Every Man Needs a Good Suit
I recently decided that I needed to get a nice suit. I have some friends that are engaged to be married soon, and I have a job that occasionally requires professional attire. I don’t plan on getting any taller, shorter, fatter or skinnier in the near future, so I figured this is as good a time as any to add a nice suit to my wardrobe.
Up until my recent shopping extravaganza, the only suit I owned was a used suit I bought for $20 at a secondhand store. I never had it tailored and I’m certain people could tell, but I didn’t know any better. It served me well as I interviewed for jobs in college, but now that I’m a working professional and I will soon be attending personal formal events, I decided I need a nice suit.
My clothing budget for the entire year is $200. I actually came in under budget last year at about $150. That’s about enough to buy some underwear and a few button down shirts for work. I knew I would have to break that budget to get a nice suit, but I was prepared to spend a little money as long as I got what I wanted at a good price.
Unfortunately, the only thing I know about finding shopping deals is that Black Friday is a great day to buy electronics. I honestly have no idea when the best clothing sales occur.
Best Buy Camping Segue
There are certain periods of your life where you have more time than money, and others whereyou have more money than time. When I was in college, I had a lot more time than I had money, so I camped outside a Best Buy in St. Louis, Missouri in sub freezing temperatures to get in on the Black Friday madness.
I showed up just after Thanksgiving dinner ended and there were already about 40 people ahead of me in line. Let me stress that four layers of clothing and a sleeping bag are not enough when it is 20 degrees Fahrenheit with tornado-like winds ripping tears and snot out of your face. I probably got 90 minutes of horrible sleep while I spent the rest of the night cursing myself and this stupid plan to be homeless for a night just to save a few bucks.
I ended up with a $600 laptop for $400 and a $300 XBox 360 with a free Guitar Hero 2 game and guitar controller ($80 value). $280 is huge to a college kid. And what else was I going to do that night? It was definitely worth it.
Two-For-One at Men’s Warehouse
Again, I am not a veteran shopper, but I think I lucked into a pretty good deal over Labor Day weekend. I went to Men’s Warehouse where they had every single item in the store on a two-for-one sale. Buy a suit, get one free. Buy a tie, get one free. This sale had no exceptions; no matter what I bought, I could get another one absolutely free.
I didn’t necessarily need two suits, but this was a great opportunity to get two of them for the price of one, and thus prevent myself from having to buy another suit for basically the rest of my life. (fingers crossed)
The Selections
The manager at Men’s Warehouse said he had been working there for 10 years and had never seen a two-for-one sale on everything in the entire store. I figured this would be a good time to buy not only the suits but also the button down shirts, shoes, belts, ties, and socks.
I wanted to get everything for two reasons. First, the sale sounded pretty good. More importantly, if I didn’t buy it there, I would have had no idea how to complete the outfit later without professional help. I needed that salesman as much as he wanted my money.
Here is what I picked out:
- A Calvin Klein suit (taupe) and a Pronto Uomo suit (charcoal)
- Two nice button down shirts (off white and light purple)
- Two Calvin Klein ties (maroon and a purple pattern)
- Two pairs of dress shoes (burgundy and brown)
- Sets of three pairs of socks (matching both suits)
- A very nice $100 piece of luggage to travel with suits (I got another tie free because I didn’t need two of the same luggage)
- Tailoring for the suits to fit them perfectly to my body
Proper Fashion Segue
While I was shopping for these suits, I learned a lot about men’s fashion. If you are a clueless guy like me, these tips should be helpful. Please note that I’m passing these tips along from the guy from Men’s Warehouse and take no responsibility for any ridicule you may be subject to as a result of these suggestions if he was wrong.
