How to assess the quality of garments (2014) • Hacker News Board

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#251

Post by coryfklein » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:15 PM UTC

tristor wrote: post #237

dhd415 wrote: post #15

In a previous life when I wore suits to work on a frequent basis, I got interested in this topic and spent way too much time learning about it. I now have a closet full of quality clothes that I wear much less frequently, but, for whatever it's worth, they'll last me the rest of my life. There's a lot of good info in this article, but there's also a lot more beyond it. For example, it mentions (accurately) that the f…

Fantastic information. To address your general point that there is some difficulty in assessing quality, it's not simply enough to spend lots of money, I'd recommend to everyone who is interested in stepping up their clothing quality game to find a reputable tailor. This is what I did, and I was lucky enough to do it while traveling in a part of the world with lower cost of living than the US. Because of this, I can…

Did you have your tailor make your clothing from scratch, or did you buy clothes you liked and had the tailor alter them to fit better?

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#252

Post by the_seraphim » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC

kortex wrote: post #215

H1Supreme wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you wear them daily? Even boots from Alden or Viberg should be rotated with at least one other pair.

Huh. So you are saying if I have 2 pairs of identical shoes, A and B, if I wear A for T months, then B for T months, by alternating every day I should get >2T months out?

Yes, it allows the materials to dry out and prevents microscopic damage from hydrolysis or mould et al.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#253

Post by brandonhorst » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:27 PM UTC

kaybe wrote: post #228

hi5eyes wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

techwear has been a trendy industry for solid 5+ years now

Can you give some trending examples that are not just phones strapped to the body?

That isn't what techwear means https://www.grailed.com/drycleanonly/an-introduction-to-tech...

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#254

Post by lb1lf » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:44 PM UTC

thrav wrote: post #238

Steve44 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is a flaw in that story. I’ve a few pairs of high quality shoes and yes they do last well and look good but they still need maintenance. I send them back to the manufacturer for a resole when needed, they come back refurbished but it’s cost about 1/3 the price of buying a new pair. I also have a 30 year old Omega watch. Every five years that goes back to Omega, it’s away for about a month and costs £2-3…

You shouldn’t send the watch back for refinishing. Worn ones are more valuable.

-It’s not just refinishing of the case, but rather cleaning and lubing the movement; you don’t want the innards to grind themselves to pieces.

That being said, my everyday Omega (a PlanetOcean diver) has gone for 11 years without a service and still keeps excellent time; once timekeeping deteriorates, I’ll have it cleaned, lubed and adjusted at my local watchmaker’s.

Oh, and the case will be refinished over my dead body; it has more or less literally gone to war with me, got banged up a bit, lived to tell the tale and is still ticking.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#255

Post by rsync » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:44 PM UTC

settsu wrote: post #14

It's interesting how synthetics were mostly lumped together and largely undifferentiated. To be fair, that post is over 5 years old and some seemingly significant advances in fabrics for consumer garments have become widely available in the meantime. I've personally come to feel cotton is vastly over-rated as a clothing material for anything but cost-saving goals (which certainly is an important factor.) Of course th…

"I've personally come to feel cotton is vastly over-rated as a clothing material for anything but cost-saving goals (which certainly is an important factor.) Of course there's the old adage "Cotton Kills", referring to cold weather ..."

FWIW, cotton is very useful as an underlayer for firefighting.

It's very important to not have any synthetic fabrics as underlayers - especially in a wildland/forest fire situation where a flash of heat that might only result in a first degree burn of your skin melts the synthetic fabric to your skin.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#256

Post by e12e » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:45 PM UTC

clydethefrog wrote: post #83

technofiend wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but their aesthetic isn't always popular. My Carhartt clothing is some of the best made and longest wearing I own. You're going to laugh but Carhartt is trying to go upmarket and establish themselves as a fashion brand in Europe! Imagine my surprise to trip across a Carhartt store with a wall of gimme caps / trucker hats on display in Frankfurt, Germany! Hopefully they expand their profitability by getting their nam…

Carhartt WIP has been an European streetwear brand for years now. I wrote an introduction four years ago to this brand in /r/streetwear. https://www.reddit.com/r/streetwear/comments/2d0gi4/brand_in... .

