Origins - Hacking Pockets

So, we've been coming at you with a lot of pretty lengthy posts, but this isn't college, we aren't here to give you loads of 'homework' and assigned reading, so let's take a quick break with a short post. It's been a while since we checked out a bit of menswear terminology, so today we'll take a look at the term 'hacking pockets.'

Hacking pockets is a term that refers to the positioning of the pockets on a suit jacket or blazer (rather than the actual pocket style, although I don't believe you will ever see this with patch pockets - just flaps and jetted). 

To understand the term when it comes to menswear, and why it's used, you have to understand the origin of the word. To 'hack' was once a British term (maybe still is?) for recreational horse-back riding. Therefore, you got it, hacking pockets referred to a style designed for equestrians.

A jacket with hacking pockets will have the pockets placed at a slant, rather than straight across. For riders, this served two purposes: first, it made it easier to reach into the pockets while horseback. Second, it helped keep things from falling out of the pockets while the men rode.

Straight Pockets....                                                                       ...and Hacking Pockets    
Photo Credit: Dragon Inside

Today, obviously, most people (even with hacking pockets) are not wearing their suits to ride horses, but the pockets are still in style. Largely, they are a throwback to a more casual, British, 'country' style jacket, but have become incorporated in day-to-day suiting to the extend that it's become mainly a matter of personal style preference. Some shorter men prefer these pockets as well, as they lend to a more vertical line through the suit, rather than chopping up one's height with horizontal lines a la straight pocket. Personally, I have some jackets with and some without, and don't have a strong preference either way. Regardless, informed decisions are the best decisions!

Now you know! Do you have a personal preference?

My First Suit (Part Two)

I've been a little slow getting this post up, but my first dive into made-to-measure suiting (and suiting in general) has come into fruition, and I'm ready to share the results! 

(Ed. Note: Not sure what is going on with the picture quality here, having some uploading bugs. I'll be working to fix it, but in the meantime, sorry!)

First, a quick rundown of the final customizations I made:

• As previously discussed, I went with Dragon Inside for my first suit.
• I chose a single-breasted, three piece suit in navy wool with the following features:

• Half-lined jacket in dark blue

• Peak lapels

• Functioning boutonniere

• Pick stitching

• Functioning buttons on the sleeves

• Brown corozo buttons (as opposed to standard black)

• No monogram (probably would have gotten one, but honestly forgot)

• Wool back to the vest (as opposed to matching the back to the lining of the jacket)

• Flat front pants

• 1.5" cuff

• Extra taper to the pants from the knee down (and by extra, I mean 1 cm narrower of a leg opening. I got that picky)

So how did it turn out? Off the bat, I'm pretty damn happy with the suit. A lot of things came out perfectly, and the few that didn't won't ruin the suit, by any means, and should all be easily addressable.

Here are the details:

The Good:

• Customer Service: Bobby was incredible throughout the whole process. Always easily reachable, and perfectly happy to meet pretty much every picky request I had. I really appreciate the fact that, despite being a lower-priced suit to begin with, they weren't resistant to my customization at all, even though I'm sure it would have been easier for them to produce with their standard options. On top of that, he seemed genuinely and personally interested in making exactly the suit I wanted, and has followed up several times since delivery to make sure I was happy.

• Customization Options (and accuracy): Like I said, they were just great about this. Compared to other MTM suiting sites, Dragon Inside offers at least as many customization options as you pick out your suit on their website. After that, I kept throwing more and more requests their way and wasn't denied once. Basically, if you want it, they'll make it (to a reasonable extent, to be sure). For the sake of full disclosure, the options I requested that weren't available with the standard form were: brown buttons; tapered leg opening (a slight taper is standard, I requested slightly more of a taper); wool backing to the vest; specific cuff width.

• Body Fit (Chest/Shoulders, Waist/Thighs): I'd say that the fit of the most important parts of the suit (the ones a tailor cannot easily alter) are spot on. I am a pretty skinny guy, and blazers and jackets tend to run on the baggy side for me, even when I get the chest measurement right.
  
  In this case, not only was the chest just comfortably snug, the arms were slim (but not tight), the shoulder width was perfect, and the waist was nipped perfectly for a modern (but once again, not tight) look. Same goes for the pants...I opted to keep the belt loops but I really wouldn't need them, as the fit at the waist, butt and thighs is as close of a match to my body as I expect to get from a MTM service.

• Construction: I'm no expert on tailoring (remember, this is my first suit), but I have no complaints about the construction. The stitching all seems straight and neat (while I'm picky about my options, I have no interest in counting stitches, sorry). Even with just the half lining, the jacket feels substantial enough that I'm not worried about it falling apart, and the fabric doesn't wrinkle or mis-shape easily, which is often a sign of a cheaper suit.

The Bad:

• Armholes: I've been struggling with whether or not this concerns me, but the armholes do seem a tad low. When I raise my arms, there is considerable movement in the rest of the jacket, which is something you want to avoid if possible. 
  
