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Building a sport coat collection for a newbie

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never behind

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Straight to the point - a new forum member who at 42 realized his sartorial skills were actually quite low. I recently switched jobs where we wear suits sparingly, so the staple is the sport coat/trouser combos. I have 3 conservative suits (navy and dark grey), so I'm good there for now. So far my trousers are wool solids in greys with a khaki, brown, and navy to boot. I work for an accounting firm so the dress is conservative.

Based on what I've learned so far browsing this forum and others, critically looking at my current (OTR) clothing, I am looking at MTM or bespoke to get the proper fit. So to get quality I need very versatile sport coats since I still need to feed and clothe 3 small kids.

To be honest my head is swimming with all the information. Proper fits to types of cloth and weaves to textures...I feel I am paralyzed with information overload. So I'd love some advice.

My first buy will be a classic navy blazer. I work in central IN but I go from garage to garage and don't venture outside unless I want. So I'd like a year-around jacket. I've seen hopsack and serge thrown around, but barely understand at this point. Any thoughts?

After the blazer, what to buy next? I'd like year-around pieces (one day I'll shoot for seasonal items). I've read grey herringbone is good, others say a brown or olive coat. I'm just not sure what's best given my trouser collection/work environment.

Apologies for the long post. Hopefully one day I'll be able to contribute and pay it back!


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#2 ·
Hello and welcome to the forums. Congratulations on starting your sartorial journey and of course, joining AAAC was a great first step. You sound like you have a pretty good idea already what you need and are looking for so just a few thoughts.
You seem to be jumping into MTM but I think the consensus here will be that such is really not necessary, especially for a beginner with a limited budget unless you have a difficult body to fit. My suggestion to start is OTR if you are close and a few alterations to help close the gap.
Not sure if there really is a year round jacket but it sounds as though you spend very little time outside in the cold winters. So I would imagine you are not looking for anything too light or too heavy. Tweed is obviously out.
My thoughts are that the three most versatile colors for menswear are Blue, Brown and Grey with the myriad of shades they come in. Since you already have a blue blazer, I would go for a Brown and a grey/charcoal. These three should give you a lot of versatility. Nice sale at Brooks Brothers right now and here are two Madison fits at $350 each:






After this you can add in more seasonal stuff as matches your budget.

Good luck
 
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#3 ·
Welcome. I'm not as seasoned a member of this forum as some, but I'll give you my 2 cents worth.

Firstly, the navy blazer is a great start and is universally suggested for a reason. You've come to that conclusion yourself, so I won't say any more. However, on the topic of fabrics/weaves/construction, here is something that might help you understand hopsack:

https://www.permanentstyle.com/2015/05/hopsack-blazer-the-perfect-summer-jacket.html

It's a good choice if you are looking for something to wear in the warmer months, but also if you will be indoors in a heated area in the cooler months. Note that the example in the article is unlined, which makes a difference.

In terms of a 2nd sport coat I would look at the trousers you currently own. I've already been beat to the punch, but I would also have suggested brown (which would go with your navy and khaki trousers) or a grey. But I would suggest a lighter grey and not charcoal. A light to mid grey would work nicely with brown, navy and darker grey trousers. I would have suggested a herringbone tweed for the fall/winter, but as you are not looking of something seasonal, I would opt for a lighter weight jacket with some sort of surface texture or interest. However, brown tends to be more versatile. Here's one argument for this:

https://putthison.com/post/28488651244/second-time-a-brown-whether-worn-casually-with

The key is to find jackets that work with the maximum number of current trousers. What you want to look for is contrast in tone (typically a darker jacket with lighter trousers) and then color (navy jacket with grey, brown or tan trousers, brown jacket with blue or light grey trouser, grey jacket with navy or brown trousers).

I hope this is of some help.
 
#5 ·
I would agree with what others have said. I'm almost in the same boat as you, but have no really immediate NEED for sports jackets, more a WANT. It sounds as if you need a few pieces sooner rather than later, in which case it is probably faster to get OTR with some alterations than going MTM. Not to mention less expensive. I've been considering doing one or two MTM working with a local tailor I like. But that has as much to do with appreciating her eye and expertise as anything else. (There's also the fact that for me, visiting BB or most other similar stores is about 3 hours of driving round trip.) You live closer to more good in-person OTR shopping than I do, so I'd hit the menswear retailers in Indy to see what can be had.
 
