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What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

nytimes.com

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Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#41

Post by philh »

stusmall wrote: post #12
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.

That's slightly different. That's called made to measure. Its where you have one stock design and then its custom made to your body. For every M2M suit of a style, the patterns will match, label style will match, pockets will match. Its just the size that is different. I hear indochino does a pretty good job of making affordable M2M suits. For their prices I'd imagine a lot of the process is highly automated. When yo…

> number of buttons that match your personality

I'll bite: what correlation is there between your personality and the number of buttons on your ideal suit?

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#42

Post by dredmorbius »

lanstein wrote: post #13
graupel wrote: post #3

One of the first things I did when I got my first 'real' job was get a custom-made suit from a place in our neighborhood; it was $1000 and he did like 25 measurements and said it would be 2 weeks until it was ready. Turns out he was sending the measurements to Korea where the suits are custom made then shipped back, and then they do final alterations in the US. I've ordered 3 more since then by just sending an email…

Could you say, are you in SF? Also, your email isn't visible in your profile unless you put it in the 'about' box.

What I'd kill for isn't a suit, but a decent set of casual clothing that actually fits (see my post elsewhere on this post). I rarely-to-never wear suits. While not completely fashion-averse, I'm pretty pragmatic when it comes to clothing: it should cover my nakedness, not be uncomfortable, be easy to care for, and look reasonably well.

Jeans or khakis and button-downs work well for me, a washable wool could also work (dry cleaning really isn't an option). Contemporary clothing styles simply don't agree with me, and the made-to-measure and bespoke alternatives are still rather steep.

Though I'm increasingly tempted.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#43

Post by xentronium »

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.

That's already happening. A good suit is more of a status attribute, like a good wrist watch.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#44

Post by dredmorbius »

nitrogen wrote: post #25
lancewiggs wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The question isn't whether or not they're ionizing. The question is whether or not they have adverse biological actions.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#45

Post by thomaspaine »

gjm11 wrote: post #35

From http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html ... Why do the media keep running stories saying suits are back? Because PR firms tell them to.

What does this have to do with anything other than that both articles happen to use the word "suits"? This isn't a story about the suit making a comeback, it's about old world artisanship struggling to survive in a 21st century economy.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#48

Post by majormajor »

dredmorbius wrote: post #40

Yet another submarine: http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html The suit is dead for any number of reason, dittos bespoke clothing. $4000 is several times what I spend on clothes in a year. It's several times what I spend on clothes in several years. There's a far less expensive option that's highly satisficing. Suits, once an inexpensive, practical, standardized alternative to more ornate and expensive clothing, are now…

This article doesn't read like a subtle "the suit is back!" pitch to me. It's a pretty interesting look at the economics of a couple of different ways of making better-fitting suits.

I agree that the interesting changes will come out of the made-to-measure world. Considering the difference in comfort (not to mention look!) that properly-fitting clothing provides, I'd be extremely interested in getting a nice made-to-measure suit if I had the sort of job or social calendar that would give me opportunities to wear it... and while I don't expect to ever be in the sort of job or circles that would require a suit regularly, I definitely look forward to an economical, quick(ish) way of getting a nice-fitting suit. Last time I bought a suit I had to wait over a month for alterations to be done at the department store anyway, so if someone can come up with a way of reducing made-to-measure turnaround to a month...

And then let me gets khakis and less-formal shirts made that way too... I buy a lot more of those than suits.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#49

Post by antonioevans »

graupel wrote: post #3

One of the first things I did when I got my first 'real' job was get a custom-made suit from a place in our neighborhood; it was $1000 and he did like 25 measurements and said it would be 2 weeks until it was ready. Turns out he was sending the measurements to Korea where the suits are custom made then shipped back, and then they do final alterations in the US. I've ordered 3 more since then by just sending an email…

Can you PM the contact. Love a good suit.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#50

Post by gmazzotti »

antonioevans wrote: post #49
graupel wrote: post #3

One of the first things I did when I got my first 'real' job was get a custom-made suit from a place in our neighborhood; it was $1000 and he did like 25 measurements and said it would be 2 weeks until it was ready. Turns out he was sending the measurements to Korea where the suits are custom made then shipped back, and then they do final alterations in the US. I've ordered 3 more since then by just sending an email…

Can you PM the contact. Love a good suit.

me too please
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