New to menswear. Why am I not seeing what you guys are talking about in terms of quality?

[Greathim]

So i have not been huge on classic menswear and have always felt that the extent to which the shirts differ in quality is has been exaggerated. My dad and grandad have always gone bespoke and have gotten their shirts made for the fraction of the price of what i have bought them for. Fast forward to my graduation and i take up a job at a brand management firm which works with the brands that are mentioned in the forum (kiton, cucinelli, etc) and start buying branded shirts. A year down the line i start at a large luxury holdings firm (kering, lvmh, otb, etc) and become even more brand conscious and solely start wearing shirts from isaia, barba, borrelli, cucinelli, finamore, etc. I lived in milan for 6 years so this was feasible. However, yesterday i take my shirts to get them altered to my dads tailor and told him that the shirts were expensive so please take extra care of them. He said they were all nothing great and had zero handwork etc. I was a bit taken aback and showed him the finamore shirts but he asked me to let him stitch me one. I did so. He charged 29 euros and i feel that he has done a much better job than the overpriced garbage that i was buying. Cucinelli for example, makes terrible shirts and having spent 300 euros on each BC shirt i feel like i have been totally ripped off. I compared all my shirts yesterday and tbh the Eton and Boglioli shirts are the best, the softest in my collection even though they are not considered high end brand. I get spending money for cucinelli or loro piana cashmere which feels amazing or sea island cotton t shirt from sunspel or a hand made watch but unfortunately i had a rude awakening about RTW shirts.

 

[usctrojans31]

You've conflated expensive with quality. It's a mistake many make. There is not a linear relationship.

 

[Viral]

 

[Jan Capek]

Twenty years ago I bought a Hugo Boss suit for 1300 dollars

 

[dauster]

So i have not been huge on classic menswear and have always felt that the extent to which the shirts differ in quality is has been exaggerated. My dad and grandad have always gone bespoke and have gotten their shirts made for the fraction of the price of what i have bought them for. Fast forward to my graduation and i take up a job at a brand management firm which works with the brands that are mentioned in the forum (kiton, cucinelli, etc) and start buying branded shirts. A year down the line i start at a large luxury holdings firm (kering, lvmh, otb, etc) and become even more brand conscious and solely start wearing shirts from isaia, barba, borrelli, cucinelli, finamore, etc. I lived in milan for 6 years so this was feasible. However, yesterday i take my shirts to get them altered to my dads tailor and told him that the shirts were expensive so please take extra care of them. He said they were all nothing great and had zero handwork etc. I was a bit taken aback and showed him the finamore shirts but he asked me to let him stitch me one. I did so. He charged 29 euros and i feel that he has done a much better job than the overpriced garbage that i was buying. Cucinelli for example, makes terrible shirts and having spent 300 euros on each BC shirt i feel like i have been totally ripped off. I compared all my shirts yesterday and tbh the Eton and Boglioli shirts are the best, the softest in my collection even though they are not considered high end brand. I get spending money for cucinelli or loro piana cashmere which feels amazing or sea island cotton t shirt from sunspel or a hand made watch but unfortunately i had a rude awakening about RTW shirts.

kind of amazing that not even their own employees know the companies' BS. hard to imagine you did not know that there is better quality out there and much better bang for buck. but I would say lesson learned.

you might find the below article interesting. I for one am still amazed that a company like Zegna cannot offer basic and good alterations services, nor do their many employees (at least in the US) know anything about fit and yes I tried a few stores on the west coast and NYC afterwards for ***** and giggles. Had a really bad suit buying experience that turned out laughable but at least I got my money back and found this forum.

Permanent Style

The Italian handmade shirt

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