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

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#61

Post by nl » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 11:36 PM UTC

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…

The suit is dead for any number of reason, dittos bespoke clothing.

Why do you think the suit is dead?

I wear a suit (not always, but often enough to have an opinion).

I've never bought an expensive suit, but I nor do I buy cheap suits. I guess I generally spend around $500.

I work with people who spend $2000 on suits though. These aren't bespoke, but are from nice fabrics and cut very well (eg, Hugo Boss etc). I'm no suit expert, but I can tell the difference.

I can't say I've seen any particular decrease in suit wearing over the past 15 years I've been working, although ties are less common that they used to be.

In my experience location and field of work makes a bigger difference to suit wearing than anything else.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#62

Post by jonnii » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 11:37 PM UTC

My best friend from highschool has ended up in this world through his passion for all things sartorial (http://www.thearmourystore.com/).

He was involved in creating a wonderful documentary that follows suit makers of Naples called O'Mast (http://vimeo.com/16443611), which even for someone like me who knows nothing about suits was really interesting. I suggest checking it out as it'll give you an idea of the kind of skill required to make a custom made suit.

No matter what you may think about spending $4000 on a suit, it's a shame to see this kind of craftmanship dying out =(

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#63

Post by nl » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 11:44 PM UTC

Even the richest customer simply has to wait — sometimes months — before the new suit is finished. No wonder so many pass up a $4,000 bespoke suit for a ready-to-wear Kiton version at twice the price.

Isn't it pretty clear here that he should raise prices dramatically?

Clearly the demand is there (people spend twice the price on a inferior product).

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#64

Post by ovi256 » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 11:47 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #60

Frew, who apprenticed with a Savile Row tailor, can — all by himself, and almost all by hand — create a pattern, cut fabric and expertly construct a suit that, for about $4,000, perfectly molds to its owner’s body. In a city filled with very rich people, he quickly had all the orders he could handle. You don't have to be Wall Street to figure out the bleedingly obvious solution to being a starving artist who has so m…

As I was reading the article I hoped I'd find a dose of common sense in the comments, and indeed, here it is. Good as always, Patrick.

Guys, take notes, this also applies for contracting.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#65

Post by lobster_johnson » Tue, Sep 04, 2012, 11:59 PM UTC

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.

Read the article more closely. This is about craftmanship trying to survive in an age where craftmanship itself does not scale. It's not about the "submarine PR" phenomenon that concerns the Paul Graham article.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#66

Post by pclark » Wed, Sep 05, 2012, 12:04 AM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #42

lanstein wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wor…

Chinos from ten years in the future: http://shop.outlier.cc/shop/retail/chino.html

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#67

Post by mikescar » Wed, Sep 05, 2012, 12:08 AM UTC

nl wrote: post #63

Even the richest customer simply has to wait — sometimes months — before the new suit is finished. No wonder so many pass up a $4,000 bespoke suit for a ready-to-wear Kiton version at twice the price. Isn't it pretty clear here that he should raise prices dramatically ? Clearly the demand is there (people spend twice the price on a inferior product).

Huh?

The whole point of paying twice as much is that you spend a fraction of the time defining product specs, and don't have to wait.

If so many pass up a 50% discount to get immediate satisfaction, they aren't likely to change their preference for waiting once the product they already didn't buy becomes dramatically more expensive.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#68

Post by greghinch » Wed, Sep 05, 2012, 12:08 AM 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 bought a couple $100 suits in Vietnam when I was there. The fit was good but the quality was low. They fell apart within a year. That was the experience that everyone I talked to who bought made to measure clothing there had. You get what you pay for.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#69

Post by stcredzero » Wed, Sep 05, 2012, 12:10 AM 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.

One wouldn't have to be naked. With the right kind of camera and lighting, customers could also be wearing an opaque gown. (Some care would have to be taken to ensure that the software isn't tampered with.)

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#70

Post by exhaze » Wed, Sep 05, 2012, 12:13 AM UTC

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…

What you described on the bottom is not unique to bespoke, these details can be just as easily adjusted on a made to measure suit.

What's unique about bespoke is that the tailor (technically, the cutter) will make a brand new pattern just for your body, which will be based on a much greater number of measurements. Also, the fitting of a bespoke suit involves multiple fittings (http://www.thesimplyrefined.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/B...), using each iteration to ensure a perfect "fit" in accordance with the tailor's vision.

Made to measure suits, on the other hand, involve a single fitting. After the fitting, the suit is made, and can only be altered to the same extent as, say, a standard size suit that you bought at a store.