On suits and globalization

I recently re-stumbled upon the interesting company called A Suit That Fits. They're supposedly offering handmade made-to-measure suits for very decent prices and they're mainly doing that by cutting out a bunch of middle-men, having you measure yourself, and then finally contracting the actual work out to tailors in Nepal. And the result is supposedly a very well fitting suit that you can customize until you drop that is priced between 100 and roughly 1000 GBP (the high end is achieved by selecting more expensive fabrics, like cashmere). The idea sounds plausible and I think I'll have to test it out at some point. My major problem these days is that my closet is running out of space very fast, meaning that I'll have to put an end to obtaining new suits fairly quickly. Or move to a bigger flat. But that's not really going to happen in a while.

And speaking of A Suit That Fits, I also noticed a piece of news in Helsingin Sanomat today which discussed the views of Immanuel Wallerstein, who sees that because of the increasingly faster and greedier world that we're living in (thanks to the capitalists), the capitalists will end up ruining the economic system on a global scale within the next 50 years and as a result some sort of new order will have to arise when the havoc and anarchy gets too bad. His view is apparently based on the view that the richer countries have always been exploiting poorer countries, that have in turn been exploiting the poorest countries. But now that everyone is getting wealthier and prices in the least developed nations are rising, capitalists who own the bulk of the wealth in the world today just can't make decent profit margins anymore without turning to speculation. And that this will drive the financial crowd to take even more risks to earn even more money and eventually the fragile structure of the global economy will topple down under all the stress.

The view is interesting and it ties back to A Suit That Fits, since apparently their cost advantage ("made-to-measure suits at off-the-peg prices!") is based very much on the cheap labor provided by the Nepalese tailors. Of course they're saying that they're paying 50% above the standard labor costs of tailors in Nepal to get the best working for them, but if we are to believe Wallerstein, prices are going up and it might be that the business model that A Suit That Fits uses might be under fire in the near future. This is actually also in line with the things that are happening in the offshore outsourcing front these days; traditionally everyone wanted to offshore their business operations to India and China because they provided so much cheap labor. India has been continuously getting more expensive and we've already been seeing a phenomenon where companies are taking flight again from India to countries in the Far East that provide even cheaper labor. And undoubtedly globalization and the internetworking of the world will drive prices up as people in the developing countries start earning more and demanding the same sort of services and offerings that we in the west have gotten accustomed to.

In a situation like this, it's also very possible that the nature will also be on the list of losers as the developing countries start buying cars and building industrial capabilities. And telling the developing countries to spend even more money on environmentally friendly technologies just won't fly as they don't have the money to pay the Support the Nature premium that the western countries can afford. So I guess one possibility for us is to subsidize the developing countries and attempt to get them onboard on the Save the Planet train. But voicing this sort of opinion might make you very unpopular as this will cut even more into the profit margins of the companies in developed nations, which will cry foul if they're taxed more heavily so that their competitors in the developed countries can use green technologies at a reduced price. But, the problem is difficult and I have no clue how one should approach it. I do, however, know that I will need to test the suits that A Suit That Fits offers.

Oh, and as a nearly off-topic comment, my god is this guy in a navy window-paned suit in this picture ridiculously good looking.

The problem with British suits...

... is the fact that the British insist on having their pleats on their trousers the wrong way round (and they even dare call them forward pleats! bah!). I dislike pleats in the first place, but having them mirrored! Annoying!

The problems with suits...

The problem with suits is multifold. Essentially getting a good suit and looking great in it is a long-term process involving sweat, money, and time. Or that's the conclusion that I've come to. Granted, I don't have any first hand experience.

The problem is this: to look incredibly good, you first have to invest time and effort into getting your body into good shape. Then you have to invest more time and effort into maintaining yourself in good shape. Although one might argue that this should be done anyway, so it's not that big a deal. But at least to me it takes some work. I mean, it's not like I'm in that bad a shape, but that's mainly thanks to buying some free weights for myself. So now I just daily do a bunch of sit ups, push ups, squats, throw around some hand weights, etc. But sometimes there may be a week or two during which I do nothing. And this year I've been to the gym at work... Oh... Three times? Pathetic.

Then the problem with suits. The suits that come from the rack rarely fit just right. Then there's the whole process of adjusting the suit, or should be. I haven't been arsed to, since the 152 sized suits with a slim cut for the jacket suit me (no pun intended) decently enough. And every time you buy a suit, it should be the same process. And what if you change brands? You'll have to check the sizing again.

So then... The money. Bespoke. Costs like hell, but should be worth it. Now you have to find a tailor. Then you, according to some guidelines, need to have at least two to three jackets/suits made to see the quality and get to grips with your tailor and for the tailor to get things just the way they should be. Apparently they'll naturally create - draw, cut, sew - the suits to fit you just right. But there is some small variance.

And then the issue with personal taste. Being the slightly slim but tall person I am, and also been putting on some mussle mass, I would want my suits to have form fitting jackets and a sharp shoulder line. Something you'd imagine that a somewhat sporty suit would have. Except that it shouldn't be too clean, i.e. the shoulder padding should look just ever so slightly as if it'd form according to my shoulders, but still flatter the torso by giving a sort of athletic look. Without too much padding.

Difficult? You bet. And without being able to drop two grand a suit (in pounds sterling...)? Doubly so.