The Future of Tailored Clothing

[jaaz16]

N of 1 but I wanted to throw some more anecdata in the mix here. My wife works in a finance-adjacent field (university endowment) and they have gone back to the office at least 3 days a week, Tuesday-Thursday. The new dress code is as follows (quotes are direct quotes): "nice casual" as the standard, "better than that" for meetings outside the office, and "casual-casual" on Fridays. They were already a pretty casual office by SF standards, but this has made it even more explicit and really reduces the likelihood of anyone wearing actual tailoring.

Edited to clarify SF means Styleforum here.

 

[dieworkwear]

This thread about to get all CE.

Me swooping in with a 70% marginal tax rate after you spent 5 years commuting to the office and pretending to share the boss' interests

 

[Herders_Gulch]

But I don't think this will counter the larger forces that are making tailored clothing less relevant in people's lives.

This issue is relevant to the casual oxford thread. Vox’s guide is great, but one significant challenge is that ”an ensemble at the furthest margin of city/formal/public” is way outside of most people’s need or experience. A casual suit, or a “city” odd jacket / pants combo reads as formal. Fun socks are a sign of significant social change!

If some peoplee work from home 1 out of the 5 workdays, this can't be a good development for tailored clothing.

The direct consequence would be that those individuals would theoretically have an 80% smaller demand for tailoring. As an indirect consequence, people will become accustomed to a video conference dress code, which may work its way into the office. I would anticipate dress codes may trend toward what jaaz16n described:

The new dress code is as follows (quotes are direct quotes): "nice casual" as the standard, "better than that" for meetings outside the office, and "casual-casual" on Fridays.

 

[dieworkwear]

This issue is relevant to the casual oxford thread. Vox’s guide is great, but one significant challenge is that ”an ensemble at the furthest margin of city/formal/public” is way outside of most people’s need or experience. A casual suit, or a “city” odd jacket / pants combo reads as formal. Fun socks are a sign of significant social change!


The direct consequence would be that those individuals would theoretically have an 80% smaller demand for tailoring. As an indirect consequence, people will become accustomed to a video conference dress code, which may work its way into the office. I would anticipate dress codes may trend toward what jaaz16n described:

Yes, I'm generally pessimistic about the future of tailored clothing. I think it was dying well before the pandemic, and the pandemic is just worsening things.

Although I think this will affect different parts of the market differently. The people who buy Anderson & Sheppard, Steed, J. Crew, Men's Wearhouse, etc all occupy different parts of the market. Some are clothing enthusiasts, some are wedding suit shoppers, some are office workers, some are just wealthy people who buy things with little regard to price, etc.

The market for classic tailored clothing is almost comically small. But I think it'll survive, just like it did in the 90s.

I can think of two stories. One is the time Mariano Rubinacci told me that his tailoring shop almost went bankrupt in the 90s when things moved to business casual, but they pulled through and there was eventually a small tailored clothing revival. I think that will happen again, but it will take a change in popular culture.

The second is a tailor who reminded me that Liverano was an absurdly small tailoring shop in the 90s, and they eeked by with few orders. I'm sure there will still be a small number of people who will continue to buy from these places. There was a "classic menswear" boom from about 2005 to 2015. I think that period is dead and new WFH arrangements probably mean fewer people will get into the stuff, but for small, independent makers, you only need to produce a small number of things to survive anyway.

 

[mak1277]

Me swooping in with a 70% marginal tax rate after you spent 5 years commuting to the office and pretending to share the boss' interests



View attachment 1704360

Talk about disincentivizing work.

 

[ValidusLA]

Me swooping in with a 70% marginal tax rate after you spent 5 years commuting to the office and pretending to share the boss' interests



View attachment 1704360

I'm a 35 year old who enjoys CM, shooting clays with over-unders, gardening, giving my free time to charities, and classical music.

I dont have to pretend to like what old rich people like.

 

[mak1277]

I'm a 35 year old who enjoys CM, shooting clays with over-unders, gardening, giving my free time to charities, and classical music.

I dont have to pretend to like what old rich people like.

Please tell me you shoot in tweed I don't, but I want to.

 

[ValidusLA]

Please tell me you shoot in tweed I don't, but I want to.

I would honestly love to, but I live in Los Angeles.

I had a shooting trip scheduled for Cordoba Argentina, but then Covid hit. Not enough clays lately.

 

[dieworkwear]

I wear tweed when playing Big Buck Hunter

 

[mak1277]

Maybe the Great Resignation will lead to more people participating in hunting/shooting which will lead to more people wanting tailored tweed....

 

[krudsma]

As someone who was already the only person wearing a sportcoat in the office, I plan to continue dressing the way I did before (and to a degree the way I do now - I still wear a SC at home during the day if I happen to throw it on to walk the dog). I would go one step further and say that I might even wear a "happy suit" to the office now and then. It's likely that the foreseeable future for my company will mean only coming in on rare occasions with clients, so why not dress up for my little trips downtown?

As for WFH, most of my coworkers and even a good amount of my clients prefer it. It seems that the only people who miss coming in every day are either A) in charge or B) want to be able to work without their kids distracting them. I have no power and no kids, so WFH is perfect for me.

 

[Texasmade]

As for WFH, most of my coworkers and even a good amount of my clients prefer it. It seems that the only people who miss coming in every day are either A) in charge or B) want to be able to work without their kids distracting them. I have no power and no kids, so WFH is perfect for me.

I have the option to WFH but choose to come into the office most days. I fall into the "A" category but prefer not to have my team at the office. I enjoy not having them bugging me all the time. It's much easier to ignore emails vs ignoring them when they're sitting right here.

 

[darkcharger]

I have the option to WFH but choose to come into the office most days. I fall into the "A" category but prefer not to have my team at the office. I enjoy not having them bugging me all the time. It's much easier to ignore emails vs ignoring them when they're sitting right here.

I prefer coming in most days because I do enjoy the human interaction with folks. Like you, I fall into the "A" category. I also find that I can often get something resolved with a hallway conversation that may take several emails, chats and days otherwise.

The only reason that I am not driving into the office more is because not enough of my peers have returned due to indoor masking requirements and general apprehension. I presume this will rapidly change early next year.

With regards to the topic and the impact on tailoring, Silicon Valley software development sets a pretty low bar. When I come in with a sport coat, I am already a bit of a peacock in comparison with hole-in-the-t-shirt folks that roam about our hallways. To that end, there is no difference with work from home or at work for our industry. The perceived leaders in the software/tech industry ensure that as they lead everyone wearing their hoodies over the sartorial cliff.

 

[pwbower]

As we emerge from the pandemic, I've noticed a trend in womenswear of oversized tweed sport coats, sleeves often rolled. Many seem to be vintage or second-hand men's SCs.

Based on what I've observed in fashion over the years, the habits of these "cool" young NYC women will likely trickle down to the masses in the coming years.

What does this mean for menswear? Maybe nothing. Or maybe the presence of tailored clothing will normalize it for men once again and drive interest and sales.

As it is, I'm still the only one in my advertising office wear a jacket, when I bother to elect to go one or twice a week.

 

[smittycl]

Future of tailoring for us govt folks back in the office five days a week? Mostly full CM whenever in the office I'm guessing. Had a series of in-person meetings yesterday, first time in quite a while, so I went with City look of Oxxford navy suit, white Zegna shirt, gray Paul Stuart tie, and black oxfords.