The Official Tweed Appreciation Thread - Page 39

sorry for halfway hijacking the thread, but I've got a bunch of issues concerning something I really want to do, and I need the benefit of the board's sartorial expertise.

Looking to get my personal ideal tweed hacking jacket for myself as a graduation present/ useful item for going to gradschool. 

I'm picking a tweed because A) I love tweed, B) its nearly universally appropriate in a university context and C) if I get into my gradschool I'll be going somewhere pretty cold.

The option I'm considering is bespoke. I have a few friends who claim they can get a tweed made "custom" for me in the 150-200 dollar range, if I supply the fabric. This seems incredibly inexpensive and I'm wondering if this might be MTM rather than bespoke. Another friend offered to take me to his bespoke guy, who is definitely the genuine article, and had said to expect 600-800 for a full suit (again, if I'm supplying materials).

I've not yet picked the tweed, I'm wanting either harris, hanly or cheviot, probably a low contrast herringbone with a faint windowpane in a contrasting color (thinking sky blue windowpane over tan and chocolate hbone). 

I'm a 38, on the cusp of regular and long, with a 32 waist. I'm looking at doing a 3 roll 2 slightly wider (functional) lapels, functional cuffs, double vent. 

A) short of actually ordering direct from the manufacturers, where online or in nyc/nj/philly can i find a good selection of reasonably priced, quality tweeds?

B) are patch pockets going to make this look too much like a norfolk for regular use? I know hacking pockets are traditional for a hacking jacket, but I feel like patch or slit would give it a little more distinctive. Is that so out of the norm for a tweed it will look bizarre?

C) how many yards of cloth am I going to need?

D) I think I want natural shoulders, minimal canvassing, and unlined, any reason this would be a bad idea?

E) any cool ideas for buttons without going pitti crazy with red plastic?

Quote:

Originally Posted by E,TF 

Liam O
The sort of cloth you describe sounds great, wouldn't mind something like that myself.
You can have any sort of pockets you like, though besom might be a bit weird as they are quite formal for an informal cloth like tweed. Patch pockets on tweed are fine. In fact they're great. On their own they won't make it look like a norfolk. There are hundreds of examples to be found across various threads here. Technically it's not really a hacking jacket if it doesn't have hacking pockets - it's just a tweed odd jacket. But let's not worry about terminology.
You'll probably need 2.5m of cloth, but ask the tailor.
Unlined would be great but few tailors will do it (in my experience and from I've read of others here), and I wouldn't press a tailor to do it if they don't want to.
Buttons should be brown horn, or possibly leather. With the herringbone, overcheck and possibly patch pockets, you have enough going on already.
With tailors as with everything you get what you pay for. A $150 coat is a $150 coat, whether it's MTM, OTR or bespoke (almost certainly won't be bespoke) - personally I'd rather a decent OTR tweed coat than a crappy "custom" one. In short, go to the best tailor you can afford.
Best of luck and enjoy.

Thank you!

I'd thought there was a bit more to the whole hacking jacket thing, I've always seen functional lapel, hacking pockets, and almost always leather elbow patches and the underside of the lapel done in leather. Didn't realize it was just the pockets.

I've got a number of niceish OTR tweed jackets, I just want one PERFECT one if I'm going abroad, and there don't seem to be any OTR's that meed my specs.

+1 on the 150$ coat. too good to be true usually isn't.

Thanks for the tips!

Quote:

Originally Posted by E,TF 

Well I might be wrong on the hacking jacket definition - I've always thought of it as a three button coat with hacking pockets and that's it basically; other details variable. Maybe someone else will set me straight.

I'm guessing you'd know better than me. I'm mainly going off the custom one my mom had made for her on saville row.

Can anyone give me their opinion on the following tweeds? http://www.tweed-jacket.com/CLOTH%20PAGE/CLOTH%20GALLERY/index.htm

I was looking at the Galloway, Gladstone, Magnus, and Tarasnay cloths specifically. 

Which look best in terms of versatility. I'm a 6'4" guy with pale skin. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewYorkRanger 

Picked up my Ercoles Overcoat today. Also wore Ercoles Camel Hair Blazer with Tweed Pants:
 
 
And wore a vintage tweed O/c thats now in the FS section this morning:
 
And oh, picked up these two Lessers today...I guess you can say I had a Tweedy Friday:
 
 

I reckon you should keep that vintage coat, it goes perfectly with this ensemble. The new coat is beautiful but doesn't work with these colours... so you need an alternative. Love the cloth too!

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewYorkRanger 
 

I plan on having another made in the winter of 2013.
 

Ah, well in that case... and I would have bought it had it been in the 36-38 range as opposed to 38-40.