell the
garment. Now, when it comes to suit trouser, the skill,
the time, the effort to manufacture these is a fraction of what it would be for the
jacket. You don’t need the same machines, you’re able to manufacture them quickly.
And, even though the cost of materials is going to be relatively high, they use about
one half as much material as a jacket, still you’re going to be able to keep the price
down on the trousers. Here’s what all these means when it comes
down to the numbers. Let assume the company is putting out both suits and sports jackets.
It would price the suit at $500, it would price the sports jacket at $400. Now, right
off the bat, you may be saying, oh, the suit is more expensive. But not necessarily, here
is why. First up, let’s talk about the hidden discount.
So, when you buy the jacket with the trousers, you’re paying $500. But, if you were to
buy that odd jacket with an odd pair of trousers, you go out there and you look in the store,
what you’re going to find is they sell trousers for $150.
So, why are you getting these suit pants which are oftentimes the same quality, if not better
quality than a lot of the trousers they are selling for a discounted price?
That’s because, again, remember the cost of the pants is lower, therefore they’re
able to kind of put this bundle deal together. So, all of a sudden you realize, wow, this
is actually a pretty good deal this $500 versus this $400 sports jacket.
And now, let’s talk about sales. So, for every sports jacket manufactured, twenty suits
are made. What does that tell you? There’s a lot more suits out there than sports jackets.
So, suits are much more likely to go on sale, and when they do, the discounts are going
to be deeper because they got to get those things off.
So, 50% off, that $500 suit on sale for $250. Let’s look over a sports jacket. They decide
let’s go 25% off. You’re going to find sports jacket just don’t go on sale like
suits do. So, that $400 sports jacket just went down to $300. Now, which one is the better
deal? $300 versus $250? So, who won round one? Gentlemen, it may seem
counterintuitive, but I’m going to go with the suit. Disagree? Let me know. I want to
hear from you down in the comments. Round two, gentlemen, we’re talking value.
Value is the price you paid divided by the number or wears. And I always say that the
more times you can wear a garment, the more value you’re going to get from it.
The most expensive things in your closet are the items you never wear. You buy that $500
suit, yeah, it stretched the budget a bit, but guess what? You wear it a hundred times,
you feel like a million bucks every time. $5 per wear to look like a million bucks,
well worth it versus maybe something that you bought and you didn’t like you wore
it once, you paid $200 for it. $200 per wear, a complete waste of money.
Oh. And to get maximum value whether it’s a suit or a sports jacket, remember, follow
the style pyramid – fit, function, fabric. Anything you’re going to buy, make sure
it fits your body or it can be adjusted to fit your body better. Make sure that functionally,
it serves the purpose. It’s a classic style that’s going to be around for at least a
decade. And then, make sure you buy the best fabric you can afford.
Now, when it comes to getting value from a suit, it really depends on your and your lifestyle.
Is it something that you’re going to wear a suit every single day? You’re a lawyer
in New York, you’re a consultant in Chicago, you are going to be dressing up and this is
going to be your work wear. And, think about it, if you’ve got three
suits that you rotate through, yeah, you wear those things about seventy to eighty times
over the period of a year. Keep them simple conservative, okay, you’re going to get
a lot of value out of those suits. However, I would say the majority of guys
are not wearing a suit on a daily basis. Yeah, they dress up once in a while, but for them
it’s really about the special events. It’s about weddings, it’s about being able to
go to an event that has a dress code, looking good for an interview. A suit is something
they wear just to feel and look like a million bucks.
Now, a sports jacket is not going to be as formal as a dark-colored classic conservative
suit, but I also think that’s part of its advantage because we live in more casual world.
So, for a lot of guys they can find various situations that they can wear the sports jacket
where you can find a way, hey, to wear that sports jacket with jeans with boots, all of
a sudden you’ve got a combination which is relatively casual, but sets you apart and
works with your background as an engineer. [0:05:04]
Now, as I mentioned earlier, suit is a jacket and trousers made from the same material,
and you do not want to wear them separately. Why? Because if you start wearing that jacket
without the trousers, you may find it fades it changes color especially if you sent it
off to the cleaners one without the other, all of a sudden you can have a mismatching
suit. So, I don’t recommend that you wear them separately.
But, that’s one of the big advantages of the sports jacket is that you pretty much
have to wear it separately. There isn’t matching trousers, otherwise it would be a
suit. Point here is you’ve got so many options to wear that sports jacket with so many different
outfits, the value of it keeps shooting up. The winner here when it comes to value getting
the most wears out of that garment? I’ve got to give it to the sports jacket.
Round three. Versatility, the ability to dress something up, dress it down to be able to
wear it with all the other items in your wardrobe. Now, when it comes to versatility both in
sports jackets and suits, it really is going to depend a lot on the fabric. If you go for
a dark classic conservative fabric, you’re going to find that you can dress it up, you
can dress it down. It really depends on what you pair with it.
But, if you go for something brighter, something more attention-grabbing, you’re going to
find the versatility window is going to close a bit, but it does give you the option to
be able to stand out and draw attention and have a little bit more fun with the combinations.
