How many suits do you really NEED vs. OWN?

[Timmers]

I own 7 suits, all MTM. I wear a suit to work 3 days a week.

I dress kinda formally in everyday 'casual' settings so I get wear out of my trousers. I don't often (or ever, really) wear my jackets as separates.

I usually suggest a navy, charcoal, and a light-grey (or anything patterned in replacement) as the 'needs'.

 

[knittieguy]

Like two. Maybe.

I feel this is a sartorial tragedy

 

[SiBrUK]

I picked up my third grey suit over the weekend and began to think if it is actually needed. Certainly it is a different shade and a different texture, but I thought perhaps some newer shirts, ties may do the trick. I already own navy, navy stripe, grey stripe and now three greys. Overkill? ( I do wear suits daily. A navy blazer sometimes, also. )
Thoughts...

It depends if someone is an office type or a general wearer. Office types are at a bit of a crossroads in London, as suits have been replaced by a definite sway towards casual smart where the suit has largely in many, if not most, offices been retired, so in these offices suits aren't needed.

In suit offices, then probably one of each corporate colour is the minimum, although some might say two to alternate days being this. When you start getting in the realms of having a few grey stripes with varying stripe thickness, rope, needle etc then this is for the buyer to determine.

Personally, I don't like to spend a fortune on this as whilst having a decent background with Savile Row, if it means being conscious of sitting in chewing gum on the Tube, I would rather buy arguably Savile Row quality around the corner of Burlington Arcade knowing if this happens my financial security doesn't take a hit.

I also experienced a Moth infestation which took out 3.5 suits in one hit, 2 of which were from aforementioned street which hurt like a ******.

 

[Nobilis Animus]

I also experienced a Moth infestation which took out 3.5 suits in one hit, 2 of which were from aforementioned street which hurt like a ******.

Awful. I obsessively do my best to scent my wardrobe with lavender for this very reason. No chance of having them re-woven?

 

[SiBrUK]

Awful. I obsessively do my best to scent my wardrobe with lavender for this very reason. No chance of having them re-woven?

Only one could be saved and this was because the cloth could be matched, a fine Black Wool from Gieves.

 

[Nobilis Animus]

Only one could be saved and this was because the cloth could be matched, a fine Black Wool from Gieves.

What a pity, though at least that one was salvageable.

Re your points above: I would also not spend a fortune if the point of having suits is only to wear them at work and the like. At that point they'll be fine as long as they're serviceable. The real divide is if we're talking about wearing suits for work or pleasure.

Mostly, no one really has to wear suits to anything anymore unless the dress code is explicitly prescribed. That means the majority are either wearing tailored clothes because they feel obligated to do so, or because it's part of their style. A big hiccup nowadays, even on this forum, is men who feel that a suit or tailoring clothing must be worn stiffly or formally because of its work associations. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

[clee1982]

that s*cks, luckily I hasn't had moth problem so far, finger crossed...

 

[SiBrUK]

Re your points above: I would also not spend a fortune if the point of having suits is only to wear them at work and the like. At that point they'll be fine as long as they're serviceable. The real divide is if we're talking about wearing suits for work or pleasure.

I wear suits for both, work and pleasure, they're my style or vice versa. I just don't like wearing anything where I'm conscious of what I do or where I sit. Clothes in four figures take A LOT of justification. Watches can bounce a bit and easily buffed usually.

 

[Nobilis Animus]

I wear suits for both, work and pleasure, they're my style or vice versa. I just don't like wearing anything where I'm conscious of what I do or where I sit. Clothes in four figures take A LOT of justification. Watches can bounce a bit and easily buffed usually.

True. I have a Swiss watch from the 80s that was my father's - worn in every kind of environment and whacked about and neglected. Still runs well with hardly a scratch on it.

Suits nowadays don't have quite the same longevity, but they do wear-in and take on a kind of stylishness with time. Do you normally go in for certain fabrics?

 

[SiBrUK]

True. I have a Swiss watch from the 80s that was my father's - worn in every kind of environment and whacked about and neglected. Still runs well with hardly a scratch on it.

Suits nowadays don't have quite the same longevity, but they do wear-in and take on a kind of stylishness with time. Do you normally go in for certain fabrics?

Not especially buddy, only that it must be a Wool, usually a 10 - 12 oz, which I find can manage most weathers. If I had the motivation I used to have I may go for a mix of Summer and Winter weights, but now I try to hit the middle ground. Age does that I find, it slows the enthusiasm of yoof, which I feel mixed about really. There's a joy in a suit crafted from excellence, which becomes harder to justify when the wearer may no longer quite match the glory of the garment
; ]

 

[rjc149]

I wear a suit to work daily, except on Friday during summertime, where I can wear business casual.

I have 5 bespoke suits on rotation, one per day of the week. Midnight blue, navy, dark charcoal, mid charcoal, charcoal with pinstripes. All made from a traveling Hong Kong tailor. All nice, sharp-looking, perfectly acceptable business-wear suits, $800 each, that have held up well in the 4-5 years I've owned them.

I have 2 "beater" Joseph A Bank MTM suits saved from my earlier rotations, dark charcoal and a mid-gray with pinstripes, that I wear in inclement weather, or the trousers only when it's 85F+ degrees out.

I'm planning on a lighter gray suit from the above-mentioned tailor, giving one suit a week off.

 

[smartie-pants]

The absolute worst part of owning a high number of suits is that you have to have shoes, shirts, hats, etc.