A recently made 1930s suit

[Marc Chevalier]

Why buy new? A carefull buyer can get a great suit for under $200.00.

In theory, I agree with you, Shamus. But there are two kinds of folks who have a heck of a lot of trouble with vintage suits. There's the fellow who is just too big for 99% of the old suits on the market ... and there's the guy who doesn't have the time to search (and search, and search) for these suits.

Some people have so much money, they don't feel any pain spending four grand on a suit. I'm not one of those, but I know they're out there somewhere! In any case, a custom-made suit like this, even at a sane price, even secondhand, would end up selling for more than $ 200.

The question is, why have an article of clothing with so much workmanship invested in it?

 

[WA]

Mr.Chevalier- That suit is very nice. The jacket reminds me of the jacket I made from the Tailor & Cutter class, it was single breasted instead. A few simple changes and the pattern could be adjusted to DB. The vest looks different than the class vest; it has darts in the armhole, which I've never seen before. The trousers, again, a few simple changes. Those look like really comfortable trousers.

One class from T&C and a few suits under your belt you could make that suit for $250-$500. Depending on your art skills or developing them you could make all kinds of fancy backs. The Cutter class covers a few more garments. It includes tail coat, frock coat, and some more fitting problems, and more.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge! It's good to know that such a suit could be made for such a cost.

I wonder, what percentage of a suit's cost is the fabric itself? Also, how much do prices vary among fabrics? I'd imagine that decent worsted wool would cost much less than, say, vicuna.

 

[BellyTank]

Heavier fabrics required...

You could pay as little as $100 or less for fabric, or more than $500- it really depends what you want. The Worsteds available from Tailors and high class fabric vendors are not heavy enough to make a fully featured vintage-styled suit- you need some bulk to fill out the shoulder edge to sleeve and other transitional areas and to take full advantage of the appeal of vintage style pleat features and tailoring.
Even the collar/lapels benefit from the extra luxury of bulk that a heavier fabric can provide. Heavier fabric drapes far more gracefully, yer average modern Tailoring cloths are like vintage shirt-weight...

The heavier cloth, as well as hanging and draping more convincingly and avoiding the dreaded 'pucker', will add an air of quality and luxury and round-out a nicely tailored and featured garment.

Finding the 'right' cloth takes some foot-work and lateral thinking, or special ordering from yer man-

The build of the garment or suit costs whatever it costs...
If Tailors are used, they really have you by the short ones on cost and time.

Good luck!

B
T