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How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

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

#271

Post by derefr »

losvedir wrote: post #177
masklinn wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or rather, they're expensive upfront but often turn out to be more economical over the life of the garment. In either case, they will be more pleasant to wear than a lower quality alternative. Good ol' Vimes "Boots" Theory of Economic Injustice strikes again: > At the time of Men at Arms, Samuel Vimes earned thirty-eight dollars a month as a Captain of the Watch, plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots…

I don't really believe this anymore. Basically because of this theory my last pair of boots want the nicest I could find, high quality materials, hand made construction, almost $500, thinking it was an investment and I'd never have to go shoe shopping again. Well, I've had to repair them once already, and frankly with how cheap boots are at Walmart I don't think anymore I'll ever break even. Nice boots, though, and a…

I believe the common wisdom isn't that high-quality things necessarily are any slower to wear out; but rather that when they do wear out, they do so in non-critical ways, with specially-designated easily-replaceable sacrificial parts wearing out to protect the whole.

E.g. with shoes with leather soles, you can just pry them off and tack on a new sole; with an expensive couch with good framing, you can just reupholster the thing; etc.

Likewise, clothes considered higher-quality are usually made of materials that can "absorb" re-stitching; while clothes made of "expensive" but not "high-quality" materials (e.g. modern sports fabrics) will tear and then there's nothing you can really do; any patch sewn onto them would fall back off the first time they're put through the wash.

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

#272

Post by athenot »

kingludite wrote: post #50

I get what the article is getting at, its lovely for what it is trying to do. my take: Cloths are what people you meet look at. They create a mood in the spectator and leave an impression of who you are. First you have to figure out who you are, who you use to be and who you want to become. Who are the people you meet? they use to be what? who do you want them to be? After doing that you pick cloths that compliment t…

> Try wearing a kilt or a lederhose and watch the world around you change.

> If you look at today's fashion its like everyone is heading to a funeral. Like they got tired of carrying their soul around then forget where they left it.

The fun thing I noticed once I moved away from purely function to wearing fun things, is the number of people who somewhat secretely wished they could also wear fun things but have felt that they would miss out on required societal approval. And yet the reality is the opposite, based on the feedback I've gotten.

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

#273

Post by tristor »

coryfklein wrote: post #251
tristor wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Everything was made from scratch, and it was literally only 20% more than a similar off the shelf shirt at Macy's. I paid $85 at Macy's for a Michael Kors dress shirt which fit me pretty okay. My tailor charges me $110 for a shirt, and it's bespoke. $125 if I want contrast stitching on the top buttonhole and my initials monogrammed on the cuff.

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

#274

Post by Groxx »

dbatten wrote: post #226
jghn wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me what finally worked was counterintuitive. I stopped wearing antiperspirant altogether. The heavy duty stuff did cause me to sweat less in my armpits but I found I sweat everywhere else more. And I still had pit stains. Switched to deodorant and found that I was sweating less, and pit stains are a complete thing of the past.

I second this. I had debilitating underarm sweat and continually ruined shirts with pit stains. I switched from antiperspirant to a simple deodorant. I sweat SO much less in the arm pit area and I never sweat through my shirts anymore (unless I'm working out, of course). Undershirts have been a good win as well - keeps the chemicals off my real shirt, and if you get high-end ones, they're light and breathable and don…

At least from my attempts / for me: antiperspirant is dramatically more effective, for far longer, at preventing body odor. Like 4 hours (or less) vs 24+ hours better.

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

#275

Post by jacobush »

elliekelly wrote: post #198
jacobush wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I heard is that the cuts are laid out like a puzzle on the fabric. So some lucky t-shirts get the straight, "correct" angles vs fabric grain, while others will be wrong.

You can’t really “luck” into a long straight cut of fabric that’s well aligned much the same way a carpenter doesn’t “luck” into straight cuts. And then consider that wood is stiff while a slight movement of fabric could still result in a poor cut even when you’ve carefully measured and laid out the pattern correctly.

I assumed machines do the cutting according to CAD files or equivalent - whatever movements are there I must believe is designed and deliberate.

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

#276

Post by tsunamifury »

FDSGSG wrote: post #259
e12e wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I’m curious who might even provide that. I know at trunk shows I have customized fabrics on street wear but never any concept of bespoke. I’d imagine you’d have to be a six figure spend or more client to get that privilege.

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

#277

Post by bluewater »

dbatten wrote: post #226
jghn wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me what finally worked was counterintuitive. I stopped wearing antiperspirant altogether. The heavy duty stuff did cause me to sweat less in my armpits but I found I sweat everywhere else more. And I still had pit stains. Switched to deodorant and found that I was sweating less, and pit stains are a complete thing of the past.

I second this. I had debilitating underarm sweat and continually ruined shirts with pit stains. I switched from antiperspirant to a simple deodorant. I sweat SO much less in the arm pit area and I never sweat through my shirts anymore (unless I'm working out, of course). Undershirts have been a good win as well - keeps the chemicals off my real shirt, and if you get high-end ones, they're light and breathable and don…

This is like a secret that unbelievably hasn’t hit the mainstream. If you sweat heavily pretty much no antiperspirant will work as advertised. Some of the prescription brands have you applying the night before and I had some success but they tended to tear up my armpits and ultimately fail. Personally I see a direct correlation between alcohol consumption and sweating. I discovered that as an unintended consequence during a 30 day detox. If I limit my alcohol intake and use just a deodorant I find myself much better off. Worth experimenting with if you’ve tried everything else.

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

#278

Post by mc32 »

deepakhj wrote: post #120
mc32 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a rough proxy for fabric quality is the mill a textile comes from. Speaking in very general terms mills in Italy and Japan produce some good textiles (and not so good ones), but because they are expensive countries they tend to be on the higher end. Some east coast denim mills tend to be good too. Stitching done in Portugal is pretty good too. Of course, you can find good cheap tailors in underdeveloped count…

Taylor Stitch and Mission Workshop makes some of their clothing in Portugal.

I looked at MW, Outliers and Tailor Stitch. Outliers and TS currently don't have patterned shirts (stripes, checks, etc), but at least Outliers shows one piece of carelessness they don't match up the patterns on the yoke with the sleeve. (same with front pocket --things should line up).

Since most don't show a picture of the back of the shirt, also can't tell if they have split yoke. Most quality shirts will have split yoke, especially dress shirts, though it's mostly unnecessary.

One other tell of whether someone takes pride in their shirting is not using synthetic buttons.

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

#279

Post by JetSpiegel »

vl wrote: post #264
ptmvp wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an interesting thought but I think there's little basis to believe there is a concerted effort here, as the average consumer is very aware that the quality of, say, a screwdriver from China, is very different from that of a German made one. I think it's just an unintended consequence of a race to the bottom in cheap, disposable manufacturing. Even then, I'm unsure if on an aggregate level the progress in materia…

But times are changing, now it’s also possible to buy great screwdriver from China and inferior from Germany.

Sure, but buying a random German screwdriver gets you a better one, comparing to a random Chinese one.

Even if China produces an absolute number of good screwdrivers, tge deluge of crap ones dwarfs it.

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

#280

Post by magduf »

rsync wrote: post #255
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 wh…

Wouldn't you want to use Nomex for this kind of thing? It's synthetic and extremely flame-resistant, which is why it's used for clothing for firefighters, race car drivers, and military pilots.
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