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Thoughts on Buying Good Sweaters

The best time to purchase sweaters is at the end of the season, when the fall/ winter stock gets discounted by fifty percent or more. The best time to shop for sweaters, however, is now, so that you can give yourself a few months time to figure out what you want and not be rushed into impulse buys come January. So, if you’re out browsing for sweaters, I’d suggest the following:

Low- to mid-tier purchases: If your budget is limited, I recommend aiming for sweaters made out of lambswool, Shetland, or merino wools. The first two, all things being equal, are harder-wearing. I also think they can often have more visual depth in their texture and color than most, lower-end merinos, which can be useful if you want to wear the sweater without a jacket. The sweater pictured above really shows off the nice lofty nap on lambswool, I think. 

High-end purchases: If your budget is over $350 or so, consider cashmere. The problem with cashmere below this mark – at least at full retail prices – is that they’re often poorly made. Cashmere is expensive, so when a company is selling a cashmere sweater for under $350 or so, it means they’ve likely skimped on the construction. That can mean shorter fibers used for the yarns, which will result in more breakages and pilling, or thin, loosely knitted fabrics, which will lose their shape over time. Better, I think, to stick to lambswool, Shetlands, and merinos, rather than be tricked into the allure of “cheap” cashmere.

Checking for quality: It’s difficult to determine a sweater’s true quality without having actually owned it for a few years. Nothing can substitute for experience. There are a few things, however, that you can do to make an educated guess. On cashmere, try rubbing the fabric between your fingers for a bit, and see if a light, oily residue has been left on your hands. If there is, that means the fabric was treated with a kind of emulsion, and is probably of low quality. On everything else, see if the sweater has been knitted densely, and check the elasticity of the collars and cuffs. It’s difficult to convey online exactly what level of quality to look for – which is why I think you should browse the inventory at a high-end store – but generally, if you think the sweater might lose its shape easily, it probably will.

Altering knits: Ideally, you should buy something that fits perfectly off-the-rack, but some knits can be altered if you have a good alterationist. On sweaters with side seams, I’ve found it’s easy to take in the body without too much trouble. You can read my post on knit alterations here.

Getting rid of pills: Every sweater, no matter what the quality, will pill to some degree. The question is just how much and how quickly. To take care of pills, I recommend using a sweater shaver. I use this one and it works decently well, though there are probably better ones on the market.

Where to buy: I can’t give a full list of every place that stocks good sweaters, but I can make a few suggestions based off of my experiences. On the high end, I really like Inis Meain, Drumohr, Drake’s, John Smedley, and William Lockie (the last of which you can buy through Heather Wallace). For more affordable purchases, I’ve had good experiences with Brooks Brothers, Club Monaco, and Howard Yount. The first two often do significant mark-downs throughout the season, which is when I think you should buy. Club Monaco also gives students an extra 20% off if they can show a student ID in-store or give a university email address online. I’ve picked up their basic v-neck sweaters before for about $45, and find them to be of a good value. 

Why You’re Unlikely to Tell Between a Fused and Half-Canvassed Jacket

Tailor Jeffery Diduch, who maintains the rather illuminating blog Tutto Fatto a Mano, was nice enough to contact us a few weeks ago to correct us on the pinch test. Apparently, you can’t use the pinch test to see if a suit jacket or sport coat is half-canvassed, only if it’s fully-canvassed. The pinch test, as many readers know, is when you pinch the two outer layers of a jacket, typically along the lower front near the edge, and pull them apart to see if there’s a distinct, floating piece of material in between. If there is, this is said to be a mark of quality. To understand this, we should first review how suits and sport coats are made.

A Quick Primer on Suit and Sport Coat Construction

Oversimplified, a jacket is made up of distinct layers of fabric. The two outermost layers, which is the cloth we see and feel, make up the “shell.” Sandwiched in-between are layers of haircloth, canvas, felt, and fusible interlining, depending on whether the jacket is fully-canvassed, half-canvassed, or fused.

On a fully-canvassed jacket, you’ll have a canvas – typically made from a blend of wool, often cotton, and animal hair – running down the full length of the garment. Tacked onto this will be the chest piece. As the name implies, this piece is just set at the chest and shoulders, so that it gives this area some shape and support. This chest piece is usually made of haircloth, which is a cloth that has had strands of horse tail hair woven in. Horse tail hair is very stiff and wiry, which is why it’s perfect for lending structure. Add on to this some felt to cover the wiry animal hair, possibly a very lightweight fusible if the outer shell’s material needs some stabilization, and we have the basic ingredients of a full-canvassed jacket.

The upside to this kind of construction is that the canvas will give a nice bloom to the lapels, making the jacket look more three-dimensional, and give some support to the front. The downside is that this type of construction is very expensive, both in terms of the materials and labor required, and if poorly executed, it could cause the fronts to pucker.

