Where to buy a suit?

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Whats the best place to find a good suit, thats reasonably priced, in Austin? Any responses today would be appreciated b/c I'm headed to Austin tonight.
 
Don't skimp out. Go to Todd's at Northstar Mall in SA. Best suits in this area. Drop 2 G's on a Zegna. Worth it!
 
you can get a tailored suit at the texas clothier. off of lamar and i believe 26th. very reasonable as i understand it.
 
I have to wear suits just about every day and come into contact with many professionals who do as well. Most agree Jos. A. Banks $300-$600 are more than you need. Anything more and you're just paying more to say you did.
 
Agreed on the last post. Jos. A Banks, Foley's, Men's Wearhouse -- shop a sale, you can get a good suit for $300 or so, give or take. Get appropriate alterations, and nobody knows the difference. I can tell you right now that 99.999% of folks out there can't tell much difference between a $300 suit and a $3000 suit. There may be a little difference, but geez, talk about the law of diminishing returns.

For $3000, a suit should be able to give me head while I wear it.

By the way, if there were such a suit, I would gladly pay $3000 for it.
 
A couple of things. 1) Never buy a double-breasted suit. They are totally out and they look stupid when open. 2) You can never have enough dark suits. 3) Match your suit to what you do. If you are an accountant or an engineer making 60K, don't buy an Armani. If you make 250K a year, don't buy at Men's wharehouse. 4) Don't wear white shirts unless you work at a real conservative place. 5) Match the rest of the stuff to your suit. If you are spending $600 on a suit, you shoes should cost at least 150, and wear a good tie. Tie's should not wear out, they should be thrown out when they go out of fashion.

The other thing on suits is that you need to get the right cut. I am a little over 6 feet, 170 lbs, and I have no shoulders. The suits I wear are DKNY, Calvin Klein, Mani (cheaper version of armani), Caneli and Joseph Abboud. I think the Abboud are the best deal for the money..about 600-750. I can't wear Hugo Boss suits b/c they are made for guys with shoulders.

Armani is cool, but you look like a rock star.
 
Do not go to the Men's Wearhouse - what an overrated, overhyped piece of dung that place is. If Target had a suits dept. I would go there before darkening the MW doorway.
Jos. Banks, Dillards are both good.
 
good advice from HoP, but I'm not sure what you mean by no white shirts unless you work at a conservative place.

Let me take HoP one step further:
1) dark socks always. Blue or black, nothing else
2) do not wear a shirt any color other than blue or white. Purple, pink, yellow, you are a glorified copier repair man.

I'm a pompous *******.
 
since Texas Horn works at a conservative place it makes sense that he only recommends white or blue shirts.

However, he is wrong.

I agree if you are in a conservative workplace, but there are other colors besides white and blue. If you wear a suit everyday, that gets boring as hell. Have a little style. Don't look like a jackass, but have a little style.

I agree with the $150 shoes comment. I'm a shoes guy. Nice shoes go a long, long way. Buy yourself some nice ones and don't skimp. You can pull off wearing a cheaper suit, but you can't pull off wearing ****** shoes.

and for god sakes match your belt with your shoes.
 
On the color of the shirts thing. It absolutely depends where you work and what level that you work at. Look around and see what everyone else is wearing, that should clue you in. And what people are wearing may be dependant upon your level. You probably want to dress in between your current level and the next level up...don't alienate your co-workers yet you want to look like you belong with the next level.

Some examples. I have been to corp offices of GM and everyone seems to wear a white shirt with a dark suit. In fact, before meetings we were reminded to stay conservative by senior guys.

At IBM, lots of white, but when you start meeting with the top level or two (cfo, general counsel and their direct reports), there was a lot of blue. No other colors.

I work at a big investment bank. I have all color shirts. I don't own any white shirts (other than tux). And nobody has ever thought that my Thomas Pink shirts make me look like a copier repairman. Our houston office is way more conservative than NYC office where I work. So geography matters.

I would ask what company are you going to work for, what city and at what level (or department)?

There should probably be an entire thread dedicated to watches as well. I still don't understand why there are so many people (Texans especially) that are walking around with $2000 watches when they have $1000 in bank. Particularly sales people. Buyers (of goods and services that is) hate it when the salesman appears richer than them. Salesmen should break out Rolex on friday night when cruising for chicks, not at meetings with clients. If you have a ton of money, and everyone knows it, wear whatever the **** you want.
 
If you haven't bought the suit yet, let me fill you in on one helluva deal Culwell & Son will be having on March 1st.

Across from SMU in Highland Park, Culwell & Son has been around since the 20's. If you are looking to buy in bulk, they are having a 3 suit, 3 dress shirts, 3 tie deal for $1200 bones.

If you know Culwell & Son, you'll know this just does not happen.

My advice: Take advantage.
 
