I am a suit buying snowflake - ethical quandry edition
June 4, 2015 10:53 AM   Subscribe

I want to buy a nice suit. My top priorities are ethical labor and reasonable price (and yeah, I'd like it to look good). Moderate complications: I'm a masculine woman who wants a "man's suit". Additionally, I'm looking for another suit for my tween daughter, but cut in a "mannish femme" style (think Annie Hall).

Want ethical (better labor and environmental standards) suit:
- If used, how do I buy a nice used suit that fits me (5'3", about 150 lbs, smallish shoulders, I can measure myself)?
- If off the rack, what companies make reasonably affordable suits and have better labor practices?
- Is there a place I can buy a femme-cut "mannish" suit for my tween daughter, that has the same reasonable prices and labor practices?

Long version:
I'm getting married (yay!) and want to buy a suit. I want to be sure my money isn't supporting sweatshop labor (although perhaps suits are made in less terrible conditions than fast fashion type clothes?) For environmental reasons my first choice would be used, if I can be confident of quality and fit. But I may have to rule that out because...

My daughter who loves the look of menswear cut for a femme look wants to wear a suit to the wedding too. I think it would be really cute if she wore the same suit material as me (but cut differently), but I'm not sure I can get this matching effect if I go with a big chain like J Crew (plus the ethics issue of where/how their suits are made).

This matchy thing isn't a dealbreaker, just an idea. I may end up just getting my suit and separately shopping for one for her that doesn't "go" (and if so, or either way I guess, do you have recommendations for where I can get a suit for her that is cut in the way I'm talking about and that fits the same ethical constraints?)

(Yes, I plan to get anything tailored, but don't think I can afford a handmade-to-order suit. And yes, I do know St Harridan and haven't ruled them out.)

Thanks!
posted by latkes to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (9 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: To clarify if it's not clear: I want to look masculine in my masculine suit, my kid wants to look feminine in her masculine suit.
posted by latkes at 11:00 AM on June 4, 2015


indochino has lovely suits at a great price and prides themselves on ethical labor standards. you measure yourself using some videos they have and then when it shows up they give you $75 for local tailoring if it's not right. then they take those adjustments and add them to your tailor profile online and all future suits come with the new measurements (AND all new suits still come with the $75 local tailor guarantee too).

i have lots of shirts, some pants, and some suits from them and love love love them. single-handedly brought me around to dressing like a sharp tasteful adult.
posted by chasles at 11:12 AM on June 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


The American List might be useful. I think you need to define what "affordable" means for you in terms of suits; I bought a new suit for our wedding from Samuelsohn (made in Canada) through a local retailer and am extremely pleased with it. They offer a "stock custom" (I think that's the term) option where you get your pick of fabric in one of their stock sizes which is slightly cheaper than going full made-to-measure (which they also offer). It was about a thousand dollars all-in, but it'll probably last long enough for me to be buried in it.
posted by backseatpilot at 11:14 AM on June 4, 2015


Haven't ordered from them personally but Duchess seems worth checking out.
posted by contraption at 11:40 AM on June 4, 2015


Can you specify your budget in any more detail than "reasonably affordable"? That can mean very different things to different people.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 1:06 PM on June 4, 2015


Response by poster: I can't because I don't really understand the range of what is available. If a "good suit" costs (excluding extreme outliers) from 600-2000, then I'd like to find something in the mid to lower half of that price range. But if it's impossible to get a good suit for less than 1000, then I'm willing to pay a bit more, with the knowledge that that's just what I need to do to get a reasonable suit.
posted by latkes at 1:21 PM on June 4, 2015


Response by poster: But if you have suggestions and are afraid they're too expensive, just suggest them! I'll weight my options after I get more ideas.
posted by latkes at 1:38 PM on June 4, 2015


For you, maybe see if you can find a Hickey Freeman on clearance? They retail around $1500, but it's usually pretty easy to find them on sale for around half that. They're American-made (and I believe union-made though I couldn't swear to it), and the quality of their construction seems to have gotten noticeably better in the past year or so under their new ownership.

It's definitely not going to be something super cutting edge fashion-forward, but if you want a classic masculine look, that might not be the direction you want to take it anyway.

I personally would not buy from one of the website-only outfits, just because a suit is not something I would ever buy sight unseen (and if it were bespoke I'd want to be able to see and handle some of their other work before pulling the trigger), but YMMV.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 1:44 PM on June 4, 2015


Oh boy, if you want a never-worn St. Harridan Lyon suit in charcoal and are a 40S jacket and 32 waist pant (still unhemmed), do I have a deal for you! (Really, I'd love for it to go to a good home. PM me if this might work for you!)

I'm a woman who wears suits, but the experience is SO wacky and different for everyone, I can only offer my experiences and those of my girlfriend. Ethical is going to be hard unless you find second-hand to be a good choice...which then makes matching nearly impossible. I've tried on many of the major brands (J.Crew, H&M, Asos, TopMan) that make small sizes and two theoretically same-size suits from different lines in the same brand will be super different. For me, I've found that Asos slim fit is the best off-the-rack fit...requiring pant hemming and sleeve shortening. (Ethical? Hardly. But affordable for my purposes and required less than $100 in alterations.) My girlfriend has tried on everything on offer from Macy's, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Men's Warehouse, etc. and she's basically bespoke-or-nothing.

If you have the time and can make a fitting, my dream continues to be a Bindle & Keep suit (starting at $795).
posted by komlord at 3:23 PM on June 4, 2015


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