  I'm not expecting anything incredible here (all of my jackets do this to an extent), but this particularly bothered me when I was sitting in a chair with higher-than-usual armrests, as it was impossible to sit comfortably without the jacket looking...off. This may just be something I have to accept for the price point, but I plan on asking my tailor about it.

• Sleeve Length: The sleeves are a tad bit short, which is really my fault (I leaned towards shorter sleeves in an effort to avoid too long of sleeves, and may have went too far). This could be a bigger issue since I opted for functioning button-holes, but really the sleeves are barely too short.
  
  I'm still debating if I even want to alter them at all, but if I do, it would only be by a centimeter or so, and the buttons might be fine as is.

• Pant Length: Same goes for the pant legs, but here I may just be being overly nit-picky. I wanted just the slightest break in the front, which they did perfectly, but I wish the cuffs would touch my shoes in the back. 
  
  Once again, I'm not even sure I want to get this altered (the shorter look is in at the moment), but it's an easy, inexpensive fix that can be made at any time.

• Collar Gap: This is probably my only real area of consternation, as collar gap is pretty unsightly and is usually damn hard to fix. However, once again, the incongruity here is barely noticeable. If I stand naturally, I tend to slouch just the slightest bit, and mostly just in my neck, and that's when I can see probably a centimeter or less of gap between my shirt collar and jacket collar. 
  
  If I consciously straighten up, the problem all but disappears. Additionally, after the few times I've had to wear the suit pre-alterations, it seems like it has started to conform to my body a bit more, and the gap is even less noticeable. Since I'm not an expert though, this is definitely something I will have my tailor take a look at as well.

Which brings us back to one more item to add to the 'Good' list: $75 tailoring credit. I think this is pretty standard for an online MTM suiting company, but it's still worth mentioning. Dragon Inside offers $75 in credit to put towards any alterations that might be required to finalize that perfect fit. Since I'm kind of unsure as to whether or not I want to make any alterations at all, having this financial wiggle room leaves me entirely comfortable with taking my suit in to a well-reputed tailor and getting his expert opinion. I'm all set to go this weekend, so I'll report back with the results.

Also worth mentioning, in another testament to the great customer service from Dragon Inside: if any of the alterations required are beyond the scope of a professional tailor, Dragon Inside will remake the jacket, free of charge, as long as the issues were not cause by a measuring error on my own part. Policies like this take a lot of the gamble out of the purchase, which is hugely important when dealing with online customized garments.

My First Suit (Part One)

Alrighty, so I'm going to a wedding this fall in Boulder, CO (very excited to go) and am using the event as an excuse to purchase my first suit (a menswear blogger who doesn't own a suit...shocking, right?). I've had some money sitting around for a while that I set aside for the very purpose, but just hadn't had a need to buy one yet, so instead I browsed. And browsed. And browsed. Now I'm giving myself this deadline to finally make a decision.

The Suit:

First, I just wanted a decent idea of what kind of suit I wanted. As fun as it would be to have some plaids or patterns or rich fabrics or tweeds, I'm a sensible guy, and I'm sticking to the staples for my first two suits: grey and blue all-season wool. For some reason the blue is just calling to me, so I'm heading that direction.

From there, I really just started browsing the web, focusing on some of my favorite menswear bloggers. Here are some styles of blue suits that stood out to me:

Mr. Van Der Beek, if I'm not mistaken. Love the fit and lapels, but the blue is a bit bright.

Wes, of The Style Blogger. Closer in color to my choice.

Found via Google Image search. Almost exactly what I want, but a bit boxy.

Dan, of The Style Blogger. This, is a gorgeous suit. More pics here, but this is my main inspiration.

Through browsing and critiquing I now have a good (and kind of picky) idea of what I want, but I've already decided to go with a Made-To-Measure suit, so I"ll be able to make all these choices in my order. Briefly, MTM is halfway between bespoke and ready-to-wear. Rather than be measured by a tailor, you measure yourself and submit your measurements. Like bespoke, you get to pick your fabric and features, although your options aren't quite as expansive. You can read a very comprehensive guide to MTM suiting here. Bottom line, I get the make this thing my way. So here's my rundown: Navy suit, two buttons, peak lapels, pick stitching, flap pockets, double vents, no cuffs or pleats, functioning sleeve buttons, and probably half-lining. To pick out a few highlights:

Peak Lapels: For a while, I was a notch-lapel-only kinda guy, but a few months ago peak lapels really started to grow on me. They have to be tasteful, and can easily cross in gaudy, in my opinion, but if done right they put a little bit of panache that makes a staple suit a little less ordinary.

Done wrong, IMHO. Too much lapel for me.

Pick Stitching: Pick stitching is a visible line of stitching that follows the edges of the suit. It's usually the sign of a higher quality, usually bespoke suit, although now (obviously) it can be found on less pricey options. Honestly, I could go either way with this, but most recently I've been noticing that a lot of blazers that I see and like include pick stitching, so I'm adding it to the mix.

