Among the buildings at Mill Race Village is an interurban station, preserved from a network that no longer runs. It’s a reminder that things do genuinely stop being useful, and that keeping them is then a choice about memory rather than utility. Suits get treated as though they’ve reached that point far earlier than they actually have.
The premature funeral
A man tries on a suit he hasn’t worn in four years, finds it tight, and concludes it’s finished. In the great majority of cases it isn’t. Four years typically moves a waist and leaves the shoulders where they were, and a waist is among the most straightforward things a tailor adjusts.
What actually ends a suit
Two things. Wear that has gone through the cloth, usually at the seat or the elbows, which cannot be undone. And a shoulder seam that now sits out on the arm, which no alteration reaches. Short of those, it is probably a suit with years left.
Find out rather than assume
Put it on in front of Roman, master tailor at Lincoln Tailor, on site in our store. He’ll say which of the three it is. Small jobs he can often do while you wait; for bigger work, he quotes the job and confirms the completion date before he starts.
More on alterations, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
