Help needed with suit fabric makers please

[Solaxun]

I have been wanting a MTM suit for a few years now, and since Mytailor is in town next week I think I'm going to take the dive. I have a very tough body to fit, so I think this is the best route for me. My problem is that I am just completely overwhelmed with the fabric selections ,and I am not the best at judging quality by a swatch. I ordered some shirts that felt ok in the swatch a few years back, but the actual shirt was like wearing cardboard it was so rigid, it would also wrinkle if you looked at it funny.

Dormeuil, Scabal, Holland and Sherry, Lora Piana, and many more..... so many names, so little knowledg. Where to begin? I am prepared to spend about $1,000 per suit, and would consider going a tad higher if it would be a meaningful upgrade - i.e. for another $200 I get a sizeable difference in quality.

While I'm at it, if i decide to get some shirts, is Thomas Mason worth the hype/price? What would be a good fabric to order that doesn't wrinkle badly, doesn't feel stiff as a board, and isn't translucent?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Solaxun]

Seriously? Nobody has an opinion? This is the "style forum" right?

 

[Xenon]

You get the best knowledge by handling the fabric swatches. Dormeuil, Scabal, Holland and Sherry, Lora Piana are all quality offerings. If you stick with these you should not have too many surprises.

Essentially though It really all depends on what you like personally. For instance do you like thin, slick and glass smooth or do you prefer something more substantial.

General rule of thumb is that the higher the S count the more expensive the suiting will be within a maker. Also it's often said that higher S will be more fragile than lower S but this is not completely accurate.

Really you have alot to learn through experience and the best way to learn is to compare the swatch offerings against each other.

Worth the hype/ price is entirely subjective. For shirts I like the TM gold but much prefer DJA as they have much finer offerings. If you don't like translucent but want something with a nice hand you might want to try the Hampton line in Thomas Mason Gold. Hampton is a 2x2 140s twill and fairly thick.

 

[Solaxun]

I'll be checking the swatches out in the next few days, and I think I have decided to go for the Mason fabrics for shirts, suits I just don't know yet. I am a bit concerned though, I spent some good time picking out TM silver swatches on the web, but it seems most of the glowing reviews I read are from Hamptons ($209 each from TM gold), Portland 120s (also gold), and a few others which are all gold.

Can anyone speak to the quality of the silver fabrics versus executive offerings, or others in general? I have read the posts that say that TM is noticeably softer, but nobody specified which TM.

As far as the suits, are the basic $650/$700 fabrics that the screen first loads to on default really going to cut it, or is it worth springing for a named fabric?

 

[TheFoo]

All of the cloth merchants you named produce some nice stuff, but perhaps not uniformly. Loro Piana, in particular, has garnered a questionable reputation when it comes to wool worsteds. You really need to be more specific about sort of suit/jacket you are making or what kind of cloth you're looking for.

 

[Cuttingboard]



General rule of thumb is that the higher the S count the more expensive the suiting will be within a maker. Also it's often said that higher S will be more fragile than lower S but this is not completely accurate.

What does S count mean? I'm assuming its not thread count.

 

[okdc]

The gentleman who manages mytailor has a good reputation and successful business, I believe you can ask and trust his advice. I agree with the op that it can be difficult to garner a real opinion from a swatch, but I would pick a few swatches in your price range and ask the tailor if he has constructed a full suit from them before and how did the final product come out. If he has an actual example all the better, or if you can get all the specifics you can research it here. The s number denotes the fineness of the cloth and it relates to the microns of the thread. Higher numbers are softer and feel more luxourious, lower numbers are rougher, but may be more durable.

I don't know much about shirt fabrics.