Pick stitching, illustrated by Indochino

Functioning Sleeve Buttons: Also called surgeon's cuffs, many people avoid this feature on a first suit order because it really limits the room a tailor has to alter the sleeve length. The general advice is to wait until you know your measurements are right (2nd or 3rd order). I'm going to flaunt this advice though. I have a jacket with perfect sleeve length that I can measure for them, and I really want to be able to roll up my sleeves a bit when appropriate because...

Half-Lining: ...I am most likely going to get a half-lined jacket. I have an unlined summer jacket and I love the way it drapes and wears without the added structure of the lining. I do want this to be an all-season jacket, so getting a half-lining will allow me to wear it at least sometimes through the hotter months. On top of that, I love to layer in the fall and winter, so losing the little bit of insulation shouldn't be a problem. I've consulted to the twittersphere, gotten mixed results, so I'm going with my gut and going half-lined. Decision, made.

The inside of a half-lined jacket.

Everything else is pretty minor and just personal preference, no real reason why I chose the way I did besides that's what I like best. If I get real ballsy I may add a ticket pocket, or maybe slanted pockets both features I've liked before, but am not totally sold on. I'll look around the web and see what I like. God bless Pinterest and Google Image Search.

The Company

Next came picking out which MTM service I was going choose. Initially, I had really only heard of Indochino and Black Lapel, so I started off comparing those two. Here's what I was looking at:

Shoulders: I have a pretty specific picture in my head of how I want this jacket to drape. Without going full bespoke, my best option to get that is to find the MTM company that constructs their standard shoulder closest to what I have in mind. Personally, I wanted a very natural shoulder with little padding.

Turnaround Time: I'm starting to cut it close for this wedding, and I don't want to rush this and screw it up, so I've resigned myself the possibility of maybe no getting my suit in time to wear it in Boulder. Life goes on. But, if possible, I'd like it to be ready

Fit/Quality of Construction: I'm turning mostly to the reviews here, and of course I want something that lives up to expectations as far as construction and fit go. Even more importantly, I'd like to choose a service with a reputation for getting it right the first time, so I don't have that suit in hand at this wedding and still can't wear it.

Price: Well, duh. Low = Good. High = Bad. My budget falls around $500. Just low enough that I can't afford to buy what I want from SuitSupply and get it tailored.

So I started searching, reading, reviewing, and honestly I've been doing this for months anyway and kind of already had an idea of what I'd decide. I'm not telling anyone who to buy until I've tried them myself, but from what I read: Indochino is the most popular choice, but this doesn't mean they are the best. From the more sartorially inclined customers, complaints include the 'hybrid' canvassing used as well as problems with poor fits. On the other hand, it sounds like the customer service is pretty good at fixing anything that goes wrong, and their $75 tailoring credit doesn't hurt either.

On the other hand, Black Lapel seems a bit more expensive, but not unjustly so. The general opinion is get just a little better quality with Black Lapel, from the fabrics to the construction. However, the fit is not as appealing to me. From the pictures I've seen, I find the Black Lapel suits to lean a bit more towards to side of being boxy, or at the very least, not the soft shoulders I'm looking for. Maybe I can ask them to do something different for mine?

From Black Lapel - notice the boxier shoulder.

Quandary.

Then, out of nowhere I saw a recent post by Sabir Peele on Men's Style Pro featuring an 'every day' grey suit by Dragon Inside. The suit looked great and is pretty much exactly what I want, only in blue. I'd never heard of Dragon Inside, but I've been following Sabir on MSP for a while and definitely trust his taste (I got in touch with him later, and he confirmed his recommendation, said they did great work). Price-wise, they were definitely competitive with Indochino. It actually really unfortunately looks like they just bumped up their prices (not a ton, and really I could be completely off base). Still, they are definitely no more than Indochino, and therefore also less than Black Lapel. Honestly, the pictures on the Dragon Inside website kind of threw me off a bit (sorry, guys at Dragon Inside), and I didn't think the suits looked great on them. Instead, I looked up some more 'real life' examples of guys who have purchased these suits, and I think they all look really good:

Sabir M. Peele, of Men's Style Pro

Sabir, again.

Ken Yau, from his blog.

Justin Jeffers, of The Fine Young Gentleman

They seem to drape much more naturally than either Indochino or Black Lapel, and that's something I really want in my suit. Icing on the cake is the reputation their customer service has. I'm only at the stage of ordering swatches and they've already been fantastic. From what I've read, they take a lot of effort to work with the customer to get exactly the suit they want. That makes me confident that the peak lapels will look good, the functioning buttonholes won't be a problem, the pick stitching won't look tacky, and that this suit will turn out a beauty. So, voila, Dragon Inside it is. I hope to give Indochino and Black Lapel (among others) their own turn later down the road, but for now my decision is made.

At this point, I have the fabric swatches en route to my apartment so I can narrow down which blue I want. At that point, the measuring begins, and then it's just a matter of time. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, I'd love any feedback on my choices!