Selecting a Suit Fabric

Firstly, thank you to all the experts here who have already taught me a great deal in the recent weeks I've spent visiting this forum.

I'd like to ask for some quick advice about how to select a suit fabric for a wool MTM business suit. While I've read Manton's illuminating and helpful article about super wool, on some level it just made me more nervous to learn about all the differences out there. I'm hoping for a fabric that I will love aesthetically and also is

(i) quite durable as I'll be wearing it a lot for work. But also

(ii) cool and breathable as I tend to overheat easily, even in winter, and

(iii) appropriate for year-round wear.

(iv) Finally, I really don't like the shine of really shiny supers.

Are these goals entirely incompatible? I welcome suggestions and advice, or links to previous threads I may have missed.

Originally Posted by offline100

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Firstly, thank you to all the experts here who have already taught me a great deal in the recent weeks I've spent visiting this forum.

I'd like to ask for some quick advice about how to select a suit fabric for a wool MTM business suit. While I've read Manton's illuminating and helpful article about super wool, on some level it just made me more nervous to learn about all the differences out there. I'm hoping for a fabric that I will love aesthetically and also is

(i) quite durable as I'll be wearing it a lot for work. But also

(ii) cool and breathable as I tend to overheat easily, even in winter, and

(iii) appropriate for year-round wear.

(iv) Finally, I really don't like the shine of really shiny supers.

Are these goals entirely incompatible? I welcome suggestions and advice, or links to previous threads I may have missed.

Durability speaks to standard cloth. Few fabrics are labelled as Super 80s, which is roughly how standard cloth would rate, but the regular cloth from H. Lesser or Holland & Sherry, for example, is about that.

Year-round speaks to 10 ounces. You'll be a bit warm in summer and a bit cold in winter.

Cool and breathable is somewhat incompatible with year-round cloth. A 14 ounce fresco (a standard summer suiting in the 1930s) is breathable and I wear it much of the year in San Francisco but it's not appropriate for temperatures below 40 or above 80 degrees farenheit.

Good hunting.

Go to your local Saks, NM, Barneys, haberdashery, etc and try on some suits and find a weight and finish you like. Look at the mtm swatch books. Ask questions of their suit experts.

Thanks guys and Will, I much enjoy your blog.

Really, I guess I'm looking for the coolest wool that still drapes well and looks traditional (i.e. doesn't elicit the reaction "that moron is wearing a summer suit in winter&quot. Also, impossibly, I'm hoping it will stand up to frequent travel.

Are there any other ways to make a conservative business dress suit cooler? Less padding, quarter lining or unlined? Or are these options only proper for blazers/sportcoats.

Minnis 9/10 fresco might work. It looks a bit coarse but in a dark blue or gray, it will look proper enough that it won't scream "Summer!"

Unfortunately, there is a lot of trial and error involved in finding the right cloth and the right way to make a suit. A lot of it depends on your tolerances and the way you wear a suit. I have seven or eight custom suits right now and every time I get a new one I come up with another idea of what would improve on my last one.

Unless you get a really flimsy tropical wool (or pick a summer color), very few cloths are going to jump out as summer suits. In fact, one of my favorite winter suits for rainy days (I live in LA, rainy and 58 degrees is our "winter") is an RTW BrooksCool because it is lightweight and unlined, which makes it very comfortable and breathable when worn under a raincoat. When I get to the office and take off the raincoat, it looks just like any other navy suit.

The closest thing to a universal weight suit is probably something in the 10 oz range. I wouldn't worry too much about supers designations in terms of durability. I have two Clayton 150s suits that have been in my standard rotation (about one wearing per week, each suit) and after two years they are still going strong. They travel pretty nicely also. There are things that I don't like about how the Clayton cloth drapes (which are a function of its light weight, not its micronage), but it has proved to be extremely durable. And if you don't like shiny cloth, don't get shiny cloth. Not all supers are shiny.

You can get any suit unlined. I'd be a bit wary of doing it on a suit that you intend to wear all the time, because there are times in spring and fall when that extra layer of bemberg is enough to cut the wind and keep you warm. On the other hand, if you like vests, you can do an unlined coat and wear the vest on cooler days.

Very helpful retro, thanks.

Originally Posted by retronotmetro

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if you like vests, you can do an unlined coat and wear the vest on cooler days.

Wow great idea -- I really want a three-piece now. We'll see.

There is really no such thing as a 'four season' fabric. It'd be a compromise ( you'll be either too warm or too cool at the extremes of the temperature spectrum). Looking around the mean for temperatures though, a 10/11 oz worsted is good for most climes. Open weave fabrics- frescoes and the like really do look more rough and you may not be as comfortable with them in a business setting in winter.You'll have to look them over and see if they will work for you. The suggestion of getting a half or quarter lined jacket with a vest is a very good one and would make you more comfortable over a wider range of temperatures.

Minnis has their frescoes up on their website.

http://www.hfw-huddersfield.co.uk/hardyminnis/

Holland & Sherry's 10 ounce CrispAire with a vest would make a reasonable year-round suit. The weave is not as rough as Minnis' fresco. I have a nailhead in it that I'd wear much of the year if weren't light tan.

I second Crispaire as at least 3 season cloth for a moderate climate zone. It is the same weight as Minnis 9/10oz fresco, but it is a little less porous and much smoother. Drapes just as well, and travels very well. Comes in some nice surface interest which are not available in Minnis fresco. Nailhead is one of them. Nailhead is also available in grey.