I agree with the $300-$600 suit idea. Buy a good quality suit for that amount and spend the rest on custom-tailored shirts. Once you have worn a shirt that fits properly in the arms, neck and around the waist (and does NOT come out - they are super long), you will never wear a dress shirt off the rack again. I personally prefer Larry Mazer Tailors in San Antonio, but I'm sure there are places here in town. Expect to spend about $125/shirt with a minimum of 5 or 6, but believe me, you will never go back.
 
I used to to the tailored-shirt thing. Then I put aside my snobiness, realized I'm a true 16-35 and went to Brooks Bros. outlet in San Marcos and bought their non-irons. I'll never wear another shirt, nor pay for a tailored shirt. $40, sharp, fit me perfect and I can wear them 2-3 times and it looks like the first wear. When you were dress shirts everyday, that comes in handy.
 
In Austin: Capra & Cavelli on 35th and Jefferson. Don't ever buy a cheap suit or else it will look like **** in a year. And that's not a good thing.
 
"I can wear them 2-3 times.." Why would you want to do that in a Texas summer?

Sorry if you took wearing tailored shirts to imply "snobbiness". I am sure that many people out there are wearing high-end brand name shirts that cost $100 each. I'm just offering an alternative. Not all of us (probably very few of us) are a "true 16-35" in off the rack shirts; you must be one of the lucky few.

The tailored shirt fits better and does not look like a wrinkled rag after an hour, since it's not bunching at the waist or pulling out from your pants. No matter what they say, that "no-wrinkle" shirt gets wrinkled eventually. If it didn't, it would be called "polyester". In addition, a tailored shirt lasts 2-3 times as long as the BB shirts, making the price comparable.
 
Bush suits: the guy who used to work at the Ace Tailor's on 5th street. Don't know where he is now.

teh, settle down killa. It's just dress-shirt talk, not political debate. I just don't see the need to spend $100 on a shirt that's gonna end up with Chili or salad dressing on it and thrown in the trash. I save my money, buy shirts that look just as good, have a good label (Brooks Brothers) and also save me dry cleaning costs. I'm not out running marathons in the Texas heat in my suits, so I'm not sure where your Texas heat comment comes into play. And, yes after 2 wears, you can see some wrinkles, but it doesnt' look like I slept in it like non-non iron shirts do. Just my preference.

Incidently, my tailored shirts: I had them made from a tailor in New York who used to make shirts for Bush 41. They fall apart, wear poorly and look half as good as my BB non-irons. The BB shirts are 1 year older.
 
I agree it's just dress-shirt talk; that's why I felt the "snob" comment was uncalled-for; maybe I don't have enough posts...

Sorry to hear about your experience with tailored shirts; I've never had that problem.
 
what I meant by the snob comment was not that your choice to purchase tailored shirts is snobbish, but that MY motivation to purchase tailored shirts was fueled by snobbery (is that a word?). I was feeling high and mighty with a little money in my pocket and decided I deserved tailored shirts, which for me, is a total was of money because I am a true fit for off the rack sizes. Sorry for being unclear.
 
Bush suits are made by Mr Gassane of Gassane tailors near Northcross Mall (Anderson Rd). He also makes the shirts for the Silver Spurs.
 
Get the Jos A Bank trio set. You get a complete suit plus a pair of casual slacks that match the jacket. They retail for something like $499 but are always on sale. BTW, I buy my shirts there as well. Just bought 3 today (2 white, 1 blue).
 
I know people very rarely come to this board, but Gassane made me 2 bad *** suits. I am a VERY difficult fit 6'3" 265 size 50 chest, 38 pant, 19 in neck and can never find a suit on the rack that looks good.

Go see gassane at Anderson about a half mile west of Lamar. The suits were a little more expensive than I would usually buy, but they look so good that they are worth it.

Additionally, there is a place down in Westlake where I bought my Tux. It used to be called the Oxford shop, but I am not sure what it is called now. They also do a great job and made me a suit and 2 sport coats in addition to my tux.
 
Depends on the material adn I am sure you can get up into the $3000 range. However, both my suits came with 2 pairs of pants for a little over $600 each. Not bad for a custom made suit.

Go see him, there are all of these 70s pictures on the walls but ignore those. He makes a great suit that fits me well. I plan ot go back when I need another.
 
I dont think he makes the suits or shirts or anything here in the US. I think all of his work is done in Madagascar. If I remember right it took about 4 weeks to get my Spur shirt because of the fact.
 
Go to Dillard's or Foley's when there is a sale, like the past few weekends. You can get a Hart, Schaffner, Marx and have it altered by the store. One thing I have not seen in this thread is the mention of "sport" cuts. Watch for a regular vs sport cut. The sport cut comes with slacks that are smaller in the waste than regular. Also agree with other posts, mix up the shirt designs and colors.

One main point, THE SHOES and to a lesser extent THE TIE make the outfit. You can't go wrong with several styles of Johnston and Murphy shoes.

Good Luck, Strive to give the suits to Goodwill and live a life of liesure.

'That [state] which separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting by fools.' — Thucydides, 'The Peloponnesian Wars'"
 
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