Nearly three hundred shops line Old Woodward and Maple, and the men who shop them know cloth. They arrive at our door asking about super numbers, weight and weave, and they deserve straight answers rather than a label.
The mills on our floor
Reda, Zegna, VBC, Marzotto and Style Biella. Custom starts at $599, with Ben taking twenty measurements and the suit built over two to three fittings; cloth from those mills costs more. On the rack, the Half-Canvassed Luxury tier at $300 to $500 is closeout cloth from good mills, sewn the way a suit should be sewn.
What a super number is not
A higher super number means a finer thread, and finer means softer and more delicate, not better. The heavier cloth in the lower number outlasts the fine one and holds a press through a working day. For a suit worn weekly, the sensible money is in the middle.
Where the money goes
Construction. A fused chest is glued and goes stiff; a half-canvassed chest floats and softens to your shape. That is why some fused suits on our floor sit above half-canvassed ones on the tag: the cloth or the label is worth more than the build, and we will tell you which is which. Roman, master tailor at Lincoln Tailor, on site in our store, fits whichever you choose.
Also for Birmingham: The Courtroom Suit for Maple and Old Woodward. More on custom suits, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
