OTR Zara, Banana Republic Suits Help Please

[ATS]

I am looking at buying a suit and my funds are low at the moment so I have considered buying a Zara level suit.

Can anyone tell me how they hold up over time?

what is the fabric they use like in comparison to mid range brands with a cost of $500-1000?

Aside from brand name is there REALLY that much difference in quality to justify spending $1000 + more money ?

 

[landshark]

I like Zara for some things, but honestly, their suits fit very poorly, are often gimmicky (e.g. leather piping, latch collars, etc.), and made with shiny or poor quality fabrics.

Nobody is going to reccomend BR to you here, however, if you must go to them, get a suit in the tailored fit. I find that the jackets and pants of this style fit very well and can come pretty cheap on discount. A bonus is that they are sold as seperates so you can get something that fits you without extensive alterations.

 

[ATS]

How much poorer is the quality to say a $500-$1000 Suit ? Is it worth tailoring ?

And thank you for your help.

 

[landshark]

What are you referring to by a $500-1000 suit? There are a quite a few suits that fall into that category that are nice and are poor.

 

[TimelesStyle]

Originally Posted by ATS

How much poorer is the quality to say a $500-$1000 Suit ? Is it worth tailoring ?

And thank you for your help.

That all depends on what the $500-1000 suit is. If you're paying MSRP for a Hugo Boss suit, the quality will be about the same. If you wait till the end of sale season and pick up a Zegna or Canali for $7-800 then there's a huge difference, night and day really.

I would skip Zara for the reasons described above. Actually, if you're going for the slim, inexpensive Euro-cut suits, I'd prefer H&M, they're cheaper and have more "classic" styles which fit better and can be worn places other than nightclubs.

Skip BR just because they're overpriced for what they're offering and the fits tend to be poor. Do you have access to an outlet mall that has an Off 5th, Barney's outlet or Brooks Brothers factory store?

 

[chinoguy]

Is there any Boggi store near you?

 

[D Yizz]

Zara is currently making suits for men with arms the width of pencils. It's ridiculous. They used to make slim suits but now it's absurd. My arms are athletic but by no means huge.

 

[tomgirl]

A Zara suit looks great if you're the right shape for it. In general, if you're of average height (5'9 - 6'0) and slim, Zara suits will work well for you. Any bigger than a 42 jacket/32 waist and you should forget about it. Men any shorter than 5'8 would also be out of luck.

 

[Johnny24]

Originally Posted by TimelesStyle

That all depends on what the $500-1000 suit is. If you're paying MSRP for a Hugo Boss suit, the quality will be about the same. If you wait till the end of sale season and pick up a Zegna or Canali for $7-800 then there's a huge difference, night and day really.

I would skip Zara for the reasons described above. Actually, if you're going for the slim, inexpensive Euro-cut suits, I'd prefer H&M, they're cheaper and have more "classic" styles which fit better and can be worn places other than nightclubs.

Skip BR just because they're overpriced for what they're offering and the fits tend to be poor. Do you have access to an outlet mall that has an Off 5th, Barney's outlet or Brooks Brothers factory store?

Boss gets little love around here mostly because they can be over-priced for the construction when compared to some other brands but surely you are not implying that Boss suits are the same quality as a Zara or BR suit?

SF's negative opinions on Boss are often based on two things, high cost for fused jackets in the Boss Black line, and honestly, to some extent, elitism. Most SF'ers, with a realistic POV can agree Boss is actually a decent value when had at sale prices mainly due to its sharp cut and above average materials that are used if you find the right item (location of tailoring, and materials used can very from season to season and suit to suit).

I personally have three Boss suits, one which was free BNWT (long, long story), one which is pretty close to new (worn once) in a mid gray for under $100, and a one that I can't for the life of me distinguish between the lightest black and darkest charcoal I have ever seen (with midnight blue thin pinstripes) which was marked down to $290 from $800. The last suit is my funeral suit mainly because I can't tell if it is black or charcoal under any type of light and I am just going to play the safe hand with it. Either way I have three of their suits for well under 1/2 the retail price of one, and I count them as great values for that price. Are they as nice as my Hickey Freeman's? No, but they far out do the suits I have seen in BR, and similar stores.

 

[ATS]

Unfortunately I don't, but I do have a MEXX near me. I will check them out tomorrow.
I have a Hugo Boss " Movie" Suit If MEXX is close in quality I will just buy one from them.

Originally Posted by chinoguy

Is there any Boggi store near you?

 

[ATS]

I am going for the slim Euro-cut suits, or something similar to John Varvatos. If anyone has any recommendations it would be greatly appreciated.

Originally Posted by TimelesStyle

That all depends on what the $500-1000 suit is. If you're paying MSRP for a Hugo Boss suit, the quality will be about the same. If you wait till the end of sale season and pick up a Zegna or Canali for $7-800 then there's a huge difference, night and day really.

I would skip Zara for the reasons described above. Actually, if you're going for the slim, inexpensive Euro-cut suits, I'd prefer H&M, they're cheaper and have more "classic" styles which fit better and can be worn places other than nightclubs.

