Cashmere or wool overcoat (or blend)?
Looking at buying an overcoat for fall/winter from Suit Supply. I live in Illinois where it gets cold in the winter but not like it would in Minnesota or Sweden. I need a custom fit due to my body proportions (think NBA point guard) and noticed that they have $599 100% wool coats and $999 100% cashmere coats, or a 50/50 blend for $799. I don’t care much about the price; I do want something that will be warm and last a long time. I’d likely wear it 4-5 times a week during the winter months. Which one should I buy?
9 Replies
u wanna look at seh kelly? lol Sorry for saying that in all post but one perk is they often have half raglan sleeves so it goes pretty well in the shoulder. SS overcoat are rather short and a bit too slim.
Plus with SEHK you get rather beautiful fabric 🙂
Here the coats: https://www.sehkelly.com/shop/coats/
S.E.H Kelly
Coats — S.E.H Kelly
Coats in here — big things typically worn over at the very least a shirt, and perhaps a sweater and a jacket, too — all made in the British Isles.
Cashmere is not inherently warmer - it’s a luxury product because of its light weight, incredible texture, and ability to hold color. It has its advantages but if your primary concern is warmth I wouldn’t factor it in.
That being said don’t get a coat from suitsupply. It will not look good, it will not last long, and it will probably not be all that warm. SEH is a better call
My reason for looking at Suit Supply is that they make stuff to measure. I haven’t found many other places that do that, and given my body proportions (tall, thin, really long arms), just buying something off the rack will probably result in a poor fit, either too big around the middle with arms that fit or a good fit around the middle with short arms. For example, I’d probably be a Small using S.E.H Kelly’s sizes, but I’d probably need sleeves 1-2” longer than the 34”sleeves on their Small size.
Of course, as much as I don’t want to spend a ton of money on something that does not fit, I also don’t want to spend a ton of money on something that is poor quality…
Do you have a best fit coat to measure of? If you can do that and send the measurement to sehk, they prob can give some advice. Wasn’t aware that the size can be that off for ur case
But at least i glad that you mention suitsupply instead of indochino lol
Mtm is different though.
So a 35-36” sleeve for a small? That’s not super out there. Maybe look at Norse Projects, Our Legacy, Margaret Howell, or even a Gloverall duffel coat. Does it have to be an overcoat or are you open to other outerwear options?
No, I don’t really have a best fit coat to measure. I recently lost nearly 40 pounds, and I lost my “too big” coat from before anyway. I have a couple of suits that fit OK but that’s as close as I have at this point; I’d be happy to reach out to them if you think they could help for sure.
I had to laugh when you mentioned Indochino, it seems like you’d have to actively go out of your way to have a reputation as bad as they have.
I’m open to anything that’s on the dressier side and warm enough; the point is for it to be something I wear to work and church. I usually dress in business casual but might occasionally wear it with jeans or with a suit.
Send sehk and email to see if anything they make might work for you. They are very helpful and responsive
Cashmere is a wool - comes from the cashmere/kashmir/kasmir goat - it's very nice. Soft and friendly. Whether you're willing to pay for it is 100% your choice. I own a wool coat (Alexanders) and a cashmere coat (Field Brothers.) I don't think I'd pay an extra $400 / nearly double for a cashmere coat over a wool coat, given relatively equally high quality, but this value proposition really depends on you, the buyer.
Realistically, it's a luxury product that may or may not feel nicer, or look nicer, but it won't really help from a practical concern. It's not a magic material - it's not a whole lot warmer than sheep wool, for the kind of coat; it doesn't drape a whole lot better; etc. In other words, you choose it almost entirely for its intangibles and less-tangibles. If you're looking for practicality, sheep's wool is more than adequate.
Okay, regarding MTM, here is why I probably don't recommend it.
Overcoats are different from suit jackets / sport coats in a few very important ways.
First of all, their length varies wildly - you have overcoats that are barely longer than a sport coat, and you have overcoats that go down pretty much to one's ankles. The upshot of this is, if you're very tall, you can probably find an XL or XXL overcoat, off the rack, that goes down adequately far. If you're very tall and you want it to go all the way down to your ankles, maybe not, but look around.
Second, sleeve lengths for overcoats are not necessarily designed to be perfectly to your wrists - like a lot of coats, overlong sleeves that you just bunch up a bit are common. It's for practicality of course, you want to keep your hands warm in various positions. So if you have long arms, you can often find overcoats with adequately long sleeves. Measuring from the shoulder seam, for example, a suit jacket tends to be 22-26" to the cuff, whereas an overcoat tends to be 24-28" but I've seen longer.
Third, overcoats are generally not expected to be fitted like a sport coat. You don't need perfection at the shoulders and chest. Close is good, but you want space - especially because you might be wearing an overcoat over different numbers of layers. This also means that the same tagged size can have significant variations in measurements, as some are sized to be quite fitted, and some are sized to be quite loose, and most are in between. Therefore, precise fit is a lot less important so it's much easier to find an adequate fit. Unless you're looking for precise fit, of course, but most are not.
Big coats look great on slimmer builds
