Tom Ford, Loro Piana, Zegna, Pal Zileri?

Not familiar with these clothes or brands. Appears to be higher stuff maybe to young for me? I am 50 and in sales and want to look professional but not too expensive that I scare my clients. I also don't want to look like mutton dressed up as lamb. Any advice?

If you are 50 and you want to look professional - you should try to settle for timeless elegance.

What is your body type, what is your budget and how's your skin complexion like? I will try to help you and come up with ideas.

CarSalesman said:

Not familiar with these clothes or brands. Appears to be higher stuff maybe to young for me? I am 50 and in sales and want to look professional but not too expensive that I scare my clients. I also don't want to look like mutton dressed up as lamb. Any advice?

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They are all pretty good brands. Tom Ford would be a little much for a car salesman, but you can find some stuff from either LP or Zenga that would work fine. Out of curiosity, why those brands?

Budget I have no clue. I don't know fashion these days, my experience is from the late 1980 to early 1990. I know from another post I did on here that 1k does not get me two quality suits so I guess for now I'll say 2-3k for mix and matching stuff untill I start making coin. I just don't want to buy $300 pair of shoes, I think $100 to $150 for shoes is plenty. I guess you call it suit seperates? Some advice mentioned to not buy suits but go for pieces instead. I'm afraid to buy what I like then look stupid in it or Old trying to look young hence the mutton dressed up as lamb comment. I like onecadvice, to concentrate on accesories and not necessarilly the suit/seperate itself. So dumb question for me is what is timeless elligance? As for why the brands? I saw them on the Forum and was curious as I have never heard of them. I know Perry Ellis, Ralph, Calvin, Joseph Abboud, JoSBanks but I'm told that these are not necessarilly good quality.

Oh sorry I forgot to asnwer my body type question. I usually wear a 44 double breasted regular. I am a 40 waist with 30 long and I think my sleeves are 32". My kneck is 17" and I have a pot belly as Fabienne asks Butch to get one.

You'd have to sell a lot of Fords to afford a Tom Ford. Zegna has so many diffusion lines that it can be confusing to the consumer to know exactly what they're getting, not to mention the 'made from zegna cloth' suits being made out to be Zegna. If I were in your position I would look for Canali, Belvest, and Corneliani. They produce in sufficient scale that they can often be found at a reasonable price on sale and their quality and construction are more than sufficient.

Bob Loblaw said:

You'd have to sell a lot of Fords to afford a Tom Ford.

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I'm getting a third interview soon for BMW so I'm getting my dress code in shape



CarSalesman said:

I'm getting a third interview soon for BMW so I'm getting my dress code in shape

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In Florida, the BMW dealers get along with dress shirts and trousers, but it's probably due to the heat.

There are plenty of good options, and it would depend on your level of interest and expendable income. You can certainly dress well without having to spend 5-6K for a Tom Ford suit. I can't imagine that potential customers will ask to see your inner TF tag as a measure of how good of a salesmen you are.

There are a lot of options at 3K and under for a suit, such as the suggestions mentioned above (especially when bought on sale). You should know that "separates" is a department store sales model for selling mixed & matched suit pieces, and will not exist with higher end brands. Pants and jackets will only come separate if they are stand alone odd trousers or sport coats, their suits will not be available as mixed & matched.

However, i would invest more on your shoe budget. Good shoes IMO make a bigger difference when paired with even average clothing, the reverse scenario (good suit / average shoes) looks sloppy to me. There are plenty of good shoe brands if you are willing to spend $300-$500 on a pair. Such as Allen Edmonds, Alden, Carmina Alfred Sargent, Brooks Brothers, Carlos Santos, etc.

Good luck, I'm sure you will be able to decide how far down this rabbit hole you need to go to meet your sartorial goals at work.

Thank you all for your advice. I still need suggestions which are very welcomed

The StyleForum Working Hierarchical Suit Quality List is a good place to start. Work your way up from the bottom, based on your budget:



Excellent [*****]

- Oxxford

- Brioni

- Cesare Attolini

- Caraceni

- Kiton

- Luciano Barbera Sartoriale

- Luigi Borrelli

- Sartoria Castangia

- St Andrews / Santandrea
Old RLPL (now made by Caruso)

- La Vera Sartoria Napoletana

- Zegna Couture
Tom Ford

- Sartoria Formosa

-RLPL
Chester Barrie





Very Good[****] (IE: Few suits match the quality of the ones in this category.)


