Mens Suit Fabrics

Posted by Aaron Sarfati on Jul 19, 2023

Whether you've been buying and wearing suits for years or just started, it's always nice to be educated in the product you're shopping for. With the numerous options of styles,colors and types of fabrics for suits, it's good to know what the differences are and whether you want your suit to be made of one kind or another. I always say knowledge is power and it's just good to know what you are shopping for.


Now everybody knows suits come in various fabrics and colors and patterns but it should be also known that the fabrics come in different types of fibers. We generally know that wool is the staple fiber of suits but not the end-all and be all of suit fabrics. Just because the fabric is made of wool does not guarantee the quality of the fabric nor the quality of the suit. Quality is something that has to be made or crafted, you just can't use a broad brush and paint an entire category as something good or bad. Wool suit fabric can be made in flannel, heavy tweed, or finely worsted wool which is usually the best. Flannel suits are good for the cold weather and are worn to the office but tweed is definitely for sporting environments such as horse events and certainly reminds me of proper upper crust British life. Worsted wools come in different counts meaning the number of threads per square inch. You often see tags on the suit sleeve stating super 100s,120s or 150s. This is a number of threads in each inch of fabric. Generally, you can't go higher than 150s because the higher the number the tighter the twist of the fabric, so if you try to go higher in number the fabric yarn gets weaker and won't wear as well. What's the point of getting a nice new suit if the fabric doesn't wear well.

The other types of popular suit fabrics are Polyester and Polyester/Rayon. Since it's introduction polyester has gotten a terrible reputation that nowadays doesn't hold. Like everything else there is always quality to consider. You have your cheap course-feeling polyester and your buttery soft touch polyester suit fabric. It can be the difference in a suits price by a hundred dollars sometimes just by the suit fabric. Polyester fabrics generally come in poplin which is fabric that has a distinctive texture created by the way the fabric is woven and is quite popular in fashion suits. The term poplin originates from the word papeline a fabric that was made in Avignon France back in the 1400s. The next popular dress suit fabric is Gabardine which is luxurious weave that looks quite like fine twill fabric.Where Poplin is a lighter weave fabric, gabardine is a tightly woven fabric. Gabardine is smooth on one side and has the twill like pattern on the other side. It's a much finer suit fabric and generally nicer looking when comparing the two. It generally costs more per square yard than poplin.

Poly/Rayon is another type of fabric,fiber hybrid that is used for suits. It can be primarily Polyester with a blend of rayon for silkiness and is very finely made fabric and looks great for suits. Generally it is woven very finely and will emulate only the finest of the fine worsted wool suits. You will often see them sporting the tags that they are super 120s or 150s, that's how fine the fabric is. The best thing about them is that you will find them in suits costing not much more than a hundred dollars but look like $500 suits. You really can't go wrong with a suit made of poly/rayon.