Men's Fashion - How to Care for a Suit

Hi, my name is Matt Landsberg with Eric Finn Custom Clothiers, we're talking about how to buy a suit, and how to get a suit that fits well. In this particular segment we will talk about caring for your suit. One of the worse things that could be done is buying a suit, wearing it, and then after you wear it take it to the dry cleaner. There is nothing worse that's going to beat up your suit and wear it out faster than frequently taking it to a dry cleaner. I have heard a lot of guys will wear a suit once, and after you wear it that one time, you take it to the dry cleaner. It's similar to having a new pair of jeans, and after you have got those pair of jeans for a period of time, they're going to start to fade, they're going to get thinner, and the color will fade a little bit, same thing applies with a wool suit. The other thing is most you would like to have your suit probably dry cleaned about once a year, and most twice a year. If you do get it wrinkled or something like that, you can just take it to a dry cleaner and have him press it only, so then you're not subjecting it to the harsh chemicals, so pressing only is an ideal thing for just a wrinkled suit.

Another thing you can do is if it's smoky, you can let the air out, just take it outside on a cool day, without too much direct sunlight, and just let the air out, and that will take care of that issue. Again, that keeps it away from the harsh chemicals of dry cleaning. The other thing I see a lot of guys do with their suit is put it on a flimsy hanger. So, you get one of these hangers from the dry cleaner, and sometimes they're covered and sometimes they're not, but this is going to put those little hanger divots or dimples in the shoulders, and it will make your suit look pretty poor after a while. What you prefer to have is a good sturdy hanger, something that's a wide spread piece that goes over the suit's shoulders, and that will prevent that from happening. The other thing you want to remember too is if you're storing a suit, if you have a seasonal suit and something that you only wear in the summer or during the winter months, and you're storing it, you want to keep it in a bag that breathes pretty well. So, I prefer not to have a suit stored in plastic, because the fiber is not getting air circulating. Next we're going to talk about what to look for, and what to talk about with a potential tailor for your suit.