Saddest Clothing Losses

[rjmaiorano]

My biggest loss was an item I never even got to wear... After picking up a RL Black Label suit in a very nice light Prince of Whales for a paltry $120... I was walking to my car from the good ol outlet and the pants decide to fall off the hanger (the associate didn't tie up the garment bag). I got in the car and when I got to my tailor I realized the pants were missing...gone for good.

So not a huge loss because the store was nice enough to refund my money. But I never got to wear the $1800 suit and be happy that I only spent $120...

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

I think i'd probably still wear that as an odd jacket, prince of wales check is a popular pattern for sportcoats.

 

[Margaret]

A gorgeous birdseye pattern suit that was ruined when I slid into a cab that had a piece of wire poking out of the seat.

Another suit was lost when the suitjacket was stolen from a colleague's car late at night.

Another pair of suitpants got ripped near the back pocket when it got caught on a doorframe.

And a Hartmann briefcase was stolen from my sister's car.

Each loss bothered me for quite a while, but I'd forgotten about them all until this thread. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

I think i'd probably still wear that as an odd jacket, prince of wales check is a popular pattern for sportcoats.

Yea, I probably should have... I was too bummed to keep it at first and just wanted my money back... Came back for that exact reason about a week later and they were selling the orphaned coat for 300, so I said no thanks.

 

[houserichichi]

I spilled chocolate on my favourite tie a couple years back and had to take it to the cleaners that evening. They subsequently pressed the hell out of my it and now my tie has no body or shape left in it. What a shame.

That and wearing through the legs on my trousers really ticks me off.

 

[jcriswel]

Originally Posted by Osprey Guy

Samurai- I read your post about the suede jacket and before I got to your last line I was thinking the same thing... "Gee, he should have sent it to Ram Leather in Manassas, Virginia...They can restore just about anything!"

As for me, I'm sure I've lost more than a few things over the years, but the one that leaps to mind took place about 20 yrs ago...and I can still remember it like it was yesterday. One of my favorite suits was a fantastic, silver grey, 3-button, Cerrutti 1881. It had a very subtle tone-on-tone pattern, there was just enough silk added to the fabric to give it a marvelous "shimmer." Now this was back in the day before I had discovered the satisfaction (and adrenaline rush) of bargain shopping, and I was actually paying full price for a lot of my stuff. And that suit cost me a bundle...but more importantly, it was rather unique and I absolutely loved it.

I was meeting with a client and when I stepped into her office I still had my topcoat draped over my right arm. I set it down on a chair in the corner and when I turned back to her again she got a look of horror on her face, and pointed to the right side of my jacket and exclaimed "What happened there?" I looked down and there was a huge, dark blue stain covering a large section of the lower, right front of the jacket..... My freshly-loaded fountain pen had leaked...bigtime! The stain was already at least 7" wide and rapidly spreading down and across the entire lower half of the right side. Looking inside the jacket I could see that the ink was practically flowing from the inside pocket, and it had also saturated a section of my white shirt. Luckily it just missed my tie.

I took the suit straight to my cleaners. Back then I was exclusively using Parkway Cleaners in Chevy Chase, MD....arguably the best, most knowledgeable cleaners in the region...(and by far the most expensive). They specialize in "high-end" clothing and if anyone could help the suit it was these guys. Some of their staff hold degrees in textiles, chemistry, etc...Everything's computerized (when you drop off a suit, shirt, etc, they enter all the particulars into the PC...color, fabric, and location of any spots or stains, and source of the stain if known. They're also the only cleaners I've ever used where they're actually quite familar with all the various designers and brands...In other words I don't have to explain to them what it is their holding in their hands, and why it requires special attention. But alas, there was nothing they could do to save the suit. The ink had spread too far and too deep.

It took me a long time to get over the loss of that very special suit.

FYI- Parkway cleaners is still located on Connecticut Ave. just inside the beltway...They're un-godly expensive, but boy are they good!. http://www.parkwaydrycleaning.com/


Dennis


That is a well written but sad story, Dennis. We have all lost property that was dear to us and it's almost like losing a loved you. I'm sure you experienced genuine grief over your loss. It probably sounds silly to get sentimental over a material item, but that suit was more than that to you.

I hope you never have to go through something like that again.

John

 

[gorgekko]

Back in the early 1990s I bought this kick ass tennis sweater from Brooks Brothers -- a heavy merino wool model. Back then the Canada-US dollar exchange rate was hideous so I ended up spending the equivalent of Canada's national debt on it.

Anyway, wore it a few times, loved it and then hand washed it. For some idiotic reason instead of drying it flat, I hung the thing on the line. Do you have any idea how much a wet, heavy sweater can stretch simply due to its own weight? I ended up owning the world's first Brooks Brothers tennis sweater dress.

 

[stylemeup]

One time I was shopping for groceries. I had on a $140 pair of wool pants whilst I had just started taking a new prescription pill a day or two earlier. All of a sudden I felt like I had to take a #2 really badly. I got out of the store and tried to get home as quickly as I could. The feeling just got worse and worse on my way home. As soon as I got inside the door to my house then my bowels unleashed huge torrents of diarrhea all up inside one of my best pairs of pants. Some of it even went down my legs through the legholes and onto my shoes. I had to throw those pants out.

It was because of the prescription pill that caused that to happen as a side effect. I guess the lesson here is don't wear good clothes whilst taking a new prescription pill til you are on it long enough to know what it might do to you.

 

[ClassicGarnish]

did you keep the shoes?

 

[stylemeup]

Yeah I kept the shoes, I just wiped off the shoes and washed them where they got hit.

 

[Margaret]

Originally Posted by houserichichi

I spilled chocolate on my favourite tie a couple years back and had to take it to the cleaners that evening. They subsequently pressed the hell out of my it and now my tie has no body or shape left in it. What a shame.


Send it to Tiecrafters.

 

[kronik]

I was just thinking of posting a thread identical to this due to a recent clothing loss. Stephan Schneider shirt, worn once, permanently stained by the "fashion tape" my girlfriend uses to to keep blouses from gaping. It somehow got onto the right side of my shirt in the dry cleaning bag and now there are two distinct, rectangular, (seemingly) permanent stains.

It also is the only SS piece out of 4 that I paid full retail for.

 

[clinch89]

ink splattered all over the best fitting button up to ever come into my possession.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Originally Posted by rjmaiorano

Yea, I probably should have... I was too bummed to keep it at first and just wanted my money back... Came back for that exact reason about a week later and they were selling the orphaned coat for 300, so I said no thanks.

ouch, lol, $300 from $120 and short a pair of pants, i guess they were making the best of that situation.

 

[Biscione]

I travel a lot, which means that I seem to lose things here and there. However, nothing compares to a suitcase that was lost and never turned up.

It had a Buberry trenchcoat, another white trench, a cashmere coat, a prince of wales check suit, a navy sports jacket, a smoking, four pairs of shoes, four cashmere sweaters, six shirts, various trousers, scarves, and most of my underwear and socks. I was moving for about a month, and I had needed everything I took. However, it taught me a lesson to travel with the things I would miss the least when I don't need to take my better things. Also, don't travel with things that would be near-impossible to replace; I haven't seen a coat or a white trench again which are remotely like the ones that I lost.