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Save your suits!!!

Many men take their suits to the cleaners after a few wears and have them dry-cleaned. Frequent trips to the dry cleaners for your suits and sport coats (garments made from wool and other natural fibers) will break down the fibers in the cloth drastically shortening the life of a garment.

Why: Dry-cleaning involves the use of chemicals to steam clean the garment. It is much better to get them spot cleaned when needed. As in the soiled spot is cleaned and the rest of the garment is not. In addition to a spot or two men often take their garments to get cleaned when they only need a press.

Just get a press!! If the garment is severely wrinkled and will not get it shape back after hanging for a few days then take it to the cleaners to get pressed only!! Natural fibers need time to breathe after a wear so hang them up and let them breathe. This will help with odors and wrinkles. A solid rotation will help out with this. Remember that for everyday a week you wear a suit you should have at least twice that many suits thus a man wearing suits 4 days a week should have at least 8 suits. This allows each ample time to breathe and regain shape!

Quality over Quantity

Lately I have been talking to gentlemen about the quality of construction that goes into a suit. I bariefly touching on the fused canvas, the innards that are glued into the jacket, which is the method that most "off the rack" suits are made. There is a hybrid method that is half glued/ half stitched in. Then there is the the "fully canvased". This is the best form of suit construction. It employs many more hours of labor from the tailor and is truely hand crafted. Full Canvased jackets generally last about 10x longer than fuse glued jackets. They also drape better on the wearer giving them more natural movement as opposed to the stiffer fused canvas construction.

In addition to construction method, the fabric quality is a large determinate of quality. The finest wools come from the mills in Great Britain and Italy. They use the finest raw fiber from all over the world and employ very meticulous process to transform that fiber to a fine wool. One of the best mills around is Scabal. They produces a wide variety of fabrics for tailors from Savile Row to Ralph Lauren to individual tailors around the world. Their fabric is of the highest quality and this video clip takes you through the process.....enjoy......

A "business suit" is not just a business suit!!

I have walked into to many offices lately and all I see is a see of dark charcoal grey and black with the occasional dark earth tone.  It is very drab.  Lighten it up or add some color or do both.  The two best buisness colors are the "all-rounder" grey....

and the "power suit" navy....

 If you do not own at least a few variations of each and are in a suit everyday we need to talk.  These are your stables businessmen!!  Although you should have a solid light grey and the same for navy the possibilities are endless for patterned versions.  The pinstripe navy is very popular along with the windowpane grey pictured in my last post as an amazing three piece suit.  

Three is better than two!!

I just delivered a magnificent grey windowpane suit and the fit was spectacular.

Suit by Astor & Black

 But even more impressive than the fit is the versatility of the 3 piece suit!!

The addition of the vest allows you to be a bit cooler on hot summer days (going without the jacket) and a bit warmer in the winter months.   The vest can also be worn with jeans to go out to a nice club or dinner.  Now that there is a couple things to do with it you can also go with out it to make your suit more versatile.  That is 3 out fits in one!!!  Staying to simpler patterns also increases the versatility by allowing you to wear the vest with other fabrics.  This simple grey with a faint tan windowpane vest would look great under a navy jacket.  Now you just need to go out and get a vest and explore the possibilities!

Feet are not squares thus your shoes shouldn't be either!!

Shoes are meant to contour ones foot, an extension if you will.  I have yet to see a square foot to accommodate the over worn square toe shoe.  Square toed shoes had a short lived fad of a life over a decade ago.  They should stay there!!

While on the topic of shoes, go out and get a new pair!  Get a few pair of high quality shoes that are constructed to last.  The way the majority of rubber soled shoes today will not cut it.  A man needs at least a couple pairs to rotate to let the leather breathe after wearing.  Wearing the same pair of leather kicks day in and day out will brake them down very quickly and you won't get your money out of them.  So alternate a few pairs and put cedar shoe trees in them when they're not on your feet and always use a shoe horn when putting them on.


Occasionally a shoe  needs to be polished and conditioned.  This will keep them looking new and make the leather last longer.  Along with a good polish, solid leather soles do wear out over time, but can be resoled at just about any quality cobbler around.

Bow ties are not just for formal events!

Bow ties are back in style (not that they ever left) and you can rock one with just about any look. I highly recommend straying from pre-tied bow ties and giving it your own touch through tying it yourself. Don't know how to tie one? Its as simple as tying a tie.

Advice for your bow tie:

Word from Bow Brummel " Stay away from large cut away collars."

Bow ties are whimsical so make a statement with one!!

David Schottenstein in a Charles & Richards handmade bow tie, Astor & Black custom sport coat and shirt.