Welcome back to the gentleman's Gazette!
In today's video, we'll discuss how to spot a cheap suit and the eight visual hallmarks
of a bad suit.
No, we're not talking about to fit.
You are right, fit in a suit is paramount but we discuss how a suit should fit in this
video series here.
In this video, I want to provide you with a checklist so you can spot a cheap suit especially
when you're at the store.
The first hallmark of a cheap suit and something I always check for when I see a suit in person
is the collar seam.
For that, you'll flip up the collar and you look at the seam underneath.
In a cheap suit, this seam will always be machine made.
So how can you tell it's a machine made stitch?
Usually, it's like a very regular triangle versus a handmade stitch is irregular.
So take a closer look and see if the stitches are exactly the same or if they're irregular
and handmade.
Of course, there are variations so you have to train your eye but it's a very easy way
to identify a suit that way.
If it has a handmade stitch, it's not a cheap suit.
If it's machine made, it's likely cheap.
The second hallmark are buttonholes.
To most people, a buttonhole is just that it's functional; but to the connoisseur, a
buttonhole tells you a lot about the suit.
It can even tell you where a suit was made so the big distinction is handmade buttonhole
or machine sewn buttonhole.
If it's a handmade buttonhole, it's not a cheap suit.
You can identify handmade buttonhole by flipping over the buttonhole from the back and if it's
irregular, it is handmade.
If it's machine made, it is very very regular and it looks about the same as it doesn't
in the front.
That being said, you can also have a really crappy sewn handmade buttonhole which doesn't
make for a nice suit.
There are a lot more intricacies with handmade buttonholes but we'll cover those in another
video.
When you see machine made buttonhole, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a cheap suit, however,
there are two different kinds.
There's the kind where the buttonhole is cut and then sewn which is the neither way in
a more high-quality way in the more expensive way or there is a way where a buttonhole is
sewn and uncut or maybe sometimes up even cut but just left closed.
If you encounter a closed buttonhole or a hole where you can see frays because it hasn't
been cut all the way or maybe it has been cut all the way but there's lots of fraying
and you can see the fabric on the inside of the buttonhole it means.
it is a cheap buttonhole.
It's the cheapest way to sew a buttonhole and you will likely have a cheap suit in your
hand when you see that.
The third hallmark of a cheap suit is a lack of fabric reserve.
Why would you need one?
If you want to alter your garment; it's always good to have extra fabric, otherwise, you
cannot make anything bigger.
On a cheap suit, the three and a half yards of fabric are probably the most expensive
part in the entire suit and so manufacturers try to cut corners and minimize use of fabric
wherever they can.
The easiest way to find out if there's a fabric reserve is to look at the pants.
Take the pants inside out and look at all the side seams as well as the cuffs on the
inside.
If there is half an inch, an inch, or two inches, that's great and chances are, it's
not a cheap suit.
If there's very little fabric left and it's just an overlock stitch that keeps the fabric
from fraying, you'll likely have a cheap suit in your hand.
If the suit has cuffs you can also take a look at that because a proper cuff is long
and folded and in theory, you can take out the stitching and elongate your pants.
A cheap cuff is cut and then just attached which saves fabric manufacturer but it prevents
you from elongating the pants at all.
The fourth way to identify a cheap suit is by looking closely at the stitching.
When I'm at a vintage store, I check those three hallmarks before them and then I go
to the stitching.
First, I look at how the lining is sewn into the sleeve at the end of the sleeve, if it's
sewn in by hand it's likely a quality suit, if it's sewn in by machine, it's different.
There are two kinds; on the one end you can have it sewn in so there is no flexibility
and that's a very cheap suit, on the other hand, you can sew it in
by machine with a stitch it is very loose and it's a better way and it's also what you
get with a handmade stitch.
Since handwork can be very different and so can machine work, it may be a little harder
for you to determine what is machine made and what is not.
In general, if you have a high consistency it always tells you it's machine sewn.
Also, if there's no flexibility leave it behind it's gonna be a cheap suit.
The fifth way to identify a cheap suit is the buttons.
Most cheap suits have plastic buttons.
Sometimes the buttons look painted and it's because they are, on the other hand, I have
also seen higher-end plastic buttons that are made to look like horn buttons and it's
much more difficult to determine a difference.
Sometimes you can take two buttons together and look for a specific sound, I find that
works quite well with mother-of-pearl for example, but that's rarely used for suit and
horn buttons can sound exactly the same so therefore, you have to look very closely at
the button and touch it.
Horn is usually a little heavier than plastic and
has a nicer, smoother feel and a natural shine.
Plastic, on the other hand, is bad because it breaks very easily and then you have to
sew on new buttons and it's always hard to find any exact matching button and then you
have to do it for all them which costs a lot of money.
Another quality option for buttons are corozo buttons; they come from a palm tree and they
have a slightly inconsistent color and they're not regular like a machine made button so
you can distinguish them.
The big advantage for them is that they could be colored in basically any color so if there's
no natural horn button, that's what quality manufacturers use.
