Suits - how does the whole suit thing work

I have a suit, just one. It’s nice, I look fine. But just for arguement’s sake, let us say that I got a job where I need to wear a suit every working day. I’m the POTUS, or prime minister, or ambassador to Formalia.

How many suits do I need? How often am I cleaning these things? Do I rewear them more often than I do a pair of jeans? Do they get manky?

I’m willing for the sake of the math to assume I work 200 days a year, and that I don’t do any heavy lifting in a suit, but sometimes I get hot in the summer, spring and fall. I realize that extra pants components may work in here somehow, but I’m not going to start there yet.

Is it something like 5 suits, each worn for 3 days prior to a dry cleaning, for a total of 200/(5*3) = 13.3 dry cleaning events per year?

Just asking.

Mods, I put this in CS on the grounds that it was a haberdashery and style issue. You can deport it to GQ if you think it is misplaced.

I’m thinking 6-7 suits, so you don’t end up with the “Monday suit”, the “Tuesday suit”, etc. At that rate you’re only wearing any one of them about 3 times a month, and if you’re just sitting in your office you can probably get away with 5-6 wearings, at least, before dry cleaning. So I guess each suit should get cleaned twice a year, maybe less often in the winter.

And if you become POTUS, you’ll probably never have to give it a moment’s thought.

A couple of things, at least until someone knowledgeable comes along.

Your suit won’t necessarily need dry cleaning every three wears - your shirts and underwear are what come in contact with the stinkier bits of your body, but they’re easy to change and wash. Your suit might need a pressing every three wears, but as long as you don’t spill anything on it, you could up that to every 6 to 10 wears without dry cleaning. Your mileage may well be different; it’s just that dry cleaning is harder on your suit, and a pressing usually does the trick. Make sure you’ve got a good place that doesn’t just puff the suits up with the steamer - that’s really hard on the fabric.

If you have to wear a suit daily, I’d say 5 suits is the minimum. (For the love of God, don’t wear the same suit on the same day of the week!) Some questions, though - does it have to be a suit, rather than a jacket & tie with dress pants? There’s a balance to be struck between budget and fashion - consider 20 suits at $200 vs. 5 suits at $800 vs. 2 suits at $2000. each. If the $200. suits were really of the same quality and gave the same positive impression as the $2000. suits, then you’re set. In my experience, it never works out that way. The suits from ‘Lotsa cheap suits’ look like cheap suits. The $2000. suits are usually of higher quality, and the places that sell them are supposed do a better job of tailoring, and of helping you put the package together. There’s some medium range stuff out there that requires some regular (eg weekly) shopping, and that’s probably the stuff you would be after to bulk up your collection beyond five. If I had to wear a suit every day, I think I’d try to be up around 7 - 10 suits, which gives you room for different seasons.

Above all, don’t forget that the shirt and tie can make the same suit look different, and they’re much cheaper.

I actually had a lot of fun the last time I went suit shopping. I went first thing in the morning, well dressed, and I cornered this fellow and explained exactly what I was after - a suit that was tasteful and elegant, but that stood out enough that it would get me remembered 2 years down the line by people who had only seen me for fifteen minutes. It was particularly fun that this was in Ottawa, where most of what this shop sold was bought by civil servants who want to look well dressed, yet anonymous. (I’m not in there ten minutes before this guy comes in and says “I have to be on television behind the Minister, but I need to be invisible. Invisible, got it?” My salesman laughed and said “That’s what my Mondays are usually like.”) I wanted the exact opposite. I also want the maximum versatility in a suit in terms of what shirt and tie I can wear with it. We had a blast, both picking out the suit, and then when it was back from the tailor that week, I had a little ‘party’ in the store, putting different shirts under the jacket and asking all the salesmen, one at a time, what would you put with it? They were selling stuff, no question, but it was fascinating to see how different people made the same suit look different with just a change of shirt and tie.

That would be a good general target. When I used to wear a “suit” and tie every day, my max was maybe 5 suits and 2-3 sportcoats and slacks. I generally took my jacket off immediately upon arriving at the office, so I was able to get by with fewer suits and more pairs of dress pants.

Most places will allow a conservative sportcoat/slacks to be the equivalent of a suit. Say navy jacket and grey slacks.

You get out of the “suit for each day” rotation just by being imprecise in your cleaning rotation. Say you wear the grey pinstripe only once, but it rains or you get a stain on it, so it gets drycleaned before the 3-wear average. Or maybe the first 2 times you wear the blue plaid it gets very light wear, so you figure you can stretch it to 4 wears. And maybe you don’t go to the cleaner on a rigid schedule. Some times you take in one or 2 suits, other times you wait until 3 need cleaning. And chances are one or 2 of your suits will be your favorites, so you might wear them more often than some of the others.

Then the other thing is to wear accessories that allow you to make your suits flexible. The same suit can look quite different with vastly different shirts/ties/shoes. If you are wearing just conservative grey or blue suits, very few people will notice how often you wear individual suits. They only become memorable if they are flashy or unusual.

You should routinely update your wardrobe, buying a new suit every year or so, and getting rid of your oldest one.

The expense of purchasing and maintaining a professional wardrobe is one reason I am very glad we went 24/7 casual.

Thanks for all the replies. I’ll make sure that I acknowledge all of your help if I ever become POTUS.

Although if that happens, god help us all. My suits will be the least of all of our worries.

Are you going to be wearing the jacket all day, or just wearing the jacket into the office and then hanging it up? It makes a difference.

Wow, am I glad I never have to wear a suit. Not that I’ve never worked in an office environment - I have, plenty. But none of them ever made me wear a suit. I was presumably indispensable enough that nobody ever brought it up.

Why did I think this was going to have something to do with the law?

Oh, professional attire is another matter altogether. In my line of work, that means a big velvet robe and a funny cap. But you only wear that once or twice a year.

Slight hijack: How does one find out what’s in fashion? I have some suits and sportcoats and no idea if they’re out of style. Is there a site for this?

Here, here and here would be a good place to start. These type of suits are also really making a comeback this year.

These are joke links.

You felt it wasn’t obvious enough for anyone who clicked on the links to tell they were not 100% serious?

Dinsdale’s post sums it up quite nicely, but there’s another trick I might add to extend the life of all of your suits:
When you get your suit tailored, buy a second, matching pair of trousers. Jackets don’t wear out at anywhere near the rate as trousers, particularly if you’re in a situation where you take your jacket off after getting into work and only slip it back on for meetings. Perhaps not necessary for those flashier suits which you’ll wear infrequently, but for those first couple of somber, dark grey and blue suits that are the fixture of a man’s wardrobe, go with everything in your closet, and will get worn more often, it’s a huge savings for a small initial investment.

Oh now I’m curious to see what you ended up getting! Any pictures?

Hey, I’m thankful! I’ve already admitted I have no fashion sense-I’d hate to buy one of those and show up at a job interview looking rather foolish. :smiley:

Perhaps I should try and cross reference the people posting in this thread with the posters in the recent * I Hate Polo Shirts *thread

Damn, You could have posted that before I outfitted myself with a closet full of them!

Pants need to be cleaned more often than jackets, too, IME. I seem to recall that the better men’s suits used to come (and perhaps they still do, it’s been a while since I read the ads for men’s clothing very closely) with a second pair of trousers as a standard feature.

Why, yes. The guitar is optional.