photo credit: Brioni

Tonight while browsing the racks at my local thrift store, I ran into an older gentleman who knew his stuff. His suit fit right and he had on what looked like a pair of AE McAllisters. I ran into him while browsing the coats and he didn’t hesitate to teach me a tip or two. 

Usually, I hesitate when spoken to at the thrift store. I’ve been in too many situations where crazies just start ranting and I just don’t get what they’re spittin’. This gentleman was different. As I approached, he mentioned that one of his dreams was to run into a pile of 38R suits that’d been donated because of a death of someone of that size. I thought this was weird, but I replied that I was looking for 38s too. And as if he’d been sizing me up since I stepped in the door, he quickly replied that I must be a 38L. It wasn’t a bad estimate, I was about 3” taller than he and I do have long arms.

I knew he was a regular when he pulled out his measuring tape. And I didn’t walk away when he showed me how to measure a jacket. He told me that a way to keep from trying on a bunch of jackets is to just measure from shoulder to shoulder across the back. You’d then take the measurement, say 17” and multiply it by 2 and then add 4. And if your size is 38, then you’d want to try that jacket on. After mentioning that I like slimmer suits, he told me that I need to keep my eyes peeled for Brioni. Yeah, I’m sure I’ll find one next to the broken rollerblades. 

He also told me to check out Fairchild books. He said that they’re not fun books to read, but they do have a lot of good information about tailoring. I don’t know much about these books, so if you have any information on what book he may have been talking about in particular, I’d like to know.