What's a $4000 Suit Worth? • Hacker News Board

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#21

Post by lancewiggs » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 10:10 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #17

T_S_ wrote: post #15

Why can't the TSA make me a suit? They already have the measurements. I'm barely half joking here. Seems like this is one of those unsolved "solved problems".

You may have something here. You wouldn't even need millimeter waves to do it. Just a 3D scanner setup, which can amount to an old projector and some webcams. We should be able to use technology from 3D motion capture to build a physical model of someone's skeleto-muscular system. The hard part would be the domain knowledge. Someone would have to work closely with a tailor to convert his/her specialized knowledge abo…

X-rays used to be very popular for shoe fitting. I strongly suspect that millimeter waves have similar long term health issues. And I don't see many getting naked in front of a 3D video camera set-up.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#22

Post by rz2k » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 10:12 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #17

T_S_ wrote: post #15

Why can't the TSA make me a suit? They already have the measurements. I'm barely half joking here. Seems like this is one of those unsolved "solved problems".

You may have something here. You wouldn't even need millimeter waves to do it. Just a 3D scanner setup, which can amount to an old projector and some webcams. We should be able to use technology from 3D motion capture to build a physical model of someone's skeleto-muscular system. The hard part would be the domain knowledge. Someone would have to work closely with a tailor to convert his/her specialized knowledge abo…

The Brooks Brothers on Madison Ave got a "digital tailor" setup about five years ago.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#23

Post by ralfd » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 10:12 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #17

T_S_ wrote: post #15

Why can't the TSA make me a suit? They already have the measurements. I'm barely half joking here. Seems like this is one of those unsolved "solved problems".

You may have something here. You wouldn't even need millimeter waves to do it. Just a 3D scanner setup, which can amount to an old projector and some webcams. We should be able to use technology from 3D motion capture to build a physical model of someone's skeleto-muscular system. The hard part would be the domain knowledge. Someone would have to work closely with a tailor to convert his/her specialized knowledge abo…

"Cut for you" in Berlin uses a 3D body scanner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRdTSugYdjc

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#24

Post by eshvk » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 10:14 PM UTC

rhplus wrote: post #20

Not mentioned in the article, but if you're willing to wait, some of those Saville Row suitmakers will produce a bespoke suit for much cheaper than $4000. The trick is to add a 4 week wait time and ship the measurements off to India. And of course, if you can make the trip to India yourself (or plenty of other countries in SE Asia), then a bespoke suit will cost you less than $100.

I have often been tempted to go get a suit from these guys ( http://www.syedbawkher.com/) who promise a bespoke suit as good as Saville Row. However, the number they quote ~ $1000 is not exactly cheap enough for me to experiment.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#25

Post by nitrogen » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 10:18 PM UTC

lancewiggs wrote: post #21

stcredzero wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may have something here. You wouldn't even need millimeter waves to do it. Just a 3D scanner setup, which can amount to an old projector and some webcams. We should be able to use technology from 3D motion capture to build a physical model of someone's skeleto-muscular system. The hard part would be the domain knowledge. Someone would have to work closely with a tailor to convert his/her specialized knowledge abo…

X-rays used to be very popular for shoe fitting. I strongly suspect that millimeter waves have similar long term health issues. And I don't see many getting naked in front of a 3D video camera set-up.

Millimeter waves are not ionizing, while the x-rays used by TSA backscatter machines and medical x-rays are.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#26

Post by erikgoldman » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 10:22 PM UTC

dag11 wrote: post #14

jcromartie wrote: post #9

Come on! (sorry)

I get the reference, but I think this better belongs on Reddit.

so does this article. reddit used to be almost entirely programming, then it got into libertarianism, general engineering, and articles like this and eventually transformed into cat memes.

just wait...

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#27

Post by leothekim » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 10:23 PM UTC

$4000.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#28

Post by gknoy » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 10:24 PM UTC

mason55 wrote: post #10

ghshephard wrote: post #5

If there was _every_ a task ideally suited (no pun intended) for automation, this is it. Plunk the 16 measurements required and you should have a high quality bespoke suit.

There are plenty of companies that already do that (Indochino, Modasuite, Black Lapel, etc). No one who cares much about fashion believes that they will overtake a good bespoke suit any time soon. For example, measurement is not as easy as "wrap a tape around your arm". You have to take multiples to make sure you get people as they add water weight, you have to take it at the right spot which might change for each pe…

The skill in measurement is an entirely different skill from that of doing the sewing, however. If you had a machine that could sew as well as a human, we could have an army of measurement experts sending them to the machines, which would churn out custom-made suits.

I think the bigger question is how to automate the sewing. If we could do that, I imagine it would make it much more scalable.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#29

Post by lancewiggs » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 10:25 PM UTC

In my opinion it's a lot of money, but can be very well spent.

A fantastically fitting and well designed suit is a powerful weapon in business, politics and life. Trends come and go, but suits always seem to come back into vogue, and you can really tell the difference between the highest quality bespoke suiting and shirts that the CEO/HNWI/high ranking politician wear, and the ones that lower levels are wearing.

Like it or not I've found that suits really work to project "rank" (whatever that means) - working on me and (sometimes) for me. So it's worth the money to invest in at least one very good one. Some say we should dress for the job we want next, or in ten years.

Add-ons beyond the initial investment can add up, including a range of shirts, ties, multiple work suits and suits for other purposes such as formal events and outdoor events in summer. However purchasing well means that these can last for years and years. Suits for men are a lot easier, cheaper and last longer than business clothing for women, who have another order or two of complexity to deal with.

It's the same with "casual" clothes. Some people wear casual clothes that are not so casual or cheap on closer inspection.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#30

Post by nicholassmith » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 10:26 PM UTC

My Dad is a tailor, from ye olden days as well and cut his teeth measuring, marking and cutting. Yes, you can get a made to measure suit that's pretty much damn near perfect but when a truly experienced tailor works to produce a suit it's essentially a hand-crafted, one of a kind piece of art.

And oddly given my love of tailored suits I generally buy off the peg ones as I'm way too hard on clothing to justify the outlay (even with a family discount).