iPoding

Has anyone else noticed a seismic change in how young people communicate? Apple's iPod appears to be consolidating several trends that had been gathering strength separately.

First, cost-conscious employers have been filling empty spaces with desks and chairs instead of cubicles, and workers in the open are less inclined to make noise that might disturb thirty of their neighbors.

Second, portable music players are ubiquitous. New graduates at work in Silicon Valley appear to listen to music at all times.

Third, those same new graduates grew up with text messaging.

So, the unforseen (by me anyway) consequence is that people are communicating with co-workers a few feet away by texting them. Instead of talking. Person 1 sends a text message to person 2 at the next desk while both of them listen to music.


Clothing manufacturers have not missed the iPod phenomenon. Under its "Made for iPod" initiative, Apple encourages companies to develop complementary products. The first generation of these was focused on controlling the iPod by building controls into clothing (that's Zegna's iJacket in the photo). If they can add text messaging to it I'll take one in tweed and one in linen.

Global Warming Comes to Your Suit

Marketing's inevitable adoption of global warming has begun this season. Suit makers that weave their own cloth, such as Scabal and Zegna, are emphasizing new fabrics that look wintry but make up into garments with the weight of summer suits. The photos are from Scabal's ready to wear collection.

Lighter weight cloth makes for a perfectly comfortable garment, as long as the wearer remains in a heated space. It's a trend that makes money for the mills, as they can make more cloth from less wool, and promotes sales of overcoats at the same time. Of course, the coats are also lighter, to the point that a man wearing one of the new suits with one of the overcoats might not want to spend too much time outdoors in Minneapolis, Montreal or Moscow.

Personally, I don't see any reason to own a Fall suit that weighs less than 11 ounces. Even that's a bit light for walking around Manhattan in mid-winter, and New York's weather is relatively mild. And, curmudgeon that I am, I think 13 ounce cloth provides the best combination of drape, temperature control and wrinkle resistance. But I don't buy for Nieman Marcus and what you see there is lighter weight.

The three button look is what was on the street in London and Paris this summer, and we can expect to continue to see it in the Fall. Scabal's version is better than much of what I saw - three buttons done wrong can easily look too boxy and this one doesn't have that problem.

But, global warming or not, I'd be concerned about the weight.

Photographs are Copyright © Scabal. All rights reserved.

"Wanna Know if a Guy is Well Dressed?"

The late columnist George Frazier posed that question years ago and the answer, he said, was "Look down." But in business and the professions, a man's shoes are just the starting point. When one successful man is sized up by another, it's because there's been a positive first impression that warrants a further look. Their eyes start at the face, go down to the feet and sweep back to the face. And everything they see should pass muster.

I'm generalizing today about the professional who travels a lot to meet other professionals in his work. The kind of guy who buys four to six suits a year and would be uncomfortable or worse if someone said he looked like a dandy. The man whose clothing is intended to convey a sense of accomplishment without attracting attention to itself, because the last thing business clothing should do is get in the way of a transaction with another person.

If a well dressed professional is wearing a suit, it will usually be a two button notch lapel model that, if it's not bespoke, has been made to measure by a maker like Zegna or Oxxford; conservative in cut and color, fitted, and made of obviously high quality materials. His cream, blue and blue striped shirts are also made to measure because that's the only way he can be sure to show a half inch of linen at his collar and cuffs. He's usually wearing a pair of polished oxfords, and his necktie is quiet - in fact, his boldest gesture is probably a quarter inch of white linen in his breast pocket.

The guy in the illustration above fit the bill when men were flying in propellor-driven planes, and would be every bit as good today if he left the hat at home.

Reader Questions

From Michael
"I'm visiting New York and wondering what fabric stores you would recommend for suitings. I'm looking to spend no more than $100 per yard."

Brooklyn's Tip Top Super Fine Fabrics buys end bolts from good houses and you can usually find suiting lengths of excellent goods less than $50 a yard. It's well worth the journey.


From John
"I enjoy quality clothes but do not always know how to find what I want. I recently saw a khaki/brown prince of wales sports jacket on someone and would like to purchase one. Ralph Lauren and Paul Stuart (my two favorites) do not have it this season nor do they have it in their swatch books. It seems like such a simple pattern (khaki and darker brown check) - where can I go to get one made?"

The principal challenge you face in getting your jacket is finding a fabric that's like the one you saw.

Minnis has this wonderful 13 ounce flannel glen check for Fall.


They have summer versions too. This one is an eight ounce cloth.

Whoever you choose to make the coat should also have fabrics for you to look at. I haven't used them but many New Yorkers seem to like Ercole in Brooklyn or Mr. Ned for mid-range tailoring.


From Rick
"I have my own law practice in the high tech area and have several clients in the Bay area that dress very casually. I, on the other hand, have always loved fine clothing.

I live in Colorado, so most of the folks I run into are wearing shorts, fleece, and Crocs. I could do that, and never look any different from the crowd. But that is just not who I am or who I represent. But it would look equally ridiculous for me to don a suit and tie every day that I sit in my office or when I travel to visit my clients. What would be an in-between look?"

Let me suggest that you could dress like a venture capitalist and your clients would be fine with that. That would mean "Friday" suits worn with a light sweater instead of a necktie and/or odd jackets with polos and dress trousers, like Luciano Barbera in the photo above. You can wear great shoes without raising any eyebrows.

Take a look around your local Oxxford or Zegna made to measure source. Zegna, for example, is reasonably priced, stylish, and the delivery time is under six weeks. Many Valley executives wear it.

Then acquire a couple pair of Vass, Edward Green, John Lobb or comparable shoes. And get some high quality mock turtlenecks to wear with your jackets. I'll bet you like the look.

A Visit with Sam Malouf

I recently spent an hour with Sam Malouf, the family member that manages Malouf's of California. Malouf's is one of only two Bay area representatives on Esquire's Retail Top 100 Menswear Specialty Stores list (the other is Wilkes Bashford).

Malouf's is an unusual specialty store in that half of its business is men's wear and half is for women, and rarer still in that it emphasizes made to order clothing. I was happy to learn that Sam and I share the belief that most men would be better fitted if they chose made to measure shirts and tailored clothing over ready to wear, and the rest would benefit from the greater choice available.

Sam happily articulated the reasons he offers half a dozen made to measure lines of shirts alone, including Geneva, Talbott and Charvet. The store's made to measure tailored clothing lines includes Brioni, Oxxford, Zegna and Samuelsohn. There are also half a dozen shoe lines, topped by the only inventory of Edward Green in California aside from Polo's private labelled offerings (I originally learned of Malouf's from EG's Hilary Freeman).

That's not to say that Malouf's doesn't have a variety of sportswear. Any clothing specialist in the Bay area needs a great selection of casual clothing. Outside of a few pockets in the City of San Francisco, the local culture is tie-less - even the bankers wear neckties only when they are raising money. When they're meeting with people looking for investment, they wear odd jackets with open shirt collars. Sam told me he sells an odd jacket or blazer for every suit, and that sports shirts and trousers are his most popular work wear items.

But Malouf's also has the lines it needs to sell classic business clothing at several price points. There are three full-time tailors and a seamstress on site, and two men on the sales floor that are trained to measure customers. Even that is sometimes not enough when the store has an event that might be attended by half a dozen area CEOs who each expect individual attention. Right now.

Some things are the same in every city.