johnnynorman3
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2004
- Messages
- 2,702
- Reaction score
- 25
I stopped by Brooks Brothers today -- ended up picking up two tropical weight flat front trousers for $200 total by taking advantage of the Make a Wish sale and the stock up special on pants (side note: the $148 trousers I bought had Loro Piana Super 110s tags in them; the $198 trousers were Loro Piana Super 120s -- this does not warrant a $50 difference per pair IMO) (second side note: the Peal shoes are really nice).
I checked out the BrooksCool suits finally. Same as last year, except they apparently don't have a mohair content (according to the Web): Made in China, but fully canvassed. Nice button stances -- the two button is about 1/2" above the navel, the three button isn't high, so it looks very nice when the top button is left undone. Very light weight -- not only the fabric, but also the guts. It still uses more padding than, say, a typical Isaia -- but it's not a lot. Narrower shoulders than typical BB, which is consistent with the lightness of the coat overall. At only $450 during a 25% sale (another Friends and Family is at the end of the month, BTW, I was told), it's a good deal if you need a summer suit.
Now the bad part. I'm still not overly impressed with the patented fabric. Then again, I'm not a huge fan of tropical wool suiting to begin with. It's great outdoors for sure, but aren't we normally in an air conditioned building during the day? Basically, the major problem I have with the fabric is that it is "dull" at the same time that it's a bit shiny. Sort of a paradox. But the plain fabric just doesn't pop very much, and the patterned fabrics are just a bit lame. I guess my concern would be that it just looks like a cheap suit -- like something that Jones New York would put out. Then again, I feel this way about virtually all tropical wool.
I have no experience wearing tropical wool, and indeed no experience dealing with humidity while wearing a suit. I'd love to know how a 9 oz. Italian fabric would compare in terms of summer performance to a tropical wool whose weave is significantly looser.
I checked out the BrooksCool suits finally. Same as last year, except they apparently don't have a mohair content (according to the Web): Made in China, but fully canvassed. Nice button stances -- the two button is about 1/2" above the navel, the three button isn't high, so it looks very nice when the top button is left undone. Very light weight -- not only the fabric, but also the guts. It still uses more padding than, say, a typical Isaia -- but it's not a lot. Narrower shoulders than typical BB, which is consistent with the lightness of the coat overall. At only $450 during a 25% sale (another Friends and Family is at the end of the month, BTW, I was told), it's a good deal if you need a summer suit.
Now the bad part. I'm still not overly impressed with the patented fabric. Then again, I'm not a huge fan of tropical wool suiting to begin with. It's great outdoors for sure, but aren't we normally in an air conditioned building during the day? Basically, the major problem I have with the fabric is that it is "dull" at the same time that it's a bit shiny. Sort of a paradox. But the plain fabric just doesn't pop very much, and the patterned fabrics are just a bit lame. I guess my concern would be that it just looks like a cheap suit -- like something that Jones New York would put out. Then again, I feel this way about virtually all tropical wool.
I have no experience wearing tropical wool, and indeed no experience dealing with humidity while wearing a suit. I'd love to know how a 9 oz. Italian fabric would compare in terms of summer performance to a tropical wool whose weave is significantly looser.