#6 ·
I think the single greatest advantage of MTM for me is with suits since the usual 6 inch drop is way too little. With sports coats that is not as big a problem and there are many jackets with a slimmer cut that work well for me RTW or with a few alterations. Also on a limited budget you can do a lot better with RTW. One other caveat, once you get a decent collection of sports jackets I bet you stop wearing that navy blazer too much. A useful item in a limited wardrobe, it will become bit bland in a wardrobe that has the chance to expand to different colors.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Thanks for the the feedback...very helpful.

I'm a normal 5'10", slightly TRIM middle-aged guy. 42R coat, 36-"37" waist.

This is probably my lack of knowledge on tailoring that has lead me to thinking about MTM. I just noticed in the last couple months that my right shoulder is materially lower than my left. This was after I noticed a collar gap on one of my old coats and was trying to figure out why it was happening. The buttons on my coat hang a good inch lower than the buttonholes. When I asked the lady at Nordstrom about my shoulder slope, she measured and commented, "oh....was this caused by an accident?" :(

I had read so much that "shoulders must fit right" that I figured I should try to MTM route. Is this something routine that can easily be rectified by a decent tailor?
 
#9 ·
never behind said:
Thanks for the the feedback...very helpful.

I'm a normal 5'10", slightly TRIM middle-aged guy. 42R coat, 36-"37" waist.

This is probably my lack of knowledge on tailoring that has lead me to thinking about MTM. I just noticed in the last couple months that my right shoulder is materially lower than my left. This was after I noticed a collar gap on one of my old coats and was trying to figure out why it was happening. The buttons on my coat hang a good inch lower than the buttonholes. When I asked the lady at Nordstrom about my shoulder slope, she measured and commented, "oh....was this caused by an accident?" :(

I had read so much that "shoulders must fit right" that I figured I should try to MTM route. Is this something routine that can easily be rectified by a decent tailor?
Click to expand...
Are you right handed? As we get older, it's not uncommon for the shoulder girdle on the dominant side to depress a bit.

As for Nordstrom, God bless them but their in house tailoring leaves much to be desired of something goes beyond basic alterations.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
SG_67 said:
Are you right handed? As we get older, it's not uncommon for the shoulder girdle on the dominant side to depress a bit.

As for Nordstrom, God bless them but their in house tailoring leaves much to be desired of something goes beyond basic alterations.
Click to expand...
Yes I am right handed.

Can you add padding to the right shoulder to easily fix the slope issue and achieve an excellent fit?

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#12 ·
never behind said:
Yes I am right handed.

Can you add padding to the right shoulder to easily fix the slope issue and achieve an excellent fit?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
That's a great question and one that I wish I better understood to answer completely. I will say that the answer is yes in many instances. In other cases my best tailor has fixed this in other ways that I don't totally understand - which means that you don't necessarily have to order MTM to get this fixed. MTM certainly can address this issue without the need for padding and finally I think the actual structure of the original jacket makes a difference meaning that the fix may actually vary depending on the construction of the item.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Never Behind,

Dont discount the tailoring skills of Nordstrom Indy... They have real honest to goodness tailors in that particular store (most don't), not the usual "fitters".

In their suits department ask for "Tom" before you even start looking. He'll get you exactly what you want as well as a perfect fit. He's a VERY old friend of mine and has done almost all of my tailored clothing personally.

In fact, if he's not working or available I tell them to have him call me... He's the only one there whom I unconditionally trust. He also won't sell you crap that isn't well constructed or well made.

The Indy Brooks Brothers is just plain awful and really pushy. If you want decent Brooks tailoring their Cincinnati store knows their stuff but the Indy one sends everything to Tuchman for alterations. Cincinnati has a real in-house tailor.
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
DenverESullivan said:
Never Behind,

Dont discount the tailoring skills of Nordstrom Indy... They have real honest to goodness tailors in that particular store (most don't), not the usual "fitters".

In their suits department ask for "Tom" before you even start looking. He'll get you exactly what you want as well as a perfect fit. He's a VERY old friend of mine and has done almost all of my tailored clothing personally.

In fact, if he's not working or available I tell them to have him call me... He's the only one there whom I unconditionally trust. He also won't sell you crap that isn't well constructed or well made.

The Indy Brooks Brothers is just plain awful and really pushy. If you want decent Brooks tailoring their Cincinnati store knows their stuff but the Indy one sends everything to Tuchman for alterations. Cincinnati has a real in-house tailor.
Click to expand...
Great info. Thanks for the response.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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