So, about forty years ago, a German company came up with a new type of construction: fusibles. A fused jacket is much like a full-canvassed garment in that it still has the two outer shell layers, a chest piece, and some felt. Replacing the floating canvas, however, is a fusible interlining. When heated and pressed, this interlining’s special resin will melt and bond to any cloth, thus adding a similar kind of support that canvas does. The upside to this is that we cut costs. It’s quick, easy, and requires little to no skill on the part of the operator. The downside, as you can imagine, is that it slightly stiffens the cloth and doesn’t provide as nice of a support as animal hair. Lapels don’t “bloom” in the same way, but rather look flat and lifeless. It also used to be the case that fused garments carried a risk of delamination and bubbling over time, but the technology has come far enough where such cases are rare.

Finally, we have half-canvassed garments, which are the compromise. Here, the front of the jacket is fused (since you still need to stabilize the fronts), but the fusible doesn’t extend to the lapel area, where you want that kind of bloom and structure that animal hair gives. Instead, the lapels will have canvas in it like a full-canvas garment. Here, you try to get the benefits of both methods, while minimizing the cons.

The Limits of the Pinch Test

Now, the pinch test is said to be a way for you to tell if a jacket is canvassed or not. Usually, you’ll want to take the fabric a few inches below the lowest button, pinch the two outer layers and pull them apart. If you can feel a distinct, floating layer in-between, that’s the canvas. You know so because below the lowest button, there’s really nothing but the two shell layers and whatever has been used to stabilize the fronts. If it’s floating and distinct, then you’ll know it’s been fully-canvassed. If you can’t feel anything between, that means some fusible has been glued onto one of the shell layers.

The reason why you can’t do this on a half-canvassed garment is because below the second button is always fused, so you don’t know if the garment is half-canvassed or fully-fused. If you go above the second button or so, towards the chest area, you won’t know if you’re just feeling the chest piece. All garments – fully-canvassed, half-canvassed, or fused – will have a floating chest piece, so feeling a distinct layer there means nothing. The only way to know if a garment is either half-canvassed or fused is to ask a knowledgeable salesperson, but from my experience, these are very, very hard to find. Especially, frankly, at places that would sell a fused garment. So, unfortunately, there’s little way to tell if a garment is fused or half-canvassed.

* Thanks to Jeffery for his help with this article. For a more detailed write-up on how suits and sport coats are made, read Jeffery’s post here. 

Check Out the Best

If you happen to live near a high-quality men’s clothing store, I encourage you to drop by it sometime, even if you can’t afford what’s being sold. Because for as much as you can read about clothing online, nothing replaces having handled things yourself. It’s by handling a truly high-quality sweater that you can tell what a substantial, dense knit feels like, or by conducting the “pinch test” on a half- or full-canvassed suit that you can tell when something is fused. Similarly, while you’re at it, take the time to try things on. Not that everything high-end fits better, but they often do. You may find how amazing you can look in a truly well-made suit, or gain a new appreciation for certain aspects of the fit, such as a cleaner shoulder line. It’s only by handling and trying on such things that you can put meaning to the words you’ve read online.

This is useful even if you can’t afford such things, because by handling the best of what’s out there, you’ll get a better sense of how other items compare. When you’re out doing your real shopping, you’ll have a better eye for how to spot quality and know what things you value. For example, after trying on a really nice suit, you may find that you want to pay extra money for nicer fabric, but you could care less about handstitched details. So you move from one store to the next until you find what you need. 

Of course, if you’ve never been in a high-end men’s boutique, they can feel a bit intimidating. At least I thought so when I first entered one ten or eleven years ago. I remember walking in with a pair of jeans, a cheap button-up shirt, and a boxy, brown, herringbone tweed I thrifted a few years prior. I figured everyone would see me as a rube. On the contrary, the sales associates were cordial and happy to help (though, they may have still seen me as a rube). You’ll quickly learn that the people who shop at such places are as likely to come dressed in an old pair of jeans and ill fitting polo as they are in a nice suit, and most of the people working at such establishments are normal, kind, professional folks. Naturally, you’ll won’t want to waste anyone’s time, so if they ask, just tell them you’re not looking to purchase anything at the moment. If they’re still eager to help, it can be useful to chat with them about their products, but even just handling things alone can be educational. 

So, when you get a chance, stop by a high-quality menswear store. One that sells the best of what’s made (not just the most expensive). You can learn a lot from the experience. 

(Photo: One of my favorite stores in San Francisco, De Corato, now unfortunately closed.)

Classics for the Unsure and Indecisive

I was trying to decide the other day whether I should buy a certain pair of brogues from a Hungarian shoe company I admire. Should I get them in oxblood or dark brown? A sleek last or round toe? Or perhaps a different design all together? After a bit of mulling, I decided to put these decisions off until next year. It’s not like I can afford them right now anyway. 

And isn’t that what’s great about classic men’s clothing? That you can delay purchases for a year, even two, and the items will still be there? Not sure if you should get a tweed jacket in dark brown or mid-grey? Or whether you prefer wingtips to penny loafers? Think about it for as long as you need to. If you’re buying from reputable makers, and choosing classic designs, these items will still be sitting there waiting for you when you return. Compare that to more fashion-orientated brands, where designs can be seasonal, and if you don’t get a certain thing this year, you may never see it again. 

