Unfunded Liabilities: a/k/a The Cloth Thread

[Concordia]

Swiss Army TuxSuit.

 

[The Chai]

Swiss Army TuxSuit.

Genius idea!

 

[Concordia]

 

[SimonC]

What, so you can roll straight from a wedding to a funeral? Seriously, who needs a peak lapel *black* suit?

 

[The Chai]

What, so you can roll straight from a wedding to a funeral? Seriously, who needs a peak lapel *black* suit?

I gather they still wear something quite similar to a morning suit/directors suit in japan which has all the standard fittings of a morning suit but with the tails replaced with a black 1b peak lapel lounge suit

 

[Angel91]

Hello guys! I’ve got a question and I don’t know where to post it. I figured this would be the best one since it involves cloth.
So, I bought this jacket from an only thrift shop. It was advertised as Solaro and, not having touched it before, I don’t know how to identify it. I’ve been looking online but there’s no information in that regard. The jacket has that inner red coloring, but there’s something about it that makes me doubt it’s actually Solaro. Not that it matters, really, the cloth is lovely, but I’d like to know it just for the sake of it.
What do you think?

 

[Crispyj]

I thought real solaro was supposed to be in a herringbone weave.

 

[ericgereghty]

I thought real solaro was supposed to be in a herringbone weave.

Believe it’s technically the case, though Smith’s (the “real” Solaro) now does a number of weaves for it

 

[JHWilliams]

What, so you can roll straight from a wedding to a funeral? Seriously, who needs a peak lapel *black* suit?

I am a Funeral Director and Embalmer (often wearing a peak lapel black suit for less formal funerals that do not require a morning suit/stroller.

 

[Concordia]

Hello guys! I’ve got a question and I don’t know where to post it. I figured this would be the best one since it involves cloth.
So, I bought this jacket from an only thrift shop. It was advertised as Solaro and, not having touched it before, I don’t know how to identify it. I’ve been looking online but there’s no information in that regard. The jacket has that inner red coloring, but there’s something about it that makes me doubt it’s actually Solaro. Not that it matters, really, the cloth is lovely, but I’d like to know it just for the sake of it.
What do you think?

That looks like Solaro, although b/c of small variation in colors it might not be from the original Smiths recipe. Fawn/brown dominating the top and red underneath is the usual fingerprint.

 

[brax]

That certainly looks like no Smith solaro that I have ever seen but it may be from a different mill. Smith came out with a very interesting green/blue version that I commissioned a few years ago. Great stuff for shoulder season.

 

[tomsocal]

Yes, but most people here are not paying the tailor's price, and many are based in the US. I believe that European cloth is cheaper for people in Europe, and more expensive abroad. And then, if you have to go through an agent, you can expect to pay more money.

IMO, this is why the baseline expectation on this thread is skewed. People assume that cloth will be something like HFW prices (roughy $100/ meter), but it's commonly a lot more (closer to $200/ meter).

Bit late but can confirm, I'm now ordering a length of Dakota 9518506 from a merchant in Warsaw and it's $160/meter but with quite an expensive shipping the total for 1.2m is $235 (which is still $20 less than 4-ply Ascot directly from Drappers). I do have to pay VAT though since the cloth is staying with my tailor in Poland.

 

[krudsma]

Anyone have any idea what this weave is? It looks and feels like oxford from afar but up close it appears to be something else.

Spoiler

 

[bjhofkin]

Anyone have any idea what this weave is? It looks and feels like oxford from afar but up close it appears to be something else.

Spoiler

View attachment 1810192
View attachment 1810194

Birdseye maybe?

 

[xizenta]

Does anyone here have a recommendation or a go-to tailor to do CMT suits from a provided exemplar by mail? I do not have a local tailor I want to use but I have about five bolts of suiting I would like made up. Ideally I could send my favorite jacket by mail with the suiting and get back something similar.