How important is fully canvassed suit construction?

[josepidal]

Article:
http://www.englishcut.com/archives/000020.html

Old thread:
http://new.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=2012

How important, exactly, is fully canvassed suit construction? Just how bad does a well done fused suit look in comparison?

I know it's important, obviously, but at what point should you shell out for it?

After canvassing the tailors in my country, I'm convinced that not a single one of them makes fully canvassed suits, although I was happy enough to find two tailors who actually did two fittings.

The best and most expensive in the country charges about $130 plus the cost of materials to make a sport coat, and I'm pretty convinced they can produce something that fits well. And this is the only tailor in the country that stocks bolts of Scabal and Dormeul.

I'm in my mid-twenties, just began working as a lawyer last January, and really need at least a blazer and a suit for formal occasions (especially where the native formal dress wouldn't cut it). A wonderful forum member even sold me two bolts for this purpose, one of rough Scabal and one of T&S 120s in a navy birdseye.

The advice of a number of very sensible people here is to find time to drop by Hong Kong and go straight to Chan (and Jantzen). However, I'm wondering if that's something I should do at this point in my life, and I don't think it's financially prudent. Basically, going to a client call or dinner with a Chan suit would make me better dressed than everyone on my firm letterhead, and I was thinking that at best, I could just go with what's available then go have three "real" suits made a couple of years later, when my finances and physique settle.

Thoughts, especially from people similarly aged?

(Alternately, I was thinking of investing in a test run and showing the results to the forum. If so, I was wondering if I should use the bolt of Scabal for this test run, or purchase the fabric from the local tailor for about $120.)

 

[dah328]

There's no substitute for experience. At some point, you're just going to have to bite the bullet and try a couple different options and see how they work for you. I'm sure you'll see a dramatic difference between a quality canvassed jacket and whatever fused stuff you can commission in Manila.

The whole dressing better than the boss thing has been discussed in painful detail. Suffice it to say that wearing quality, well-fitting clothing and being ostentatiously dressed are two very different things.

 

[josepidal]

If I do just commission a stopgap blazer here in Manila, would you use the Scabal bolt I have for a test run?

The dressing better than the boss thing doesn't bother me anymore. No one's been able to put a finger on why my shoes look different when I'm sitting on a couch wearing Edward Greens across from the table of a partner likely wearing black Gucci loafers. At best, thanks to Lance, a number of female partners appear to have noted my interesting shirt/tie combinations, to the point that one teased me for coming to work in a white shirt once (tropical country, no jackets except in the most formal occasions).