Womanising and drinking aside, Harvey Spector and Don Draper have something else in common.
They have a serious suit game! Always looking suave and sophisticated, thanks to their ability to not only wear the right suits, but to wear them correctly.This ability is the trademark of a true professional, and equally essential. After all, the sharpest suit money can buy can still look odd when worn incorrectly. It's all in the details, so pay attention.
Avoid making these common mistakes, and you'll be the sharpest in the boardroom in no time.
Shoulder Stitches
This one is a throwback to tradition suit making, when tailors would sew a dotted line across the suit's shoulders. These stitches would be later removed, when making the proper alterations. The stitches, known as basting stitches would help the tailors ensure the shoulder's are in fact straight. Generally finished in white, however they do appear in a variety of different colours.
Today these basting stitches serve little purpose, and can be removed with ease. You can remove the stitch by cutting through a middle stitch, and pulling the remaining stitches out with your fingers. Whilst this is a relatively easy task, you must proceed with caution as you do not want to damage the fabric itself.
X Marks the Spot
To prevent the garments from getting creased and damaged both during transport and while sitting on the racks, you will notice your new jacket may have two seperate stitches along the back of your jacket. These two stitches, keep the vent attached to the jacket and must be removed prior to wear.
Failure to remove this stitch screams 'amateur' and prevents the jacket from sitting correctly. Similar to the basting stitch along the shoulder seam, these vent stitches are easily removable. With caution, cut through the stitch and pull the remaining ends out with your fingers.
Joker Labels
Admittedly this is one of the least common mistakes, but a mistake nonetheless. Prior to wearing your new suit, blazer or even winter coat be sure to remove any tags or labels stitched to the jacket sleeve. The sole purpose of this tag is to help the salesperson identify the particular suit, it's size or fabric mill. It is not to show your mates the brand of your jacket. Once it's left the store, this label should be removed by carefully cutting the stitches used to keep it in place.
Unstitching the Pockets
When manufactured most suits have stitched pockets, this avoids them becoming loose or getting crushed during transport. Generally speaking, these can be unstitched to become functioning pockets on high quality suits. Unless you continuously have cash falling out of your pockets, we suggest leaving them stitched.
Once you begin using these pockets, you will notice bumps in the jacket which is ill-appealing. The additional weight of your wallet, phone or whatever you plan to carry will also start causing the jacket to drop and lose its shape. For these reasons, there should be several pockets on the inside of your jacket to hold your wallet and phone.
Either due to a lack of knowledge, or laziness these four mistakes are more common than you may think. It's important when you wear a suit, you wear it right. Removing these threads and labels will take a few minutes at most, and will have you looking like the boss in no time. Avoid these mistakes, and you'll be just fine!
If you require any assistance or feel wary about removing any of the stitches, feel free to bring your jacket into store and we'll gladly help. Additionally, if you prefer one of our friendly team members can organise to have the label's and stitches removed at the time of purchase.