Advice On Suit Material

[james24]

Hi guys

I went to a well known tailor today (the one that is very recommended here) and I chose a color. He told me it is italian fabric made up of 60% wool and cashmere mix and the other 40 per cent being made up of natural fibres (man made?).

I really dont know much about suits as I dont wear them but is that ratio a ratio of a good quality suit and b how do I tell...?

He does seem very genuine and also very helpful but b4 i spend 6g's on making it, any final advice???

Cheers

[Puwa]

100% natural fiber is the only way to go for a suit. Wool, linen, silk, even cotton. Hard to find in Chiang Mai but insist on it, accept no "blend" because the cheap viscous threads will ruin the look and you'll boil in the heat. Also beware of linen here, it is seldom pure.

[yogi100]

I had a suit made as I'd outgrown (got fatter) my old ones. I went to the tailor in the Welcome Plaza Hotel and he made me a suit which he said was cashmere and wool. It certainly felt as if it were of a good quality material to my inexperienced touch and on completion and delivery he charged me 4000 baht with a white shirt thrown in for free.

On my return to the UK my friends assured me it was the real McCoy and were astonished at how little I paid for it. I'm retired so I only wear it to funerals which I am attending with ever increasing regularity as my friends are gradually passing away and going to meet their maker.

Do not go to the tailors who tout for business on the street as the quality of their material has been said to be questionable. I once had a couple of 'silk' shirts made by one of these rascals. Upon my return to England a friend pointed out that it was made not from silk but of man made fibre, in other words it was nylon. He proved it to me by snipping a tiny piece off with a pair of scissors and applying a flame to it which caused said fabric to melt. Natural material would burn or smoulder.

Edited August 19, 2010 by yogi100

[james24]

mmm very interesting. The 60 per cent of wool and cashmere will be ok? I wlll only be wearing it in hot countries (thailand, southern Spain). The 40 per cent of natural fibers he is offering, any ideas what that might be?

As he is offering me a suit made of mixed materials, does that mean it is a low quality cheap material he is trying to sell me, overpriced...?

Edited August 19, 2010 by james24

[james24]

I did the test, the burning one, it extinguished quite quickly and kinda folded over and scrunched up if that makes anything clear. Once it cooled down it was hard and you could break it off.

Any advice on this Neramit guy, as I say he seemed cool but not so sure about it anymore.....

[NancyL]

James, based on your description it seems that some of the material in that fabric was man-made.

Personally, I think a lightweight 100% wool gaberdine works in all climates, even warm ones. Back when I wore suits everyday and made sales calls in hot Houston, my wool garberdine suits would last forever, look good despite my driving a couple hundred miles daily and were the coolest suits I owned. The Wikipedia entry does a pretty good job of explaining this fabric. I've seen wool gaberdine in the fabric shops around Warorot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabardine

[thomo]

How can you tell if the material is gabardine?

For a complete novice who knows nothing about materials.

[james24]

cheers, Im gonna go and see him again tommorow to pay deposit. Ill ask about the gabardine suit and the cashmere etc, see what he comes up with.

Ill keep you posted

In the meantime any more advice would be great

[NancyL]

Your good buddy Dr. Google can help you figure out just about anything these days. Use their "images" function at the top left once you input the words "wool gaberdine" or "wool gaberdine fabric".

[Puwa]

Your flame test confirmed that the fabric contained polyester. Neramit is a good tailor but doesn't stock high quality fabrics, not even 100% cotton for shirts.

[james24]

ah that is interesting, guess 6000 baht might be a bit expensive then

[canopus1969]

Very expensive !!

I have always had great service at Fashion King (ask for Frank) and sensible prices. He knows his materials and will answer any questions.

Their web site is Here

[sabaijai]

I've yet to come across 100% wool suiting fabric at any of the tailor shops I've visited in CM over the years. Even in Bangkok it's relatively rare but some tailors do stock it. A 100% wool suit in Bangkok costs 10,000 baht. Blends range from 4000 baht for all-synthetic to 6000-8000 baht for a blend. My experience in CM extends only to around a half dozen shops, including Florida, Neramit and a couple on Chang Khlan Rd.

[james24]

well I went for it as I he did seem very genuine. I also bought a shirt from him which was 1g but it is 100 per cent egyptian cotton and in London to get a shirt made from that material would be close to how much the suit cost if not the same so chuffed whatever

Ill let you know what it looks like on Wednesday.

[thomo]

but it is 100 per cent egyptian cotton

How do you know that?

[james24]

but it is 100 per cent egyptian cotton

How do you know that?

I dont but the reason I chose him was because I trust him.

[thomo]

Fair enough. I'm interested in how one can tell what's on offer is genuine stuff.

I wouldn't know Egyptian cotton from a plate of somtam. But from the amount of tailors spouting that their material is Egyptian cotton there must be 747s landing weekly briming with the stuff.

How can one tell that a material is simply 100% cotton, besides Mr. Singh telling you so?

I wouldn't mind some light cotton shirts, but how can you tell?

[heybruce]

It's not surprising that in a highly competitive business that competes largely on price that tailors will cut corners (no pun intended) any way they can. It's a little surprising that no one on this forum, including me, knows with high confidence what tailors can be trusted or how to tell if fabric is natural or a synthetic blend.

These are two questions many people would like answered: Who can you trust? How can you tell if you're getting what you're paying for? I wonder if there are any informed Thai people who can help. This would make an excellent topic for a City Life article.