Not to say that there’s anything wrong with “fashion.” The idea that men’s clothing can be simply divided into timeless classics and “frivolous fashion” is a bit reductive. But there’s something to be said about things that will be around for the next five, ten, fifteen years. If you’re not sure if you really want something, or if a particular item is just a passing fad, put the purchase off for a year or two and then return to it.

Which is really just a long way to say something that’s been said many times before: shop slowly and thoughtfully when building a wardrobe. The great thing about classic men’s clothing is that you don’t have to rush yourself. Make decisions you’re sure of, buy things you can afford, and give yourself time so that you can do both. 

(Photo credit: d_pap)

NYT: New Wrinkle in Menswear: Shops Just For Men

The American fashion industry is starting to notice that some men don’t hate clothes.

Don’t Shop Aimlessly; Have a Plan

If I could only give three pieces of advice to a budding clothing enthusiast, they would be: find a good alterations tailor; learn how clothes should fit; and set a plan for your purchases.

I can’t stress the last point enough. Having a plan means that you’ll be more likely to build a wardrobe of versatile clothes that easily combine into outfits, rather than just a collection of various things that happen to have caught your eye. To set a plan, begin by determining your annual clothing budget. Once you’ve figured out what you can afford, allocate between half and to three-quarters of your budget to shoes, suits, sport coats, and outerwear. These tend to have the biggest ticket prices, but also the highest pay offs. You can easily look great with an excellent sport coat or jacket, even if you’re just wearing it with a mediocre button-up shirt and cheap pair of chinos.

The rest of your budget should be spread between trousers and shirts, and maybe a small amount allocated to sweaters and accessories.

Now go through your wardrobe and figure out what holes need to be filled and what basics need to be replaced. As much as you can, try to cut your wish list in half and double the budget allocated for each item. You’ll always be happier with a small wardrobe filled with higher quality pieces than you will with a large one filled with half-neglected cheap items.

It’s too much to expect that each person out there has the same clothing needs as I do, but if I had to make a recommendation, I would say you should try to acquire two or three pairs of shoes a year, maybe the same in outerwear, and perhaps one or two sport coats or suits per season, depending on your lifestyle. This, in addition to what you’ll purchase in shirts and trousers, should put you on track to building a respectable wardrobe in about three to five years’ time.

I update my list constantly, and frequently mull over what I should add or drop. My list helps me figure out what I want my wardrobe to look like in the long-run, and whether I have too many navy sweaters and not enough grays, or too many fall jackets and not enough for spring. Once something has been on my list for a while, I try keep the item in mind while shopping. And by sticking to my list, I’m able to avoid compulsive purchases. This is especially useful during sale seasons, when one might think that a padded tweed jacket with a faint windowpane check is more worth purchasing than it is. If it hasn’t been on my list for a while, it’s probably not something I’ve thought about long enough. 

Smarter Sales Shopping

Everyone loves a good deal, but sometimes I wonder if men might not be better off if they weren’t allowed to shop in sale sections. On the one hand, men who are otherwise very careful with their money can lose all restraint at the sight of a good bargain. On the other hand, a good wardrobe is very expensive, and saving thirty to seventy percent on that expense is nothing to scoff at.

There are better and worse ways to approach sales, however, and the difference between them is a wardrobe that’s strong and versatile and another that’s incoherent and filled with nothing you actually want to wear. To get the first, I’d suggest the following

“Nice Stuff, But Not for Me”

One of the most important skills you can learn as you develop your own sense of style is how to judge whether something fits you. I don’t mean just physically (though that’s critically important), but also whether something properly suits your personality, character, and lifestyle. For example, a cutaway collar might frame your face very well, but if you’re a stodgy academic who is hoping to be thought of as an intellectual, perhaps a button down collar is more suitable. 

Figuring out how clothes should fit is one thing; figuring out whether they suit your personality and character is something else entirely. That part requires a lot of self-discovery, honesty, and time. Unfortunately, when it comes to the task of finding clothes that suit your character, you can easily be distracted by barrage of blogs and magazines telling you what’s cool this season, what’s big in Japan, or how to pull off that “Italian sprezzatura” look that everyone is raving about. Couple that with professional product shots and good looking models, and you can be drawn to certain clothes for all the wrong reasons. 

One thing I’ve found helpful is to be conscious of whether you’re buying something just because it’s well designed. Remember that there are hundreds of good looking pieces every season. Indeed, there’s rarely a week that goes by where I don’t see at least five or six things that I think look great. However, just because a piece of clothing is well designed, and perhaps even fits you well, doesn’t mean you should buy it. You should stick to the task of developing a focused, coherent wardrobe that clearly express who you are, not just build a collection of good looking clothes. 

And although it’s counter intuitive, I’ve also found that it useful to have a very narrow and defined set of style heroes. People you think are maybe more aligned with your personality, character, and lifestyle than others. Of course, inspiration shouldn’t be the same as emulation, and at some point, you’ll naturally find your own voice, but it can be helpful to be clear about what looks you’re going for. 

Thoreau once said, “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” It’s important to recognize when something looks great, but isn’t necessarily right for you. Shop slowly, let your clothes reflect your body and personality, and know when to leave something alone.