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What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

nytimes.com

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Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#91

Post by keiferski »

pfedor wrote: post #84
nl wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 n…

Why do you think the suit is dead? Don't know about other places, but at least in NoCal high status people don't wear suits. Since the only function of a suit is status signaling, it seems just a matter of time until everyone else catches up and suits will be replaced by bike jerseys or whatever.

Since the only function of a suit is status signaling

No, it's not. Just as you like hacking / biking / whatever, many people enjoy looking good by wearing well-made clothing.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#92

Post by rapind »

pfedor wrote: post #84
nl wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 n…

Why do you think the suit is dead? Don't know about other places, but at least in NoCal high status people don't wear suits. Since the only function of a suit is status signaling, it seems just a matter of time until everyone else catches up and suits will be replaced by bike jerseys or whatever.

Status signalling via wearable fashion is alive and well. There are hipsters living in my neighbourhood who spend well over $1k (average decent suit cost) on their outfits.

If anything, I suspect people on average are spending more on clothes around here.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#93

Post by potatolicious »

dredmorbius wrote: post #76
pclark wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

... at 4.5x the price of an OTR pair of slacks. Really? Even counting a nice (but not extravagant) pair, easily 2x the cost.

Yes, and so what?

A legit ergonomic keyboard is also easily 10-15x the cost of a no-name USB keyboard that "works just as well". A MacBook Pro is easily 2x the cost of something that has the same specs on paper. A pro-grade DSLR is 4-5x the cost of a consumer-grade DSLR but in principle work the same.

I've gone from wearing random cheap jeans to wearing $150-200 fitted jeans, and the difference is immense. It's comfortable, almost scary comfortable, the fabric are very noticeably nicer, the fit feels great, and people around you think so too.

That's not worth 2x the cost?

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#95

Post by Retric »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #65
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.

I am willing to bet someone that knew what they where doing could program a machine to cut fabric based on all those measurements thus saving time. That by it's self is scale. Next step, 3d imaging to capture some / all of those measurements automatically. Once you start down the path it's the classic R&D vs vs market size debate, but nothing says you need to diminish quality as you start to scale.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#96

Post by dredmorbius »

noonespecial wrote: post #81
dredmorbius wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Its highly likely that those are in fact the same question.

Not when asked by me.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=physiological+effects+of...

My general sense: any health effects are likely to be weak at levels typically encountered, but I'm holding as plausible that thee may be some effects.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#97

Post by gtuckerkellogg »

misterbwong wrote: post #59

Interesting. I wonder how the foreign suit makers affect this business. I have a few friends that visit Thailand regularly and get custom suits made (cost is <$200 USD). For the price of one of these suits in NY, you could fly to Bangkok (in Business Class!) AND get a few custom made suits.

Those I have a weakness for bespoke suits. I live in Singapore, and have gone to the same tailor for seven years. He's superb, but you can tell from working with a great tailor why even "made to measure" suits can be disappointing. When I started with this guy, I would go back for two fittings after my initial measurements, and before the suit was done. The fittings would be done with the partially constructed suit. Many details were checked and little adjustments made: asymmetry in my body, the sway in the back, where I pocket my phone, how to adjust the jacket for my wallet, and making sure the right sleeve accomodates my watch (I'm left handed). I thought it was overkill. But worn, his suits are flawless and so comfortable the idea that a suit would be uncomfortable is a distant concept.

After the first few years we reduced it by one fitting.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#98

Post by wisty »

noahc wrote: post #82
asr wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense, but this could be really bad advice. Maybe the customers who'd pay 10k for a suit won't go to some guy's living room for fittings. Or maybe the price of top bespoke tailors in town is comparable, because they make better use of lower-paid assistants. Or maybe, to convince a bank to make the loan he needs to move into a nicer place, he needs to show the bank he has a large backlog of orders. Or maybe he's…

And maybe it just might work... He doesn't have to jump from $4k to $10k. There's a demand curve and by raising prices from $4k to $5k and up he'll figure out where he can sit. More importantly, he's already at $4k. The person that spends $4k on a suit isn't going to sneeze at $8k. The person who spends $120 for a suit, throws a fit at $240.

> There's a demand curve

That's commonly believed by mainstream economists, as an article of faith. That there is a demand curve, and it always goes down. It's not always true, unless a huge number of axioms hold (none of which are true).

It's most obviously not true for prestige goods, which go up in demand as price rises (and then go down as no-one is able to afford them). Demand curves can be wacky, even discontinuous ... and don't always go up.

But if they don't go up all the time, then 99% of analytic macroeconomics (as it's taught) isn't analytically correct, and the communists might win.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#99

Post by phaus »

noahc wrote: post #82
asr wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense, but this could be really bad advice. Maybe the customers who'd pay 10k for a suit won't go to some guy's living room for fittings. Or maybe the price of top bespoke tailors in town is comparable, because they make better use of lower-paid assistants. Or maybe, to convince a bank to make the loan he needs to move into a nicer place, he needs to show the bank he has a large backlog of orders. Or maybe he's…

And maybe it just might work... He doesn't have to jump from $4k to $10k. There's a demand curve and by raising prices from $4k to $5k and up he'll figure out where he can sit. More importantly, he's already at $4k. The person that spends $4k on a suit isn't going to sneeze at $8k. The person who spends $120 for a suit, throws a fit at $240.

And just to show how significant a 20% price increase would be:

If he raised the price just $1k, that's $2k a month, or $24k a year. That would increase his take home income by almost 50%, as he claims his current income is around $50k.

Re: What's a $4000 Suit Worth?

#100

Post by [deleted] »

patio11 wrote: post #89
asr wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense, but this could be really bad advice. Maybe the customers who'd pay 10k for a suit won't go to some guy's living room for fittings. Or maybe the price of top bespoke tailors in town is comparable, because they make better use of lower-paid assistants. Or maybe, to convince a bank to make the loan he needs to move into a nicer place, he needs to show the bank he has a large backlog of orders. Or maybe he's…

Totally not offended by that comment, but I strongly disagree. It is entirely possible that he's found the correct price for a suit: two hours' labor for his core customers. It is entirely possible that the devs who tell me their clients won't pay more than $20 an hour for Rails programming are accurate, and that they're correct in thinking that they're not skilled enough to work for better clients. It is entirely po…

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