I think it's been a general trend for a while (at the very least since the dawn of hip hop, probably punk) that working-class work wear has been leaning towards fashion (Same for military wear).

Even Swedish Blåklädar (https://www.blaklader.se/) , which is AFAIK a fairly new brand, seem to have to lines ; a low quality, highly priced "fashion" line, and an affordable, high quality "work wear" line (that actually market to construction etc businesses, and often include safety wear features with appropriate certifications).

It drives me nuts that it's getting harder and harder to find decent "real" surplus military clothing and cheap work wear (maybe especially in Europe?) - while many of the "same" brands are readily available as overpriced fashion wear.

This really became apparent when I figured out that Blåklädar actually have a handful of stores deticated for b2b (vat not included in prices, generally require a business billing address to purchase) - which quite apart from the not included vat, we're cheaper and generally more "functional" than the stuff with the same brand carried by retailers...

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#257

Post by TuringNYC » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:55 PM UTC

Pimpus wrote: post #118

dhd415 wrote: post #15

In a previous life when I wore suits to work on a frequent basis, I got interested in this topic and spent way too much time learning about it. I now have a closet full of quality clothes that I wear much less frequently, but, for whatever it's worth, they'll last me the rest of my life. There's a lot of good info in this article, but there's also a lot more beyond it. For example, it mentions (accurately) that the f…

> I now have a closet full of quality clothes that I wear much less frequently, but, for whatever it's worth, they'll last me the rest of my life. > Or rather, they're expensive upfront but often turn out to be more economical over the life of the garment. Okay, but this is assuming that your body composition does not change and the clothes continue to fit you. Your body is more important to how you look than the clo…

Fit is important, but what about comfort? For example, you can have two shirts with the exact same fit but one can be more comfortable just based on materials used.

For real life examples: some undershirts can be itch inducing but those from Banana Republic don’t have that issue; or compare similar fitting generic workout pants to Lulu Lemon ones.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#258

Post by e12e » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:56 PM UTC

tsunamifury wrote: post #229

FDSGSG wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’ve arrived at the conclusion that Loro piana, Brunello Cuccinelli and to a lesser degree Zenga provide the very best quality generally available Why not go bespoke at this point? I keep asking myself this, laziness seems to be the only reason.

Because I wear their streetwear lines not suits. But on that note I visited Saville Row on my last trip to London and even they talked of Brunello admiringly.

Surely bespoke streetwear isn't more expensive than (high end) bespoke suits?

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#259

Post by FDSGSG » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 5:00 PM UTC

e12e wrote: post #258

tsunamifury wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I wear their streetwear lines not suits. But on that note I visited Saville Row on my last trip to London and even they talked of Brunello admiringly.

Surely bespoke streetwear isn't more expensive than (high end) bespoke suits?

(high end) bespoke streetwear is almost certainly going to be more expensive than (high end) bespoke suits.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#260

Post by elliekelly » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 5:12 PM UTC

shay_ker wrote: post #243

elliekelly wrote: post #24

In high school during the summers I worked as a seamstress making vastly overpriced custom curtains for an interior designer. I learned a quick & dirty method of judging the quality of just about anything made of fabric: look at the fabric grain relative to the primary vertical seams (pant legs, jacket sleeve, shirt torso). The angle at which a piece of fabric is cut can drastically change the shape/fit of the item b…

Do you have any images that do a side-by-side comparison? Or do you have to just go see for yourself?

I haven't had much luck finding a side-by-side comparison but I hope this[1] image helps me explain it better. You can see the fabric's grainline where the thread is pulled loose. If you imagine the loose thread is a seam you can (sort of) see the other threads of the fabric run either parallel or perpendicular to it.

Now instead imagine the seam is at the raw edge at the top of the photo. Do you see how the pulled thread of the grainline isn't parallel and will eventually intersect with the line of the (imaginary) seam?

[1] https://sewguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/grainline-of...

Edit: The inset of this[2] image might help as well. See how the lines marked "warp threads" run parallel to the selvage and the "weft threads" run into the seam at a 90 degree angle? The threads should intersect the primary vertical seam of a garment the same way.

[2] https://www.thecuttingclass.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/5...