Plastic buttons are always for cheap suits.
Another great way to spot a cheap suit is by identifying if it's a polyester lining
or not.
Quality suits have linings made out of sometimes viscose
which is less expensive.
A higher-end option would be silk, sometimes you also see cotton, but very cheap suits
have polyester lining or blends with polyester.
By law, manufacturers are required to tell you what material the lining is made of so
look for tags inside the suit to tell you what the lining is made of.
Polyester linings are not only cheap but they also make you feel hot and they don't breathe
very well which makes for a very uncomfortable suit wearing experience.
On top of that, they wear out quickly.
So not only are they bad, but they're really great in helping you to identify if you have
a piece of crap in front of you.
The seventh way to identify a cheap suit is by the material composition of the outer fabric.
Most quality suits are made out of a hundred percent wool, the problem is, manufacturers
can sometimes add one or two percent of an artificial fiber and still call it a hundred
percent.
In that case, you have to rely on the brand and look for a brand label.
If you look for Vitale Barberis Canonico,l maybe Holland and Sherry, Wain Shiell, Loro
Piana, you name it Zegna, if you see a tag like that, chances are you have a higher end
suit in front of you.
Of course, those tags can be faked and especially if you get suits made out of Asia that may
be the case, so buyer beware.
Quality suit materials can also be made out of wool and cashmere blends.
Sometimes, they have silk, sometimes they have linen, seersucker suit is made out of
100% cotton but overall, you want to make sure that the suit doesn't have any artificial
fibers, no nylon, or polyester, or anything else that
is not natural.
If it's unnaturalon the tag, chances are it's a very cheap suit.
On top of that, artificial materials often have a tendency to make the suit shiny which
is very undesirable unless it's a sophisticated natural fiber such as mohair.
The eighth way to identify the cheap suit is to check for a glued or fused interlining.
Quality suits have a sewed interlining which is either hand sewn or machine sewn and we
talk about the details in our $100 versus thousand dollar videos and 500 versus five
thousand dollar suit videos here.
When you have the suit in front of you, what you can do is you can take the upper layer
of the fabric and pinch it with your finger.
If you can actually remove this layer from the layer that's underneath a bit and you
can still feel it, it means you have a suit with a canvas that was sewn; if that's not
possible, it means you have a fused garment, sometimes a fused garment is also a lot stiffer
especially if it's a cheaper suit so if something doesn't drape well and feels very plasticky
and thick, it's probably a cheap suit.
If you follow all of these eight steps and you go to a store, I guarantee you you'll
be able to spot a cheap suit and you won't make the mistake and pay for something that
is not worth it.
Even if you use those eight hallmarks and you end up with a quality suit, it really
matters that it fits you, otherwise,it looks bad and it will reflect poorly on you.
To learn more about suits and all its intricacies please check out our entire series about suits
which will help you ending up with something that is worth its money it will stand a test
of time, lasts for a while and make you feel and look like a million bucks.
In today's video, I'm wearing a two-piece suit double-breasted 6*2 - it's a special
Vitale Barberis Canonico fabric which was made for the anniversary it's extremely fine
merino wool it's 3 ply it is not quite a dark navy but a lighter shade it touches like cashmere
but unfortunately, it also wrinkles a lot which is often a problem of very fine high
spun wool fortunately will be the steam the wrinkles come right out the shirt I'm wearing
is Italian it's very thin and summery and has a bold stripe in brown light blue yellow
and white because of that I chose a pale yellow pocket square with a hand X stitch in both
directions is made by Fort Belvedere and matches the stripe of the yellow in the shirt that's
why it ties everything together the x stitching on the edges are hand rolled and very unique
because usually you can only find single stitches that are irregular and it's something very
special where you need to find a very highly trained artisan to really produce that if
you like that kind of pocket square head over to our shop here we even have different colors
the tie I'm wearing is vintage it's a light blue with a large pattern and because of that
it works quite well with a stripe which is quite bold on its own the boutonniere is likewise
from Fort Belvedere it's handmade and hand dyed in Germany from silk and it picks up
the yellow tones in the pocket squares and the shirt because my suit is dark I chose
a dark green pinky ring and I combined it with solid monkey fist cufflinks that are
also gold you can find them in our shop here for my socks I didn't have a pair of solid
socks that matched exactly the color of the pants that's why I went with the shadow stripe
blue and navy socks from Fort Belvedere that you can wear with any kind of navy pants in
a formal business setting because they will always work with it because the color tones
just work much better than solids and it will always be office appropriate in line with
a warmer tones of my pocket square and my shirt I went with a darker cognac pair of
full brogue shoes in fact this is the very first pair of Goodyear welted shoes I bought
as a teenager at a vintage store for a hundred bucks I had them resold many times and I still
wear them happily today they have some signs of wear but that's character and patina that
they acquired from travels around the world I'm happy to have this piece of craftsmanship
and I think it's important to show you that if you invest in quality it will last you
for a long time and at the gentleman's Gazette that's what we're all about style and quality
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