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#1 2006-09-12 10:08:47

Miles Away
Member
From: Miles away
Posts: 1180

If Sacks are your Bag...

Could I pick your brains please, Brownshoe?

My last Press purchase was Canadian made with slightly more construction in the shoulder than I'd hoped. Still good, but more of an 'updated Trad' than an old fossil like me can really appreciate.

How do you find the current make?
Is it Canadian made still, but new and improved?

The catalogue photographs look much better in terms of cut than previously -  Can you back this up?
How does your new jacket sit?
How does it move with you?

I've a Press wish-list that I'm working on at the moment & any feed-back would be very useful.

Thanks -

Miles.

PS - It's nice to find somebody who actually buys these clothes and doesn't just talk about them!


" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.

 

#2 2006-09-12 10:18:17

Miles Away
Member
From: Miles away
Posts: 1180

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...

Do I win worst thread title of the week?


" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.

 

#3 2006-09-12 12:24:49

Coolidge
Member
Posts: 1192

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...

Obviously not Brownshoe but I can add some detail about my recent press purchases.

In spring 2005 I bought the tan all cotton poplin suit, Canada-make.  The shoulders were definitely too bulky in it, and showed a clear difference between the USA made seersucker I bought later that summer in the same store (obviously from the old line) and the madras jacket I'd purchased in 2003.

Indeed, the sizing was different...the madras jacket, a 40R still fits me fine. The poplin suit, however, has to be taken out, in the Canadian suits I now take a 42R. 


I demonstrated the difference to James in New Haven and he thought the sizes were different too between the USA and the Canada.

In fall '05 I bought the Canadian made corduroy jacket. It seemed less excessively padded but cord is also thicker than poplin so it was hard to tell.

This summer I bought, in 42R, the navy poplin suit. The Canadian label again, but this time not in italicized type but in block capitals, a new manufacture label.  In this case, the shoulders DEFINITELY do not seem to be as padded as on the previous year's poplin and have a much more natural slope to them, but they are still not ideal.

I understand, hopefully correctly, from dialog about a year or so ago on the trad forum that a number of people had complained about the excessive shoulder and Press was forwarding those comments to the Canadian maker.  Clearly if that was the case those comments were, at least in my case, somewhat accounted for as the shoulders definitely improved.

 

#4 2006-09-12 13:49:58

Brownshoe
Member
Posts: 490

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...

Hi Guys

Miles, the jacket I refered to was, according to the catalog, made by "Robert Noble."  I'm pretty ignorant about manufacturers and that whole end of things, and have no idea who Robert Noble is.

I can say that the coat grips my shoulders very much like a shirt might, but there is some structure there--just a structure that doesn't impose itself, if that makes any sense.  The material is a substantial tweed, but not overly heavy, in a very attractive bisquit-y color with little flecks of other colors scattered about.  The pockets are all patch.  The lapel roll seems a little higher than the typical Press roll, and it has a more graceful curve.  The jacket hangs well, and, to my eye, even seems to come in just the slightest bit at the waist.  For some reason, the coat has a sort of "Late Fifties Hollywood" feel to me, a kind of James Ellroy aura.

I also picked up this season's brown herringbone tweed (needed a brown one!) with subtle blue and orange stripes.  This one is cut in the boxier sillhouette that I associate with Press, and very much like.  The shoulders aren't as nice as the Robert Noble, but are perfectly acceptable.  What really makes it is the material--a rich dark brown perfectly set off by the blue and orange accents.

Finally, I bought the medium-weight wool "Brownwatch" sportcoat, as I have been searching for a dark-toned jacket to pair with chinos and cords fall through spring, and I have a weakness for plaids.  The fit here is yet again a bit different--the shape is rather boxy, but slimmer fitting; more of a rectangle than a square.  It's basically a Blackwatch pattern with dark brown subbed in for black.  I have decided that this takes it out of strictly Christmas season--if I'm wrong, I don't care.  Wore it today, in fact.  Love it.

 

#5 2006-09-12 20:14:51

longwing
Member
Posts: 198

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...

Brownshoe,

I think Robert Noble is a maker of cloth.  The jacket sounds very much like a Southwick.  If there is a canvas interlining in the lapel, then that is probably what it is.  I like that jacket very much also.  Caught my eye first time through the catalog.

 

#6 2006-09-13 01:17:03

Miles Away
Member
From: Miles away
Posts: 1180

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...

Many thanks to all for their input -

Some great purchases there Brownshoe!

It's interesting looking back over my wardrobe at items bought over the last (what?) 21 years (?) to see how TNSIL has changed but stayed the same -
Brooks stayed pretty constant (when it WAS Brooks), Press has had much more variety over time with their various different makers...
I think I like that.
Slight differences in shoulder line & jacket cut which bring different emphasis to different aspects of Ivy.
The ultimate is still the 3/2 roll, hardly-there-at-all shoulder and perfect Sack drape (for me anyway), but on the long road to finding that perfect cut it's nice to discover different fits and gorge depths and still to stay within the 'cannon' of TNSIL style.
It all adds to the fun.


" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.

 

#7 2006-09-14 04:57:59

Horace
Member
Posts: 6432

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...


""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.

 

#8 2006-09-14 05:00:04

Horace
Member
Posts: 6432

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...


""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.

 

#9 2006-09-14 05:13:59

Miles Away
Member
From: Miles away
Posts: 1180

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...

Last edited by Miles Away (2006-09-14 09:47:05)


" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.

 

#10 2006-09-15 12:39:20

Miles Away
Member
From: Miles away
Posts: 1180

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...

With a bit of work I SHOULD be able to pull together a thread on the Press cut from 1975-2005 with a little help from my friends. If I can get photos too it'll be better.
It will be suits & sportcoats in their 'standard' cut (ie, just 'ordinary' Ivy items, nothing 'special') over the last 30 years noting dates & when the shoulders were fuller & when they slimmed down, how much shape there was in the body of the coat, how the lapels sat, etc.
After that if anybody from Press wants to put a maker to the dates mentioned then so much the better.

Anybody with any Press input is very welcome to join in also as there will be gaps in what we know over here in England - The early eighties are a bit under-represented in our wardrobes for some reason.

The end result will be far from definitive but it should pull together a bit of info that might tell some sort of a story.

That's the plan anyway -

M.

(IF I can get Minet reinforcements then there is a chance of starting in 1970-ish)

(I will do anything rather than a proper day's work)


" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.

 

#11 2006-09-15 23:22:17

Horace
Member
Posts: 6432

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...


""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.

 

#12 2006-09-16 01:32:40

Miles Away
Member
From: Miles away
Posts: 1180

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...

Last edited by Miles Away (2006-09-16 01:38:46)


" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.

 

#13 2006-09-16 05:58:37

longwing
Member
Posts: 198

Re: If Sacks are your Bag...

Interesting project idea.  I hope there were extended periods where Press only used 1 maker, or even made suits and jackets themselves.

 

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