[james24]

It's not surprising that in a highly competitive business that competes largely on price that tailors will cut corners (no pun intended) any way they can. It's a little surprising that no one on this forum, including me, knows with high confidence what tailors can be trusted or how to tell if fabric is natural or a synthetic blend.

These are two questions many people would like answered: Who can you trust? How can you tell if you're getting what you're paying for? I wonder if there are any informed Thai people who can help. This would make an excellent topic for a City Life article.

I go to London for a wedding in about 3 weeks. I know of a couple of good tailors in the city and am gonna ask them about my stuff. Whatever the outcome I will post it on here for everyone.

[JoePai]

Agree with other poster - Frank at Fashion King is excellent quality / price

[cheesey]

I just had a suit made by Frank fashion king 10 out 10

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Suit-Wearers,

Several years ago you could see most of the tailors who actually make the suits and dresses for Chiang Mai's many store-fronts full of fabrics usually staffed by Indians if you took a walk down the street behind the Montri Hotel, just off Thapae Gate. Haven't been there for years, so don't know if that's changed. Not casting any aspersions here on any of the store-front folks: ioho, measurement and fittings are a skill worth paying for, and if you don't speak Thai, would not recommend trying to go direct to any of the folks who actually make the final product.

We don't question that you can, with luck, multiple fittings, and cautious shopping, get good quality tailoring in Chiang Mai, but we believe that almost all the fabrics promoted here and in Bangkok as mohair, or cashmere, blends, or even silk, are not what they are claimed to be. True cashmere, defined rigorously as being from the Himalayan goat, of the type that might have been found years ago in a double-ply US $200 woman's sweater in the US, takes the hair of up to eight Kashmiri goats, depending on size.

By the way in terms of a bargain: if in Mae Sai, and crossing into the little armpit of a border-town called Tachilek in Myanmar: just opposite the place where you pay a fee to the Burmese government to enter is a big shopping plaza with excellent quality knock-off major Italian label suits, very cheap. Light material, of course: we suspect, mostly synthetic. Very nice sewn-through sleeve-button-holes. Remove shoulder-pads (cheap), and there you go. That place is accessible even if you don't "surrender" your passport to the Burmese, but just say you are returning directly to Thailand.

best, ~o:37;

[Farang0tang]

I too am on the look out for a good quality suit for wearing in UK climates.

Anybody got any recommendations for trusty tailor in Bangkok area?

Also, I read the Wiki link posted earlier, seems "Gabardine can also be a hotch-potch of blended materials, including synthetic.

"The fibre used to make the fabric is traditionally worsted wool, but may also be cotton, synthetic, or mixed."

[sabaijai]

Correct. Gabardine is a weave, not a material.

[Bill97]

How can one tell that a material is simply 100% cotton, besides Mr. Singh telling you so?

Take a thread of the fabric and light the end. After it burns a bit, blow it out. Then feel the burned end. If there is a bump or a lump on the burned end that is because the synthetic fiber, like a plastic, balled up when burned. That tells you have a synthetic or synthetic blend. 100% cotton will be smooth as you run your fingers from the good part of the thread over and off the burned end. 100% silk would be the same.

[NancyL]

Yes, gaberdine is a weave, not fabric material, and it can be made from many different sources. Gaberdine is a tightly woven fabric that is smooth on one side and has a diagonally ribbed surface (called a twill) on the other. It wears like iron. My best suits for Houston were made from lightweight 100% wool gaberdine. Now I dress more informally and have a couple of skirts made from a cotton/polyester gaberdine. They're 15 yrs old and I still wear them at least once a week. Another favorite, old-but-still-looks-great skirt is 100% rayon. There's nothing wrong about a material that's not 100% "natural", especially if you're going to wear it infrequently, like to weddings and important meetings. In fact, a little man-made content can help a fabric resist wrinkles. Back in my suit-wearing days I tried silk blouses and finally decided they just didn't last as long as other fabrics.

[thomo]

How can one tell that a material is simply 100% cotton, besides Mr. Singh telling you so?

Take a thread of the fabric and light the end. After it burns a bit, blow it out. Then feel the burned end. If there is a bump or a lump on the burned end that is because the synthetic fiber, like a plastic, balled up when burned. That tells you have a synthetic or synthetic blend. 100% cotton will be smooth as you run your fingers from the good part of the thread over and off the burned end. 100% silk would be the same.

Okay, thanks.

Will bring a lighter to the tailor's next time.

[RudieTheFoodie]

I know its not the right area (I'm in BKK), but I know and do business with one of the main high-end material suppliers here. Polyester/Rayon is the cheapest mix. 20% wool/polyester/Rayon is the lowest % wool mix. 50% wool is 2nd best, and 100% wool the best. Whats interesting is where people claim their material comes from. Almost 100% of the wool fabrics have "Italian" labels and brand names, however, they all come from china and more commonly korea.

In a land where so many intellectual property rights are ignored, who's gonna give a monkeys if the tailor tells you fibs about the cloth you buy?

[james24]

lol very interesting, all his materials had "italian materail" on it. I hope the egyptian cotton isnt from Korea too... :-)??

I guess the best thing to do is buy the material yourself and then just get them to make it...?

[RudieTheFoodie]

I'm not saying its NOT from Egypt,

but seriously.... Can you see Thai tailors importing cotton from egypt? - Think about it