LP Winter Tasmanian vs. H&S Crispaire vs Harrogate wool&cashmere

[epa]

I am about to bespeak a suit for autumn winter (not really for very low temperatures: it rarely gets below 0 celsius here in Madrid). My current autumn/winter wardrobe comprises 4 sportcoats and 2 suits (a third one went to charity this spring, at that is the one that needs to be replaced now when autumn comes), one charcoal with kind of winde pinstripes and one dark brown with thin pinstripes (both Dormeuil Amadeus). I want something dark blue (but not solid: I have a solid dark blue suit in kind of all season cloth, although I consider it part of my spring/summer wardrobe) so I guess that I will go for something with stripes. I generally like striped suits. But for this one I want kind of subtle stripes, as I intend to use it for work, for serious business occasions. Thus, I also need it to be reasonably durable.
So I was looking through my tailors books today, and so far I found four candidates:

- Loro Piana Winter Tasmanian (ref. 402015). I am not familiar with this cloth, I believe it is a super 130. Anyone has any experience of this cloth (I do not mean ref. 402015 in particular, but this winter tasmanian cloth in general)? Thoughts on it?
(It looked very nice, indeed, and the stripes were subtle. But I am concerned about this super 130 stuff, and I have heard that some LP cloths are not very durable)

- H&S Crispaire (ref. 339031). I was told that this is a cloth made for travelling, made to look "crisp" on arrival. Anyone has experience of it? Pros and cons?

- Harrogate Super 100s wool&cashmere (ref. 4553). I think it was 15% cashmere and also that it was a bit heavy. To warm, maybe? Does cashmere make clohts less durable? I actually never heard of Harrogate. Is it good?

- Scabal classics (ref. 701727). I guess that this is a normal worsted cloth. Still, if anyone has some input, I would be glad to hear.


(For you guys who seem to get almost sexual pleasure out of asking people to make a search: I made one, didn't find what I wanted. Just so that you know.)

 

[lee_44106]

I have a jacket in the LP winter tasmanian. It's actually wears well, fairly wrinkle resistant (a good hanging and occasional steaming takes out all wrinkles).

On average I would wear it once a week, at best, during fall/winter and thus far pretty durable. Two years thus far.

 

[epa]

Originally Posted by lee_44106

I have a jacket in the LP winter tasmanian. It's actually wears well, fairly wrinkle resistant (a good hanging and occasional steaming takes out all wrinkles).

On average I would wear it once a week, at best, during fall/winter and thus far pretty durable. Two years thus far.

Thanks. I normally wear my suits less than once a week; mostly stick to sport coats as long as there are no "special issues". Still, that a suit holds up well after two years of weekly wear during the colder part of the year is not enough to convince me. I have heard some nasty stuff about Super 130's. Please, more input!
And not a single one here has anything to say about H&S Crispair or Harrogate? I have seen hundreds of posts here about men's bracelets, nothing about Harrogate or Crispair? The people around here are more passionate about bracelets that about cloths?
And only one guy has so far had something to say about Winter Tasmanian. What do the rest of you wear?

 

[binge]

IIRC, the Crispaire is a summer/warm-weather fabric. Seems odd to be considering it alongside "winter tasmanian". Then again, I might have done too many lines of coke at lunch today.

 

[epa]

Originally Posted by binge

IIRC, the Crispaire is a summer/warm-weather fabric. Seems odd to be considering it alongside "winter tasmanian". Then again, I might have done too many lines of coke at lunch today.

Really? I will ask my tailor why the hell he gave me summer books when looking for an autumn/winter suit. If it is correct what you say, at least now I have one cloth less to consider. So thanks. Although I might come back with questions about crispair for my next summer suit. The cloth looked very nice.

 

[binge]

Search the forum for "Crispaire" and you'll find a lot of references to warm-weather suitings. Maybe in Madrid it might be suitable for the cooler months, I don't know.

 

[radicaldog]

I have an old mtm suit in LP Winter Tasmanian. I don't like it very much: it insulates fairly well, but it's light, doesn't have much body, and wrinkles a fair bit. Since I started with bespoke I haven't considered using that cloth.

Crispaire is summer cloth as far as I know. I know nothing about Harrogate.

 

[Slewfoot]

I find Crispaire and other Frescos to wear very well in Spring, Summer and Fall expect on the more extreme temperature days. While it's usually advertised as more of a Summer fabric, it wears too hot on the warmest days.

It is perfect cloth for traveling being resistant to wrinkles and holding its shape. I'm a big Fresco-style coth fan.

 

[epa]

Thanks. It really seems like I was on the wrong track with Crispair.
I am concerned about Radicaldogs opinion on LP Winter Tasmanian. While I do want a fairly light fabric, I want something that you can travel in and that doesn't look like you slept in it after a few hours on a plane. The problem was that after looking at hundreds of cloths, only a few of them had the kind of stripes that I wanted. A dark cloth with fairly subtle blue stripes. The LP one was problably the nicest when it comes to the "design", but...

 

[Xenon]

I have a suit made of LP Winter Tasmanian, maybe 6 or 7 years old. Nice cloth that wears well. At the time the Winter Tasmanian was only super 120. BTW all the tasmanians are among the top at LP for normal wool suitings. You really can't go wrong quality wise. That said, I find the Winter tasmanian too heavy and hot and much prefer the Summer Tasmanian. Summer T has an overall finer more modern feel and texture to it and is still appropriate all year round.

lastly, Madrid? Seriously, I find it very difficult to believe you will find Winter Tasmanian appropriate there. And you should likely add crispair back to your list (though I have no experience with it)

 

[epa]

Originally Posted by Xenon

I have a suit made of LP Winter Tasmanian, maybe 6 or 7 years old. Nice cloth that wears well. At the time the Winter Tasmanian was only super 120. BTW all the tasmanians are among the top at LP for normal wool suitings. You really can't go wrong quality wise. That said, I find the Winter tasmanian too heavy and hot and much prefer the Summer Tasmanian. Summer T has an overall finer more modern feel and texture to it and is still appropriate all year round.

lastly, Madrid? Seriously, I find it very difficult to believe you will find Winter Tasmanian appropriate there. And you should likely add crispair back to your list (though I have no experience with it)

Well, in Madrid it is not too warm in winter, in the mornings it is normally between 5 and 10 degrees (celsius), sometimes down to cero or even a few degrees below. I also travel quite frequently, especially to Germany and Holland. I often wear fairly warm wool&cashmere trousers in winter. Is Winter Tasmanian really that hot?
On the other hand, one thing to consider is that most of the time I wear a suit I am actually indoors. Sometimes in overheated office space. So I do not want a too warm suit. Maybe I should stick to Dormeuil Amadeus, I have two winter suits in that cloth and I like them: not too warm, not too cold. And not too expensive. And fairly wrinkle-resistant. But I would like something different, and, also, none of the patterns I have seen in this years Amadeus book turns me on.
I will indeed consider Crispair as an option for my next summer suit.