The S-numbers Game - Makers Tout The Super Of Their Suit - We Put 10 To Test!

The men’s floor at any upscale retailer has suits in a wide range of prices colors and cuts. But many have one thing in common: The now-ubiquitous labels that promote the quality of the fabric with number like “Super 110s” and “Super 150s.
Just as cotton bed sheets trumpet thread octane, suit makers are using these number to tout their wool. Higher numbers translate to narrower fibers, which makers say are softer to the touch. It’s one of several tactics the suit industry is using to combat slowing sales. On the high end, makers are pushing suits in the Super 220s range for thousands of dollars. Discounters are also adopting the system, hoping to convince shoppers that a superior suit can be had at lower prices.
Industry groups are now calling these numbers into question, prompted in part by makers of superfine wool fabrics concerned about lower-priced suits being la-bled with high Super numbers. But the issue isn’t limited to inexpensive suits.
In a test of 10 suits by the Wall Street Journal, ranging in price from $290 to $1,995, four came back with a Super grade below what was advertised. We also tested for durability and wrinkle-resistance, and found that some suits with higher Super numbers didn’t deliver superior performance on those measures.

The in store wrinkle test
Though there’s no way for shoppers to verify a suit’s Super number without access to a textile laboratory, there are a few simple tests shopper can perform themselves in stores to gauge the quality of a suit. One trick to figure out how easily a suit will wrinkle - clench a sleeve in your fist for a few minutes, them let it go a good-quality fabric should re-bound quickly. Rayon linings known as Bamberg are generally more durable than silk or other materials, while twills, like herringbone, tend to be stronger materials than plain weaves.
The boom in S-numbers is part of a broader by suit makers to set their garments apart from the competition. Sales have cooled from the torrid pace of a couple of years ago, when the casual style of the dot-com era went out of vogue and men started dressing up again. Through September this year, Sales in the U.S. are down 10% from the same period a year earlier, according to market researcher NPD Group.

Selling with S-numbers
Makers say S-numbers are proving be effective sales tools. Many men have a hard
time deciding what to buy. The numbers add a quantitative dimension that makes decision-making less intimidating. There are also bragging rights. S-numbers give men “something to discuss at a cocktail party,” says Roger Cohen, president of the U.S. division of suit maker Cornelian.
That was the attraction for Craig Weiss, a 51-year-old psychologist in Pennsylvania, who bought $3,000 navy blue Brioni suit years ago. He says he thought a higher S-number was “a thing to aspire to.” But Mr. Weiss says the suit let him down, wrinkling more than his less-expensive suits did. It also felt so light and delicate that he worried about it ripping. “It took all the fun out of wearing it,” he says, adding that he now wears the suit only for special occasions and buys lower S-numbered suits for everyday use. Brioni says it has not heard any complaints about its Super 150s.
Part of what makes the S-number system confusing is that higher quality wool doesn’t also mean more durable wool. The number relates only to the diameter of the fiber, measured in microns. Thinner fibers are usually more fragile. These suits tend to bunch up when tailored and can wear out after a few dry cleanings. “A very high S-system number doesn’t guarantee the best garments,” says Andy Gilchrist, author of “The Encyclopedia of Men’s Clothes.” Such wools wrinkle almost as much as linen. They are delicate and not as durable as less-fine wool.

The fineness of the fabric is only one measure of a suit’s quality. Strength is also a factor, and it also depends on the length of the yarn and whether it’s reinforced with another strand to make it two ply. In some cloth, only yarn that runs vertically is reinforced, while in others, reinforced yarns run horizontally as well. The latter, called “two by two,” tends to be stronger and better at recovering form wrinkles.
Suit makers acknowledge that fabrics with high S-numbers are delicate and lightweight. But are delicate and lightweight. But some say that a suit made of high quality Sipper 150s or above could be worn to the office once a week and week and would last four or five years, if it’s rarely dry cleaned. That’s roughly half as long as a good-quality Super 120s suit under the same conditions. Several salespeople at stores from York advised us not to buy suits with high S-numbers for anything but special occasions.
To determine the accuracy of advertised S-numbers, we purchased 10 suits at retail outlets and sent them to Vartest Laboratories, a New York firm that tests fibers and fabrics for lab measured the diameter. The lab measured the diameters wool fiber in microns. In addition, we tested two other factors: durability and how susceptible the material is to wrinkling.
Six of the suits we tested passed with flying colors, with results that matched or exceeded their promised s-numbers, including two of our least expensive choices and Arnold Brant and Jos. A. Bank, both Super 110s that cost less than $300. A pricier Hickey Freeman Super 120s was found to have Super 130s fibers. Hickey Freeman declined to comment.


Warp and weft
Our overall winner in the other two categories strength and wrinkle-resistance was the @300 Arnold Brant suit. Its warp, or vertical yarns, withstood nearly 37 kilograms of pressure before ripping that’s about 18 kilograms more than the industry’s minimum standard. We also tested the weft of all our suits, or horizontal yarns, since some fabric makers reinforce only the warp.
The first Super 100s wool was developed in the 1960s, by an English fabric mill. The first merchants to see it were so astounded that, in fit of exuberance, they dubbed it super 100s, according to the book “The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men’s Style,” written by Michael Anton under the pen name Nicholas Antongiavanni. By the mid-1990s, high-end clothiers, custom-suit makers and Italian mills began using Super numbers more often to market directly to consumers. Soon, the numbers began appearing on labels inside suits or on the sleeves. Says Arnold Brant, President of the clothing company that bears his name: “if it’s a navy suit and it says Super 120s, it tells the customer this is a wool that’s a better grade. This is not a typical navy suit.”



