https://twitter.com/dieworkwear/status/1789009954260861094
It’s a misconception that wool is necessarily uncomfortable in the summer. Or that linen is necessarily better than wool. Let me show you.
Linen’s main property is that it wicks moisture from your skin, bringing it to the other side and then allowing the moisture to quickly dissipate. You can test this by washing two shirts one cotton, the other linen and letting them hang dry. See which dries faster.
Linen shirts are comfy in the summer because they keep you dry. But the same property doesn’t really apply to pants or jackets, as you’re less likely to get those soaking wet (unless you are prone to pissing your pants). For these items, you want to think about breathability.
The breathability of an item is affected by a few things: the fiber, how the fiber was spun into yarn, and how the yarn was woven into fabric. A heavy fabric will feel warmer than a lightweight fabric. A woolen yarn will retain more heat than a worsted.
L: woolen R: worsted
Tropical wool is a type of worsted made from yarns that have been given an extra twist during the spinning process. This gives them some extra strength, which allows mills to use them to create very open weaves. See how this lightweight wool is porous at the back:
When jackets and pants are made from open-weave wools, they feel even more comfortable than linen because they allow body heat to escape and every breeze to blow through. These custom Alan Flusser pants are made from Draper’s Ascot 2-ply (8oz fabric for seriously hot days)
Look at these two fabrics:
Left: Draper’s Ascot 4-ply, which is a 12oz tropical wool. The weave is so open that you can kind of make out the outline of the swatch below
Right: W Bill 12oz linen. Same weight, but in a much denser weave. This will be less breathable on hot days
You can test the breathability of a garment by holding it up to the light. If you see a lot of light coming through, like the jacket below, it will be more comfortable on hot days than something made with a dense weave. Even if it’s made from wool.
The Problem with Short Jackets: A Guide to Proper Jacket Length
https://twitter.com/dieworkwear/status/1764554822551019669
The most common problem I see with suits today is men wearing jackets that are far too short. 🧵
There are two reasons for this. First, this is the cut you’ll most commonly find on the market, as a result of early 2000s trends pushed by designers such as Thom Browne and Hedi Slimane, who were reacting to overly long 1990s styles.
The second reason is a lack of familiarity with tailoring. Most men are not used to wearing tailored clothing; they are used to casualwear, which typically has shorter jackets. Casual jackets such as truckers and bombers can be short (this is fine, as this is their style).
However, tailored clothing is not the same as casualwear, and if you’re not used to wearing suits or sport coats, a proper jacket may feel too long to you at first. So, how do you know if something is correct?
You may have heard “the rule of thumb.” That is, the idea that a jacket should come down to some knuckle on your thumb or be long enough for your fingers to just curl under the hem when your arms are hanging by your side. The problem is that not all bodies are built the same.
Here are two men with properly cut jackets. The first man’s jacket comes down to his second thumb knuckle. The other man’s jacket comes down to his first thumb knuckle. If the second man copied the first man’s, his jacket would be way too long.
A better “rule of thumb” is to think of your jacket’s length as a ratio of the total outfit. A suit jacket or sport coat should roughly bisect you halfway from the back of your collar to the floor when you’re wearing heeled shoes. This gives the most flattering proportions.
The problem with short jackets is that they can make you look “hippy” Meaning, they accentuate your hips.
Many men insist on wearing slim, short jackets because they think the style makes them look trimmer. In fact, it often makes them look wider. Look at the two jackets below. The first jacket has a square silhouette; the second has a rectangular silhouette.
This should be obvious: when you shorten a rectangle, it becomes a square. By comparison, a square silhouette will look boxier and wider; a rectangular silhouette will look elongating. This logic can be taken to extremes with truckers vs overcoats
Short tailored jackets are not flattering for another reason: to keep proper distance from buttoning point to hem, a short jacket has to have a higher buttoning point. Compare the two men on the far right. Which looks better? One with a high or low buttoning point?
Before someone mistakes this as an argument about body shape, it’s purely about tailoring. My friend @DavidLaneDesign here is heavier than Matt Gaetz, but his tailoring follows the same principle (jacket bisects halfway from collar to floor). He looks great.
There is a caveat: sometimes sport coats look better when they’re a little shorter than suit jackets. And sometimes double-breasted jackets look better when they’re a little shorter than a single-breasted. As always, it’s best to go by your eye.
But until you’ve trained your eye, the “jacket should bisect you halfway from your collar to the floor” is a good rule of thumb and will prevent you from wearing the most egregiously bad outfits.
A friend of mine who owns a tailoring shop once told me his rule of thumb: if you can fasten your jacket and imagine yourself peeing without wetting the jacket, it’s too short. I will not debate or test this rule. But knowledge is power, so I thought I would pass it along.
Lastly, if your fear is that only old men wear long jackets, I would argue that older men should be your North Star when it comes to tailoring. Do what they do, as they’ve worn tailoring longer than you.