- Color of dress socks should match your pants (I always thought they match your shoes)
- Color of shoes should match your belt (apparently “close” isn’t good enough)
- A black suit should always have black shoes and a black belt (not a karate black belt)
- Any non-black suit (including charcoal or dark navy) should have a burgundy or brown shoe/belt combination in a professional setting (I thought black goes with everything)
- A navy blue or charcoal suit is best for a professional interview, while a more neutral color suit is a bit more casual and better used for a professional lunch meeting (the idea that even after how much I paid for these suits, the taupe one isn’t “good enough” for a job interview makes me want to laugh, cry, and vomit at the same time)
- Never button the bottom button on a jacket (I’ll just say “oops”)
The Damage
For two designer suits and all the other stuff I listed above, I paid $1,017.43
That is a whole lot of money. Five years of my clothing budget in fact. The suits by themselves had a retail price of $500, so if I had just bought the two suits without any of the other stuff on a normal day without this sale, it would have been over $1,000.
On the other hand, I cried a little bit when I handed over my credit card. This is definitely the largest single purchase I have ever made in my life outside of buying a car.
“I Will Not Get Fat” Segue
By that same measure, maybe people could apply this principle to weight loss. If you wanted to shed a few pounds or tone up or something, imagine if you went to the store and found a shirt/dress/outfit/zoot suit that you really liked, and then bought it in the size you’d like to be instead of the size you are now? I guarantee it would work for me.
How Did I Do?
I feel like I did alright here, but I’m such a clothing novice I have no idea. What do you think? Did I overpay or get a good deal? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
What I think is strange is the fact that you can post a page long blog about buying a suit. It’s a great investment and you will use it for years to come. Most women have a clothing budget of $200 a month, so I even think you need to reconsider your clothing budget so you can stay professional.
Haha, I’m really good at making a short story horribly long. A $200 monthly clothing budget may happen, but I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. At least I can’t imagine spending that much personally. I do agree that I needed a suit and it was a good idea to purchase one (or two), I just hope I got a good deal.
I agree about reconsidering your clothing budget. I’m sure you don’t change your style as much as a fashion-conscious woman would, but high-quality professional wear can get expensive. Sometimes I spend $200 in a day on clothing. But I got my suit for $200. I’d say you overpaid. [Caveat: I know how much women’s clothing costs, but I’ve never shopped for a men’s suit, and I’m not familiar with those brands. So perhaps you did get a good deal.]
[Side note]
Something I learned from grocery shopping: be careful of sales. Sales make you spend more money. Why? Because you need one can of soup. Maybe two. But if they are on sale, you think, “oh man! Soup is 20 cans for $10! What a GREAT deal!” Which may be a great deal. But you only need one or two cans–so you just bought 18 cans (and spent $—) that you didn’t need to buy/spend.
I agree about the sales. I definitely would have gone somewhere else if I was only getting one suit with all the extras for $1,000. Men’s Warehouse hooked me with their two-for-one deal.
Also, I actually don’t intend on increasing my clothing budget significantly. This was a one time expense that I probably won’t incur again for about 10 years, so I don’t expect much change in that clothing budget next year.
Technically, you didn’t have the suits tailored, you had them altered. A tailored suit is created for you from scratch with more measurements than the ones they take at Men’s Wearhouse.
I also got a two-for-one deal at the ol’ MW, but I got mine with pleated plants, which is apparently a big no-no. The suit jackets cover up the pleats, so it doesn’t bother me at all.
A tailor is the person who altered my suit, so I just assumed that’s what tailoring was. Thanks for the correction.
My (limited) understanding of pleated pants is that they are fashionable for a short and/or stocky build. A tall and/or skinny build should avoid pleated pants. With that being said, I’m sure I would struggle to identify the difference.
Kevin – you did well. Men’s clothing is of much higher quality than women’s and is desiged to last, handle major alterations, hold up under the rigors of dry cleaning, etc.. In addition to having appropriate clothing to wear, you will find that a well dressed guy is valued more, i.e. will be paid more for his time. I worked for a female attorney who did not receive a raise for 3 years. The week after she bought two suits – yes, from a business wear store, not J.C. Penney’s – so they were formal, austere in color, and absolutely not needed for the job as we had no public contact. The next week, she received a substantial raise for “taking her job more seriously.” Truth! You will earn more and the cost of your clothing will be easily offset in one year. You will need to upgrade about once every five years, suits do wear out with regular use, but it will be worth it. Quit worrying about it and do good work.