Suits

darbooka

Anyone have any advice as to where skint students can get sharp-looking suits at a reasonable price?
Also what about the home washable types? Anyone have any experience with these?

DrFluffy

Next sale is usually a good bet... There's a one day sale comming up too...

I have a few machine washable suits, and to be fair they do come up well.

Otherwise if it's money saving you're after, and yu don't care how so long as it is cheap, then charity shops and/or ebay...

skintscotsman

depends where in the country you are

im in scotland and laways get my suits from a shop called "slaters", there's one in edinburgh and one on glasgow and i think there are a few dotted round northern england.

anyway, their suits are excellent quality at all different prices - cheapest is about £60. I usually spend between £90 and £100 and I get a LOT of wear out of a suit at that price.

I'd avoid suits from the likes of Burtons/Next etc, they appear to be poor qality.

DrFluffy

Ohh! I never have any trouble with Next suits - I've had some that have outlasted Austin Reed ones!

darbooka

Thanks for your comments!
I'm nowhere near the highlands, but in the comparably sunny south. Personally I think Next is a lot better for ladieswear than for mens, and as I'm not a cross-dresser I count myself out.
Someone mentioned to me that for top quality suits its cheaper to fly to Rumania where you can choose fabrics and have one made bespoke for less than the cheapest suits in England.

ditzymuppet

Try doing a run around the Charity Shops.... although that normally works for the more classic Gents stuff!

For womens stuff: I personally, I picked up my first suit after I graduated (for interviews etc ) in Marks and Sparks... £35 for the Jacket and £15 for the trousers, cheaper than I was expecting anyway!

Good luck... -ditzy

maniac886

You could try Topman or M&S , they both are reasonably priced!


Wohoo 500th post!!!!

rhig

More detail on what you want the suit for is very important as different options will look 'sharp' to different people and some university events which require formal dress wont require a good suit. If you are using it for presentations and uni formals a cheap high street suit will generally be fine. I would steer away from Next, River Island etc if you are going to have to appear smart to anyone other than students and academics.

I'm not a great fan of Moss by any means but the sales are worth a look if you can find a good fabric, the Moss brand clothing is usually poor quality and often poly cotton. The sales people are virtually always useless, either they are dishonest and want to sell you anything and get you out of the shop quickly or they have no clue about fashion. Take a style conscious friend if you want a second opinion or are new to buying formalwear, you should be able to judge the quality of the fabric but the fit is more difficult to be sure of while trying it on.

If you do use Moss look around for ‘Super 100’s’ tags or other ‘Super 1x0’ fabrics, this is an indication of the grade of wool, however if the weave is poor the cloth will wrinkle easily and make the suit look cheap anyway. The cloth should feel silky and resist wrinkles.

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If you are looking for a dinner suit for the formal ball and want something cheap look for Pierre Cardin in Moss, this year they offered a 100% wool dinner suit with shirt and bow tie for £180, far better than the Moss poly cotton package for £130. They are appalling at ordering in from other shops when they don’t have the appropriate size though, I visited 5 weeks before the summer ball to order the Cardin, they lost the order, didn’t contact me and I didn’t find out till I visited again 3 weeks later and had to re-order. I ended up with the horrible poly cotton package. If you don’t want to spend a lot or want to buy a better dinner suit when you are out of uni hiring is probably the best option, last year hiring a dinner suit from Moss was £35.

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Choosing a suit for interviews with potential employers is a different ball game than university formalwear, especially if you are looking to go into banking or law. Of course your dress is not the most important factor they will consider but a cheap ill fitting Next/Topman suit will stand out a mile. If you want to save money you might be able to get a second hand suit and have it adjusted, of course it has to be near your size and you want to find out the cost of adjustment in advance.

Charity shops will be cheapest, although you will have to find something close to your size and not too old, something that doesn’t look brand new is not necessarily bad though as it implies you are probably more used to formalwear. eBay is great for second hand suits as you can search for your size and preferred fabric. Sales at local tailors are usually great though the discounts won’t be so significant. You will be able to put more faith in the salesperson and have someone to come back to in the future for alterations, even the assistants will usually be good as the selection process for employees will be more strict and the manager has a reputation to uphold.

The ideal solution for a suit for interviews is getting it tailor made, this is constantly getting cheaper and it is no longer necessary to drop £1500 in London. A new generation of international tailors is now available offering a suit for around £200+ Either you visit them in one of their hired suites in hotels around the UK or send off your measurements over the internet. Of course being mail order adds time before you receive anything and if you are unhappy you have to send the suit back for alterations so you have to plan ahead. It is also difficult to find many independent reviews of some of the companies. Personally I have been very impressed by Raja https://www.rajafashions.com though there are cheaper competitors worth investigating; Mr Chan is also very popular, these tailors are usually from Hong Kong and can be visited in suites in major cities. A Raja suit will likely set you back £300+ with £40-£90 per shirt (£200 for Swiss cotton!) for a lower grade fabric, it will still be nicer than you would get in the shops for the price but you need to insist you are on a budget. Raja has been known to advertise £150 suits to get you in the door but the quality is poor so you end up having to spend a bit more, his average order is usually a little over £500.

A cheaper alternative is an internet based tailor, you have to get yourself measured then send your requirements in, these are usually run by Indonesian tailors who are generally considered inferior to their HK counterparts and getting reviews from previous customers is usually more difficult, Ravistailor http://www.ravistailor.com/newpaper.htm is probably the best known where suits start from around £150 although as yet I haven’t made an order.

A last note, don’t try to be clever and buy a black suit which you can wear at the summer ball as well as interviews, you will look out of place in both situations, a dark blue quit is generally a good idea for an interview.