Is this suit shot?

[pgoat]

I had posted about tis before the forum was down, can't find my old posts.....

I have a nice dressy DB, nothing very prestigious but decent for a Macy's suit - it's an Alfani (i know i know, enough with the italian wannabe jokes already! I was young and poor! Have pity!), classic DB 6 button stance, Reda super 100s in a light open weave worsted, a very cool soft suit I've worn a lot in warm weather since buying it new in 1998.

Anyway, I am phasing out some DBs to help pay for a MTM SB I want and this one is the one DB I want to keep. I paid $400 for the suit and just recently dumped about 50 bucks into having the jacket altered - just the collar and sleeve length, but it did make it fit very well.

The problem is the pants - there are two pinholes near the seam on the butt - and there some fuzziness/thinning in the lower crotch near the seam joints.

I know re-weaving at Zotta's in NYC is about $40 min for each of the two holes, but there is a likelihood there may be more holes in near future - there was also one small hole inside the jacket collar the tailor sewed up for me (it's not visible when the jacket is worn).

I guess I am looking for opinions - is it insanity to dump another $80 into an 8-year old suit of this pedigree (or lack thereof), or should I just say screw it and pony up if I love the look and fit?

Thanks for opinions.....

 

[pgoat]

btw, from frazier's essay, part of my rationale:

Part of the appeal of old clothes lies, of course, in the fact that one becomes almost dependent upon them. They are, as it were, known quantities, and, rather than discard them, one goes to great lengths to keep them serviceable, having, for instance, a favorite jacket relined or the frayed collars and cuffs of a well-cut shirt turned. One of the most attractive items in Joseph Bryan III's wardrobe, for example, is a dinner coat that, except for having been relined and having had its buttons tightened, is precisely as it was when his father had it made in 1912. There is, after all, a certain amount of experimentation, of trial-and-error involved in wearing new things, a peril, by the way, that Dickens noted in Great Expectations, where he says, "Probably every new and eagerly expected garment ever put on since clothes came in falls a trifle short of the wearer's expectations." Furthermore, it is a fact that old clothes"”provided, of course, that they are of the highest quality"”have become molded to one's body, which is why no first-rate tailor considers his job completed until he has altered certain minor shortcomings that become apparent only after a customer has worn a suit a half-dozen-or-so times. Once a suit has received its maker's approval, however, it requires infinitely less care than do inferior garments. Hetherington Turnbull, the head of F. L. Dunne's (a bespoke tailor of such prestige that when John P. Marquand did a reverent article about it for Vogue, he asked that his recompense be a Dunne suit) has not had his dinner coat pressed once in the more-than-thirty years since it was made.

 

[Vintage Gent]

In my experience, and, as a collector of vintage clothing, I've dealt with a lot of old clothes, the suit is on its last legs. The two existing pinholes are one thing, but the thinning at the crotch area suggests to me that other holes are right around the corner.

 

[pgoat]

Thanks VG

Of course, I hope everyone realizes I know Frazier was referring to men with pricy bespoke or otherwise less humble suits than my Dept. Store model....but the principle is the same.

This is kind of like the old debate on whether to keep ol' Bessie another year or get a new car, etc....

But thanks for the voice of sanity - any other views, please feel free to chime in.

I think I may pop it up on ebay. I figure for someone who wants a beater suit cheap (I'd be looking for like $10) it may be worth fixing up the pants. I discovered some holes on a Burberry pinstripe thrift store $20 find (which I bought to replace the Alfani, ironically enough) a few weeks ago and sold it on ebay for $10. I lost $10 but at least someone else can work with it.....

On another note, I don't suppose a chalk stripe double brstd jacket is the type of thing one should wear with odd trousers, even nice wool dress pants? I just picked some nice Oxxford solid Navy and Brioni black pants on ebay.....the Alfani jacket is a dark navy/charcoal color.
I'd rather not look like Jeff Foxworthy or David Letterman, so the answer there is 'get rid of both jacket AND pants', yes?