Some suit makers think S-numbers have been overdone. Oxxford Clothes, whose handmade suits are sold for thousands of dollars, plans to stop labeling everything below Super 150s, starting very inexpensive suits advertised as Super 120s and that muddies the water, chief executive
Others, like Ermenegildo Zegna, an Italian firm that makes fabric as well as suits, don’t tout the S-number on their labels either. Djordje Stefabovic, executive director of communications for Zegna, says the company relies on its reputation for making fine fabrics: “As yarn suit producers, we didn’t want to pay that number game.


We Remain with Best Regards,
E-tailor at www.mycustomtailor.com

Your Closet - How To Store Your Clothing - Suits, Shirts And Accessories

Every closet should be lined with cedar. Cedar protects against moths that will attack garments, particularly those with a residue of sweet spills. Cedar also absorbs other body odors; consequently clothes just come out of a cedar closet smelling better. Why construct an Inner Sanctum any other way?



Every man has a different way of organizing his closet, but what’s important is that it’s organized. In an extremely detailed fashion, with Excel spread sheets if the size of one’s wardrobe warrants. You’ve invested a lot of money (haven’t you?) into your clothing, and you should protect your investment by keeping it neat and storing it properly. Doing so will prolong its life and maximize your return on investment. Suggestions for organization follow with other helpful hints on how to make an Inner Sanctum out of an ordinary closet.



Begin with organizing by season. Even if you live in a warm climate, certain colors just don’t work in fall and winter, and need to be segregated into a spring and summer section. Men who live in warm weather year round may also do business in colder climates. A special area should be reserved for these items.



Keep all your winter tailored clothing together- suits, sport coats, and trousers. Trousers on hangars, but not clipped either at the knees or on the cuffs. Hanging them otherwise encourages unsightly wrinkles, and will force you to press them each time before wearing. Hang your coats on wooden hangers with a larger shoulder area to hold their shape. Each hanger should have a bar for trousers as well. Obviously, hang matching suit pants with suit coats, and matching trousers with sport coats. This minimizes space requirements. Arrange coats by color, lightest to darkest, or vice versa depending on your preference. Dress winter clothing should be made of wool or cashmere. Flannels and heavier cashmeres go with winter, twills fall and early spring,



Organize your remaining tailored clothing into a spring and summer section. Lighter color palettes should dominate this area of the Sanctum. Separate this clothing in the same way, lightest to darkest (or vice versa), coats on hangers with wide shoulders and trousers hung on accompanying bars. Dress fabrics for spring can be lighter wools, linens, or even silks, depending on the climate and formality required in one’s business dealings.



Casual clothing should also be sorted by season and hung separately from dress items. The inexperienced dresser, or someone dressing in the uncertain light of early morning could easily confuse the two. Casual fabrics here may change- perhaps some heavier cotton or corduroy for fall and winter trousers. More silks, linens, and lighter cottons for spring and summer.



There are two schools of thought about dress shirt storage and organization. If you travel a lot, have your dry cleaners fold your shirts, and store them on a shelf or in a drawer. They’ll be easier to pack, and if used promptly, will wrinkle less than if you tried to fold and pack them yourself. Whether or nor you hang them or have them folded may also be determined by how much hanging space you have in your closet. If possible, move your top hanging bar up, and install a second bar halfway below it to accommodate additional shirts and tailored clothing. Or add an extra row of shelves on either side if you need the space for folded shirts.




Organize dress shirts either by color or by season, or if you have a lot of them, by both. Everyone has favorites, but develop a system to rotate them to ensure even wear. Again, grouping them by color from lightest to darkest works best; a well-dressed gentleman should have darker shirts only for sport or casual wear, unless you’re Tony Soprano.



Sweaters should ALWAYS be folded. Hanging them stretches out the fibers and decreases the life of the garment. Separate between warm weather silk, cotton, and blends, and winter wools and cashmeres. Again, organize them by color, lightest to darkest or the reverse. Sweaters are best stored on shelves so they can breathe.



Ties can be rolled and stored in a pullout drawer, but are best hung on a motorized tie rack fitted to one of the hanging bars. Alternatively, they can be hung on a wooden strip with metal pegs anchored to one of the closet walls. Arrange them by color- this will automatically separate seasons.



Belts should be hung on a similar wooden rack affixed preferably to the back of the closet door. If you don’t have a door, you can either anchor the rack to the wall, or hang them on a circular rotating rack hanging on one of the closet bars. Use the same procedure with braces if you have them. Braces can also be stored on a rotating tie rack, but will need longer length for floor clearance, and tend to fall off. Belts and braces should also both be arranged by color.



Ideally pocket squares should be clipped to a rotating fixture resembling those seen in finer men’s stores. If you cannot acquire a fixture, drawer storage is best. Fold them along their natural lines and arrange by season and color.



Cuff links, watches, and other jewelry should all be stored in a jewelry box, either in or out of the Inner Sanctum depending on the size of the closet and the size of the box.



Shoes should be arranged on racks to keep them off the floor and you from tripping over them in the middle of the night. Each should have a set of cedar shoe trees to preserve the shape of the shoe and absorb moisture from the leather. Each shoe should also be in a flannel shoe bag to protect the finish.



It’s also a good idea to own a wooden valet. It can be placed in or out of the closet, and made of quality wood. The valet should be used either to set out the next day’s ensemble, or to let clothes breathe before putting them back in the closet. Many gentlemen use them for both purposes.



In this article we’ve frequently discussed spring/summer vs., fall/winter seasons. What determines the changing of sartorial seasons? Historically the spring and summer season begins at Easter, and ends with Labor Day. Today common sense and weather patterns rule the day. It’s always nice to throw on some spring clothing in the midst of a winter warm spell. Likewise, it is a foolhardy not to add an extra layer during a summer cold snap.

From - Suit Your Self

We Remain wiht Best Regards,
E-tailor at www.mycustomtailor.com