Skip BR just because they're overpriced for what they're offering and the fits tend to be poor. Do you have access to an outlet mall that has an Off 5th, Barney's outlet or Brooks Brothers factory store?

 

[TimelesStyle]

Originally Posted by Johnny24

Boss gets little love around here mostly because they can be over-priced for the construction when compared to some other brands but surely you are not implying that Boss suits are the same quality as a Zara or BR suit?

SF's negative opinions on Boss are often based on two things, high cost for fused jackets in the Boss Black line, and honestly, to some extent, elitism. Most SF'ers, with a realistic POV can agree Boss is actually a decent value when had at sale prices mainly due to its sharp cut and above average materials that are used if you find the right item (location of tailoring, and materials used can very from season to season and suit to suit).

I personally have three Boss suits, one which was free BNWT (long, long story), one which is pretty close to new (worn once) in a mid gray for under $100, and a one that I can't for the life of me distinguish between the lightest black and darkest charcoal I have ever seen (with midnight blue thin pinstripes) which was marked down to $290 from $800. The last suit is my funeral suit mainly because I can't tell if it is black or charcoal under any type of light and I am just going to play the safe hand with it. Either way I have three of their suits for well under 1/2 the retail price of one, and I count them as great values for that price. Are they as nice as my Hickey Freeman's? No, but they far out do the suits I have seen in BR, and similar stores.

You completely missed the point of what I was saying. The OP asked if he'd be getting a significantly better suit by paying $500-1000 as opposed to buying at BR or Zara. I told him that if he chose to spend in that price range on HB at MSRP that he wouldn't be getting a significantly better suit. And he wouldn't be.

Is Hugo Boss a little better than Zara or BR? Maybe. From my cursory looks at both there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in terms of construction or materials quality. Is there a noticeable step up in quality that justifies paying 3x as much for said HB suit? Not even maybe. Is that same money justifiably spent on a $1500-2000 suit on sale from the likes of EZ, HF, RL? Absolutely.

 

[anginaprinzmetal]

I agree w the comments about suit cuts and quality in general. However, I think BR takes an out of proportion hate for no real reason. Mayb it's my perception but I found good deals in BR w good quality clothes that fit well. Now, if u expect a fully canvased suit this is not your place, but for casual pieces (occasional pants or sweaters) I think they do a decent job. Granted, I would never pay full retail there.

 

[TimelesStyle]

Originally Posted by ATS

I am going for the slim Euro-cut suits, or something similar to John Varvatos. If anyone has any recommendations it would be greatly appreciated.

If you can find Z-Zegna below $450 that's a pretty good buy. Good fit, nice material. It's fused and not worth the $90-1200 it retails for, but at a good enough discount it'll serve your purpose.

I'd probably hit H&M. You can get a fairly plain suit in the cut you want for under $250. Even though they're cheaper, don't go with their suit separates unless they're 100% wool. Most of the separates are polly/wool blends and not very nice. The suits sold as whole suits tend to be better quality all around.

 

[Johnny24]

Originally Posted by TimelesStyle

You completely missed the point of what I was saying. The OP asked if he'd be getting a significantly better suit by paying $500-1000 as opposed to buying at BR or Zara. I told him that if he chose to spend in that price range on HB at MSRP that he wouldn't be getting a significantly better suit. And he wouldn't be. Is Hugo Boss a little better than Zara or BR? Maybe. From my cursory looks at both there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in terms of construction or materials quality. Is there a noticeable step up in quality that justifies paying 3x as much for said HB suit? Not even maybe. Is that same money justifiably spent on a $1500-2000 suit on sale from the likes of EZ, HF, RL? Absolutely.
I don't think either one of us is far off from the same point; Hugo Boss at retail prices is a bit of a stretch for what can be had at the same price or lower when you know where to shop or what to buy. I think a Boss suit is a much better suit than anything in Zara or BR, the materials on two of my Boss suits are Super 130's and the other (the least used funeral suit) is 100% virgin wool that feels very nice. That is more than I can say for most of the suits in Express, Zara and similar stores. A BR regular line suit costs $355 for the jacket and $150 for the pants, the BR Monogram line is $425 per jacket and $198 per pant; both of which are 100% wool according to the website. The mainline comes out at roughly $500 and the Monogram at $625....Those are close to Boss prices at retail and well above what I have from Boss seen even in staple colors in Nordstrom Rack. I think it can be agreed that a Boss suit at $300 is a considerably better buy than a BR at retail, and I will argue that Boss suits are the better buy when at the same price rage as BR (if one were not educated to find more value for less money) based on my ownership of the suits as noted from my prior post. As for RL suits, it depends on what line and when they are from Polo USA made ones are pretty nice, but older). Most if not all of the Polo line, today, is fused, the materials can be nicer than a standard Boss suit but a lot of people overlook the fact that it is fused b/c it is King Ralph and it says Polo. If we are talking Black Label or Purple label then yes it kills when compared to Boss Black or Boss Selection. If we are talking Boss Red aka Hugo by Hugo Boss, those are comparable to Express, Zara, H&M suits....Actually H&M might be better than Red due to most of the full H&M suits being 100% wool, and the Red line being a blend with stretch and other fibers.