Travel was relatively free of wrinkling when men could wear classic 15 ounce (or heavier) tweed like the green suit in the illustration. Unfortunately, tweed is too warm for the much of the year. And most of today's year-round worsteds wrinkle like crazy when sat upon, which means they don't travel well. But there's a twisted solution out there.
Most suit cloths, particularly the lighter worsteds, are woven of yarns combed flat, which means they will bend and stay bent. But when yarns are tightly twisted together before weaving, they bounce back into shape much more quickly, because each twist acts like a spring. The combination of twist yarns and a porous weave makes for cloth that wears cool and resists wrinkling.
Traditional fresco is perhaps the best known cloth that's made with twisted yarn. Fresco (a trademark of Hunt & Winterbotham), and its relations like CrispAire from Holland and Sherry, is made by twisting a double and a single yarn together, producing a thread that, when woven into cloth, retains its shape. Which is exactly what's required when a man faces one of those days that will begin with a flight that will be followed by a meeting that's followed in turn by another flight.
Though it's usually thought of as summer cloth, heavier weight fresco can do duty most of the year. A travelling man can be impeccable all day long with a half lined charcoal gray single breasted suit made from the 14 ounce version.
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4 comments:
Will,
I have the kind of job that requires me to sit all day, causing my nicely pressed pants to wrinkle rather early on in the morning. There have been times when on my way to a meeting that I would stop at Paul Stuart to ask them to press my pants with decent results. But I don't like to pull that card all of the time. I almost wish they would charge me for it so that I could feel better about doing it more often.
I bought the Jiffy Steamer that you discussed on your 3/22/07 post to help with the wrinkles. Although it occupies a large spot in my small Manhattan apartment, I have yet to use it out of laziness. However, I do make sure I hang my pants up after wearing them and also take everything out of the pockets and close the zipper.
Thanks for the post.
Thanks for a very informative post, Will. This is why I love this blog. Not only do you talk about what kind of clothing is appropriate for specific situations, and what brands/manufacturers are best, but you also talk about types of cloth. I've made a few suit puchases in recent weeks (Oxxford, Brooks Brothers, Giliberto) and, thanks to your site, have been able to talk to the tailors about the sort of cloth I want, without sounding completely ignorant. Thanks.
Will,
Thanks for the information, it is very helpful. My tailor is trying to convince me to have a very heavy (14-16 ounces) linen suit from Adrian Jules made for this summer. He said it will have very few wrinkles. It makes sense, but I have yet to see a linen suit that does not wrinkle. Will the heavier fabric keep the linen from wrinkling?
I have a number of jackets, trousers and suits of 14 ounce linen. The heavier cloth means it rumples rather than wrinkles for the most part. Still better suited for a Saturday afternoon than a day at the office though.
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