Unfunded Liabilities: a/k/a The Cloth Thread

[aristoi bcn]

I always found Manton's review of summer fabrics to be spot on. As you can tell, he is not a big fan of the Crispaire as it is neither fish nor fowl. Here it is again:

MANTON:
I would break this down into categories.

1) Hard finish tropical worsteds. These are standard suit cloths, just in light weights. They will not look all that different from other, polished worsteds. The best books are Lesser Tropical, Minnis Rangoon (selling out fast) and Smith Gilt Twist. Rangoon is mostly gone, but you can still get the the glen plaids, which I think are great.

2) Fresco. I like Minnis a lot, and prefer the 9/10 to the 8/9, but cannot wear the former in blazing heat. Woodhouse fresco has a 240 g range which I think is better than Minnis 8/9, but may be hard to get. Matt says that Rubinacci bought all the remaining stock when the firm folded, so you might want to try that. Crispaire is too polished for me. I like my frescos to be fresco and my tropicals to be polished like that.

3) Mohair blends. Not sure what to recommend, I sourced all mine myself. Harrison Cape Kid is good but extremely expensive.

4) Linen. So many good options.

5) Dupioni silk. Draper's has a great, if small, range. Probably too hot for a real scorcher but it looks neat.

6) Cotton. Foolish to get a bespoke suit from this, perhaps, but to me nothing wears cooler than a superlightweight cotton. Lousy performer. In Atlanta, shouldn't seersucker be part of the landscape?

7) Jacketings. These mostly suck. The two decent books are Hardy Riviera and Carlo Barbera for Lesser lambswool. The latter is hard to get and running out. I know A&S has some. Another option I like is silk-wool, but I know of nothing decent in this category today. The nice ones are slubby but not shiney, whereas all the ones out there today shine like mirrors.

Just stay with light colors. Light gray, tan, cream, pale olive (cotton or linen only), blue lighter than navy.

Very useful.

Speaking of cotton, got my order from Brisbane Moss today-

Navy cotton twill


Swatches here -


'12 Dark Navy'
Cotton twill
290g/m2

I'm expecting to arrive a suit length of their Shakespeare 215g cotton drill to be made into a unstructured neapolitan suit. Ridiculously cheap cloth. I was looking for something heavier but the moss colour is only made in this weight. Do you think it will stand up well?

 

[Concordia]



Image as promised. View the large image here for a good comparison.

To expand the chatter on summer fabrics-- yesterday it went close to 90, so I fished out a few lighter-weight suits. In one bag, I had two glen checks-- one was a PIUMA from LL, and the other was a Somerset worsted from Fox. What a difference! In spite of having been worn a few times before being put away, the LL was more or less free of wrinkles. PIUMA I would say is sort of a luxury version of Crispaire. It looks like a standard (good) tropical, but has much of the resilience of Fresco and its relatives. The Fox, although having received a magnificent cleaning and pressing by Rave last fall, had creases and rumples. Not quite in linen country, but moving in that direction. Maybe more like woolen flannel, but without the weight and softness to have the wrinkles remove themselves on a hanger. That fabric is incredibly comfortable, and has a great pattern, but is not what you want to wear if you need to look crisp and shiny.

 

[sprout2]

Ordered some Finmeresco, mohair, high twist Fintex, and other goodies.

Honestly this battle of finding the ultimate high twist or tropical material is a war of diminishing returns. You need mohair all day if you really want porosity.

 

[sprout2]

Quote:
great color, let me know if you know of a wool gabardine in this color.

 

[sprout2]

Quote:

 

[OxfordDon]

Recently funded: LL Sicilian Tweed warn along the Thames.

 

[hirschlederne]

Funded: MTM softshell pants.

 

[sprout2]

What are softshell pants?

 

[hirschlederne]



What are softshell pants?

https://www.backcountry.com/explore/what-the-hell-is-softshell

I'm also disliking your current avatar.

 

[Pliny]

@hirschlederne That's mean. ^^^^

I'm getting a jacket in Ventile (cotton, from SEH Kelly). I guess it's a kind of soft shell, but natural, and I'm told, reasonably water resistant.

 

[LuxireStudio]

Can anyone point me in the right direction for cloth?

Solbiati has both these shades in their 100% cotton suiting bunch.

 

[S K M]

Gents, I'm about to commission a sharp-looking, double brested, navy blue suit for a summer wedding (my own, actually). What are your recommendations for cloth?

For a sharp and crisp look I thought about a mohair blend, and had actually subscribed to the recent LL run, but sadly they ran out of cloth even though I had subscribed Anyway, as a replacement I thought about Smith Woollen's Super Kid Mohair (70 wool/30 mohair), or likewise from their formal wear bunch. Any experience with these? I would prefer if the surface had some interest to it (hopsack weave or the like) instead of being completely plain/smooth.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tony Montana]

Gents, I'm about to commission a sharp-looking, double brested, navy blue suit for a summer wedding (my own, actually). What are your recommendations for cloth?

For a sharp and crisp look I thought about a mohair blend, and had actually subscribed to the recent LL run, but sadly they ran out of cloth even though I had subscribed Anyway, as a replacement I thought about Smith Woollen's Super Kid Mohair (70 wool/30 mohair), or likewise from their formal wear bunch. Any experience with these? I would prefer if the surface had some interest to it (hopsack weave or the like) instead of being completely plain/smooth.

Thanks in advance!

Minnis Fresco (possibly with Mohair). Or Minnis Classic (three shades of blue hopsack).

 

[S K M]

Minnis Fresco (possibly with Mohair). Or Minnis Classic (three shades of blue hopsack).

Thanks, I'm also very fond of fresco, but I think it has a bit too rough or dry feel. However, I haven't tried the versions with mohair so should maybe get some swatches...

 

[Tony Montana]

Thanks, I'm also very fond of fresco, but I think it has a bit too rough or dry feel. However, I haven't tried the versions with mohair so should maybe get some swatches...

The new Fresco Lite feels quite smooth (at least compared to the classic Fresco qualities) and would be perfect for conservative summer suits. Fresco Mohair feels quite rough, as do all Mohair cloths I know of. Minnis Classic would not be typical summer weight but I believe you are from Northern Europe so it might still be suitable.