I'm steamed: Half-canvassed Jos A Bank suit is fused and bubbling

Hey all

I've been getting tons of good advice from these forums for years--thanks.

I'm really steamed that my first--and last--Jos. A Bank suit is bubbling in the upper chest on both sides. It's a Signature Gold. Their website at the time I bought it two years ago explicitly said it's half-canvassed. (I got it to be more of a hacking around suit--my other suits are all of much higher quality--and I got it for $249 on one of their deep discounted sales, so I thought I did pretty well for myself.)

Fast-forward to now. I've worn it about three to four times a month, and I'm careful. I've only dry cleaned it about three or four times total. (Don't judge--I keep it clean, let it air, and hang it carefully.) I just had it cleaned and it came back with bubbling all over the upper chest on both sides! Looked terrible. I couldn't understand it--it's a half-canvassed suit so it shouldn't have any fusing up there.

I took it to my tailor and he said it's fused and bubbling. I said no way, it's half-canvassed. He ripped open the seams at the bottom and reached up there, and pulled out the guts and showed me the fusing going ALL THE WAY UP to the shoulders and even in the lapels. He also showed me the half-canvassing--there is definitely canvassing in the upper half, but there's fusing in front of it glued to the wool of the suit! I was so mad at JAB I couldn't believe it. Piece of garbage suit.

He pressed it on high heat to try to get rid of the bubbling, and it looks better now, though there are a couple of wavy ripples in it. I don't have high hopes for that suit lasting any amount of time.

I had thought this couldn't happen w/ half-canvassed suits. For example:
Quote: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/...-suit-school-part-i-fused-vs-canvassed-suits/

Well that's not the case with JAB suits. I saw it with my own eyes. First and last JAB suit I ever buy. Anyone else ever encounter this?

Also, does anyone know whether this is the case with nicer half-canvassed suits, such as Brooks Brothers 1818? I have one of those and I'm a little bit worried. I asked my tailor and he said that any half-canvassed suit is going to have fusing all the way up because otherwise you'd see a line where the canvassing ends and the fusing begins. Is he right?

Your tailor is correct about the fusing of half canvas garments.

A half canvas jacket is a total fused jacket by adding a piece of canvas from top sholder line to upper first button for shaping the chest . Please correct if I am wrong .

While it's true that most half-canvassed have fusing all through, fact still remains that JAB used piss poor fusing, that bubbles the first time suit is pressed. Overall I've learned from my dealings that JAB + MW can't be trusted with anything nice, because they fundamentally don't care. Their reputation's already in the basement, so they don't lose much with their two-bit operation. Remember, only unsuccessful businesses run scams and con games.

It is really hard to get a good suit under 500 bucks. If guys like to have a nice suit, better expect to pay good money .

I would look at some of the jeffreyd posts. He's gone into a lot of detail on this. Did this bubbling appear gradually over time or did it look fine before its last trip to the dry cleaners?



recentgrad said:

I would look at some of the jeffreyd posts. He's gone into a lot of detail on this. Did this bubbling appear gradually over time or did it look fine before its last trip to the dry cleaners?

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It is glue comes off . It can happen by many ways. Dry cleaning maybe the most popular cause .

recentgrad said:

I would look at some of the jeffreyd posts. He's gone into a lot of detail on this. Did this bubbling appear gradually over time or did it look fine before its last trip to the dry cleaners?

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Thanks I'll look for those. If you're able to point me to some of his posts, that would be appreciated.

It looked fine before its last trip to the cleaners.

starro said:

While it's true that most half-canvassed have fusing all through, fact still remains that JAB used piss poor fusing, that bubbles the first time suit is pressed. Overall I've learned from my dealings that JAB + MW can't be trusted with anything nice, because they fundamentally don't care. Their reputation's already in the basement, so they don't lose much with their two-bit operation. Remember, only unsuccessful businesses run scams and con games.

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This seems right on the money to me.

CLTesquire said:

Your tailor is correct about the fusing of half canvas garments.

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Now I'm worried about sending my 1818 Brooks Brothers suit to the cleaners. Should I be? Anyone ever experienced bubbling on that line?



magreen said:

Now I'm worried about sending my 1818 Brooks Brothers suit to the cleaners.  Should I be?  Anyone ever experienced bubbling on that line?

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I would take the trouser to dry clean . Bring the jacket to a good tailor , ask him to remove the stain spot and have a good iron press .

magreen said:

Thanks for the advice. Sounds good. What exactly is an iron press?

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Big machine that uses heat and pressure to remove wrinkles. I would actually suggest the opposite advice. Ask them to clean it, but don't press it. It's the heat that causes the bubbling. Iron press is heat, whereas traditional dry clean doesn't use heat at all (correct me if I'm wrong).



magreen said:

Thanks for the advice.  Sounds good.  What exactly is an iron press?

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Tailor use an electric iron to hand press .