Summer Suits Advice/Opinion

[herringbonekid]

yes... that is Palm Beach fabric. you can tell because it says so on the labels.

there is often confusion about what Palm Beach is made of and no wonder; there were several slightly differing 'blends'. for instance 1920s Palm Beach suit fabrics were 50/50 mohair / cotton.
however a 20s-30s Palm Beach tie label i have states the content is 50% rayon, 32% mohair, 13% cotton, 5% nylon !

[Baron Kurtz]

Have you ever seen a label, or official Goodall literature, with the 50/50 mohair cotton specified?

[herringbonekid]

yes, my bible... an original 1923 Sears catalogue.

edit: no, it's not official Goodall literature, but why would the catalogue miss out rayon if it made up 50% of the content ?

[Mario]

Now that makes my day!

As to the labels: I've seen photos of old (30's/40's) garments (and I believe right here on the Lounge) that had the same Palm Beach/Goodall labels but were allegedly not made from PB cloth. What made me especially insecure was that, to the best of my knowledge (which, of course, is not that much) garments made from PB cloth (and all the old Palm Beach ads I have) always sported a tag that explicitly mentioned something like 'made from the genuine cloth' or something to that effect. I wish I had more stuff (like suits for example) made from 'genuine' PB cloth. Only for comparsion, of course.

And yes, I know about the confusion regarding the fiber content. Seems that a lot of people (including myself) thought that it included linen in the mix, which is obviously wrong.

[Mario]

Come to think of it: Last night I looked for a few Palm Beach ads I knew I had stored somewhere on my computer. I just uploaded them and you can find them in the Palm Beach Suit Thread.

[Feraud]

Here is a bow tie lable that specifies the content-

[herringbonekid]

thanks for that Feraud... evidence that the blend did in fact alter.

[Hershy]

Chasseur, I feel like a pig but...

I just passed up a 44R Palm Beach suit at goodwill for $5. I promise I will go back and see if it's there.

(I wear a much bigger size and thought, "Who would want this?" Oh lord, sometimes I make myself face palm.)

Damn, that was a great find. I am very jealous BC i couldn't imagine finding that gold in my area. I hope you did buy it.

[Hershy]

I'm a bit shocked to hear someone say that linen was too hot for them; my research has led me to believe that linen is the coolest wearing fabric on earth, and nothing can touch it in terms of being light, airy and cool on the body. Am I mistaken, or do I need to do more research?

The thing is, I absolutely cannot abide being hot and sweaty in summertime, but I can see the wisdom in hiding my ultra pale complexion from the sun's rays (not least because my father had severe skin cancer his whole life) and not assaulting passers by with my skinny white ankles and shins. Currently the only clothes I have that are tolerable for summer heat are shorts.

Somebody mentioned Fresco wool, and linked something very good. TO me, Fresco seems all well and good. But, i dont have enough experience to judge. I would stick with seersucker or a very good quality linen.

[Flat Foot Floey]

This article from 1931 mentions tropical wool, fresco, flannel and raw silk.


Here they do also mention cotton but no linen.