So, with the jacket like this, classic cap toe oxfords in black are going to work. But
this right here, the classic cap toe in a tan color, this is going to stand out grab
attention. And actually, no one is going to really be looking at the jacket, they’re
going to be checking out the shoes. And I love a combination like that. A jacket
doesn’t have to draw attention to itself, it does a good job of building up your shoulders
making you look slimmer making you look more masculine and attractive. And sometimes it
can just let the shoes do the talking. Maybe you want to go with something simple classic
understated or you want something, again, that you’re going to get compliments on
all night. And, speaking of boots and sneakers, sports
jacket have a natural advantage with these particular items because like them, they are
casual by nature. Now, for classic conservative suits, that’s
a tough act to follow. But, there are advantages to being a suit that really doesn’t draw
much attention to itself and, again, is going to be the apex of men’s style and formality.
When you look at a pair of shoes like these, guys, right here, this is going to look amazing.
When you need to look your best, guess what? You’re wearing a suit and maybe you’re
reaching for a pair of shoes like these that are going to get you compliments all night.
Or, if you’re not into compliments, you’re going in for an interview, you don’t want
them necessarily commenting and saying, he was the guy with the nice shoes. You want
to say, he was the guy that knew and understood what he was talking about. Then, you go for
a classic pair of shoes, but maybe one that still has a little bit of fun with it. We’ve
got a cap toe with a little bit of broguing here.
Now, gents, we’re talking versatility here and the question is can you dress a suit down?
And the answer is yes. Actually, either of these combinations would look fine. I like
the contrast that this would bring to a dark classic suit. But, why not change up the suit
entirely? People hear blue and they think boring, but
blue doesn’t have to be. Again, it depends on what you need, it depends on your circumstances,
but there’s a wide variety of more casual suits out there.
Gents, when you take the time to look at all of the options out there, you take the time
to find something that works for you, works for your profession, you realize when it comes
to suits, tons of options not only in the colors and the patterns, but also the styles.
Maybe you want to go for a peak lapel. You find it just works for your body type, you
love the way it builds up the chest. It just makes you look amazing. You want to know the
history behind it. It’s something you want to bring into your wardrobe, still have a
little bit of fun with flash and style maybe a little bit of a double monk strap here,
just go for slip on loafers as you go in and out of security and you realize, hey, I like
the style, I like the pattern, I am going to own the look.
My point here, gents, is that when a man takes the time to select the right suit for his
situation and his needs, he’s going to find that actually there’s a lot of versatility
built into it. But, there are limits, and for that reason, I’m going to have to give
this win this round over to the sports jacket. Next up, gents, let’s talk about availability.
Availability is important because you have options. When you can go into a store, when
you can buy online, when you’re in a foreign country, will you be able to find the garments
you’re looking for? So, suits. It doesn’t matter if you’re
in Las Vegas if you’ve over in Mumbai, if you’re over in Mauritius, you’re going
to be able to find a suit. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a western country, suits are
sold throughout the world. In addition, we can find them at a wide variety
of different stores, different price points. So, you walk into a high-end, you know, Zegna
stores or you’ll maybe go into Walmart, you’ll go into Target, you will be able
to find suits at various price points. Suits are just out there, they are the uniform the
go-to garment. Let’s look over at sports jackets. We’re
going to find the options are a lot more limited. This is going to be something that, yeah,
you won’t be able to walk to a number of stores, even though they’ll have suits,
they won’t have sports jackets. And you can make the argument I really like this jacket,
it’s made as a suit, I’m simply going to wear it as a sports jacket. We’re going
to leave that off. But, when it comes down to it, this one’s pretty easy win for the
suit when it comes to availability. All right, gentlemen. So, we’re tied up.
Quick tie-breaker. Which one of these if you purchase in ten years, in twenty years is
going to be more likely to still be in style? Let’s look over at the sports jacket.
[0:09:56] Now, for almost a hundred years, sports jackets
have been worn by men who want to look good, but don’t want the formality of a suit.
They want something, again, that’s more versatile, something that they can wear even
in sports. We actually look at early sports jackets.
These were sport garments that, yes, men wore sports jackets like this when they went hunting
when they went playing tennis. They wanted something that, yes, they had a little bit
more freedom of movement and it come in a wide variety of styles and colors and patterns.
Now, the suit goes back closer to two hundred years and unlike the sports jacket, we don’t
always see the same wide range of styles, colors, and patterns. In general, even though
we may see an interesting pattern, we will over all see darker colors, we will see patterns
really that aren’t going to be too eye-catching. I mean there are those out there, but in general
we see suits, we see something that’s more conservative something that’s kind of stayed
the course. And, the winner, gentlemen, I’ve got to
give it to suits even though I wear my sports jackets more than I wear my suits. But, let
me hear from you down in the comments. Agree? Disagree? What advice would you give a man
that’s going to make a choice between a suit and a sports jacket?
And, what to watch next? Check out this video right here, twenty one stylish habits that
all good looking men have. At least, I think they do. Check out this video, guys, I had
a lot of fun with it. It’s a great one. I’ll link to it down in the description.
[0:11:08] End of audio