- Battistoni

- D'Avenza

- Isaia

- Sartoria Partenopea

- Oxxford (1220)

- Belvest mainline

- Borrelli Luxury Vintage

- Canali Milano

- Corneliani Linea Sartoria

- Pal Zileri Sartoriale (I think there is another line higher than Sartoriale: The custom made one--IIRC "Abito Privato"--has excellent quality)

- Ravazzolo

- Sartoria Attolini Napoli

- Raffaelle Caruso Sartoria Parma
Current RLPL

- Sartorio

- Stile Latino







Good[***] (IE: Quality is superior to most suits.)


- Brooks Brothers Black Fleece

- Brooks Brothers Golden Fleece

- Brunello Cucinelli (very nice fabrics)

- Canali mainline

- Canali Exclusive (higher end fabrics than mainline)

- Cantarelli mainline

- Corneliani mainline

- Ermenegildo Zegna mainline
Dunhill (more classical cut)
Gucci (usually "fashion forward" - tread carefully)
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche (usually "fashion forward" - tread carefully)

- Faconnable Tailleur

- Martin Greenfield for Gilt, FSC
House label on Gilt
Freeman's Sporting Club

- Hickey Freeman mainline

- Kei by Canali (full canvas, but very soft)

- Pal Zileri mainline

- Paul Smith mainline (fully canvassed)

- Raffaelle Caruso mainline
RLBL
Ma.Co.
Adriano and Sons (defunct, but some inventory floating)

- Samuelsohn
Paul Stuart

- J. Press Pressidential (full canvas)

- Scuderi

- Ring Jacket

-Suit Supply red line La Spalla and Jort lines (fully canvassed)

-Trussini (Fully canvassed, premium fabrics)





Satisfactory [**] (IE: The "average" brands. Quality is acceptable.)


- Belvest Silver Label (half canvassed line)

- Brooks Brothers 1818 (half canvassed)

- Burberry Prorsum

- Cantarelli Tailor

- Charles Tyrwhitt

- CC Corneliani (half canvassed)
Polo Ralph Lauren (half canvassed; excellent fabrics on par with Corneliani mainline, if not better; also seems to be better quality sewing and linings than CC Corneliani)

- Coppley (half canvassed)

- Etro (if you can find the half canvas ones; some fused)

- Boglioli (if you can find the half canvas ones; some fused)

- Giorgio Armani (Black Label)[/U] (alot of their pieces are fused)

- H. Freemann

- Hackett (half canvassed)

- Hugo Boss Selection[/U] half canvassed and some premium fabrics

- Hickey Freeman LTD (half canvassed)

- J. Press Presstige (half canvassed)

- Lardini (half canvassed)

- L.B.M. 1911

- Marks and Spencer (any of their "Pure Wool" collection)

- Paul Smith London (half canvassed)

- Piombo

- Suit Supply (half canvassed)

- Valentino (half canvassed)

- Prada (half canvassed)

- Peter Millar

- Tagliatore

This is awesome thank you

since you are in Canada I'd check out Samuelson suits; excellent quality and made in Canada. Harry Rosen also sells them under their own brand (J.P. Tilford).

I second the comment about shoes. Not an area to go cheap on. Plus, even if you're selling cars I expect you spend quite a bit of time on your feet in the showroom...

Hey CarSalesman,

Good luck with your BMW interview!

fwiw, you can see some ballpark prices for some of those suits in that giant list at the Harry Rosen website. I own a Canali and it's great, and unlike some designer brands, they make some larger (classic) fit cuts. Some designer brands are meant for skinny people (I also wear a 44 jacket). I also have three Made To Measure JP Tilford (Samuelsohn) suits that breakaway mentioned, bought at Harry Rosen. The Canali, on sale, was about $1600. The MTM Samuelsohns were a bit cheaper.

Since you're trying for BMW, I may lean more towards suits vs sport coat/trouser separates..... contrary to my earlier thoughts.... maybe.... Look carefully at your budget and see what makes sense.

However, since you'll be on your feet all day, like the others, I strongly recommend great fitting, quality shoes. I was talking to a salesman the other day and he was saying how the first thing prospective clients look at, are his shoes. Keep them polished and looking great.

I have a thought for CarSalesman that I'm hoping the experienced people can chime in on:

Since the job will also involve going outside in rainy weather, (anything from light drizzle to heavier rain), there may be times where he'd be wearing a suit or sportcoat in this weather and not have an opportunity to put on a rain coat. I've noticed there are "performance" lines of clothing, (aka travel, etc), that can handle poor weather. Should a suit like this be on his list? Or is a typical sportcoat and it's usual heavier fabric compared to a suit ok for moderate rain for a short time?