What you are actually paying for

Questions people ask

What actually separates a cheap suit from an expensive one?

Three things, in this order: the cloth, whether the jacket is canvassed or fused, and how many hours of hand-work went into it. Every other difference you have read about is one of those three under a different name. Two of the three are invisible on the hanger, which is why the questions at the counter matter more than the look of the shop.

Which of the three should I spend on first?

Cloth, because you can feel it and it is the part you control completely. The same tailor and the same construction in a better cloth is a visibly better suit. Hand-finishing is where the top of the market spends, and where the returns get smallest for an ordinary wearer. Handle two cloths from different books side by side and the difference is obvious within seconds, with no training at all.

What is the difference between canvassed and fused?

A canvassed jacket has a layer of stiffened cloth stitched between the outer cloth and the lining; a fused one has a stiffener glued to the cloth. Canvas lets a jacket take the shape of a chest and keep it. Glue can separate, usually at the chest, and heat and humidity are hard on it. It is the difference that does not show in the shop and shows in three years. You can test it in five seconds: pinch the front below the buttonhole and feel whether three layers move independently or one board moves as a piece.

Is an expensive suit always better?

Up to a point, then the curve flattens. The first step up buys a visible difference; the tenth buys refinement most people cannot see. Where you should stop depends on how often the suit will be worn, not on what the top of the range costs. A suit worn weekly for ten years and one worn twice a year justify completely different spending, and neither is the wrong answer.

When is a cheap suit the right answer?

More often than a tailor will admit. For one occasion you will not repeat, for a body that is still changing, for a first suit while you work out what you want, or for a climate you are leaving. None of those is an argument for being misled about what you bought. What is never the right answer is paying a bespoke price for an adjusted block, and two questions at the counter tell you which you are being offered.

What lasts longest?

Cloth and construction. A canvassed jacket in decent cloth, worn weekly, outlives a fused one in the same cloth by a wide margin. Fit lasts too, in a sense nobody mentions: a suit cut to your own pattern can be altered back towards you when your body changes, because there is a pattern to alter it against. A fused jacket that separates usually goes at the chest, which is both the most visible place and the least repairable one.

How do I tell what I am being offered?

Pinch the front of a finished jacket below the buttonhole and try to separate the outer cloth from the lining. Three layers moving independently means canvas; one stiff sheet means fused. Then ask whether a paper pattern is drafted for you, and how many fittings are included. Ask whether the first fitting is on a basted garment too. A basted fitting is hard to fake, because the jacket visibly comes apart in your hands.

What does a suit cost here?

From 6,000 THB, and from 12,000 to 22,000 THB in premium cloth. You will have the exact figure for your cloth before anything is cut. The three variables above are what move it, so the more precisely you describe what you want, the more precise the figure can be.