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Where the value actually is
Value in tailoring and shoes means the same quality for less, found in cheaper cities, makers without fancy shops, and altering clothes you already own.
Value means the same construction and finish for less money, not cheapness. In tailoring and shoemaking it is found geographically, in makers without expensive retail, and in the middle of ranges rather than at the top. And the highest-return spending of all is on alterations to clothes you already own.
The six
- Alterations. A well-altered £900 suit beats an unaltered £2,500 one, and it is not close. Almost nobody budgets for this.
- Goodyear-welted shoes from Spain. Carmina in Mallorca makes a properly welted, resoleable shoe at roughly half the Northampton price. Against a cemented designer shoe at the same money there is no comparison.
- Japanese ready-to-wear tailoring. Ring Jacket makes canvassed, softly built jackets at around half what the Neapolitan ready-to-wear houses charge, with better consistency and less character.
- Bespoke outside the capitals. Naples and Seoul cost a third of Paris for comparable hand work. Antonio Meccariello in Campania makes hand-welted shoes at a fraction of London prices.
- The middle of a good maker's range. Crockett & Jones Benchgrade rather than Handgrade; Super 110s rather than Super 150s; 11-ounce cloth rather than 8. In each case the cheaper option lasts longer.
- Second-hand tailoring. A canvassed jacket from a good house, altered, is the cheapest route to genuine quality that exists, provided the shoulder fits, because that cannot be changed.
Where value is not
In very fine cloth. High Super numbers cost more and wear out sooner. In brand at the top of the luxury market, where a substantial share of the price is retail and marketing. And in anything bought because it is discounted rather than because it fits.
It is also not in buying the cheapest thing that is technically welted or technically canvassed. A badly cut canvassed jacket is worse than a well-cut fused one.
The habit
Rotation. Three suits worn on alternate days last far more than three times as long as one suit worn daily, because almost every failure in clothing comes from a garment being worn again before it has recovered.
It costs nothing and it is the single highest-return practice in the whole subject.
And where it is not
Very high Super numbers, on anything worn regularly. Rare-fibre blends in a garment that will be sat down in daily. And any upgrade whose benefit is invisible to you personally: if you cannot see the difference in a shop with the two side by side, you will not see it at home.
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- A jacket inside out showing its construction: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
- The Tailor's Workshop by Quiringh Gerritsz van Brekelenkam: Photograph · Holly Cheng · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain