Hopsacks-- uses and limitations
Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 3:26 pm
Just last year I acquired a suit from the Smith Steadfast book of 14oz worsteds. A charcoal-grey hopsack. It turned out to be surprisingly versatile, being warm and yet breatheable, nice-looking in evening but not too spiffy for business travel.
Has anyone other success stories or cautionary tales, especially in somewhat lighter weights? Obviously, when one gets very light in weight, there are frescoes to choose from. But the softness of the hopsack is appealing and not generally present in mid-weight frescoes.
I have a few pairs of trousers from (I think) 10oz hopsack that are somewhat stiff and unnatural looking. But I saw a nice book from Scabal with a whole range of 12oz hopsacks that seemed to be much looser and more flexible. Several sport coat colors, but a handful that could serve for suits.
There's also a badly-publicized bunch of striped hopsacks from Lesser in 13oz that is so stiff that there appears to be mohair at work. Odd colors for many of those, in a Reid & Taylor-ish vein. I have also seen from Lesser, in a U.S./Jodek assemblage of the "formals and standards" book, a sort of marine blue solid in 14oz that could work as a suit or a blazer.
Has anyone other success stories or cautionary tales, especially in somewhat lighter weights? Obviously, when one gets very light in weight, there are frescoes to choose from. But the softness of the hopsack is appealing and not generally present in mid-weight frescoes.
I have a few pairs of trousers from (I think) 10oz hopsack that are somewhat stiff and unnatural looking. But I saw a nice book from Scabal with a whole range of 12oz hopsacks that seemed to be much looser and more flexible. Several sport coat colors, but a handful that could serve for suits.
There's also a badly-publicized bunch of striped hopsacks from Lesser in 13oz that is so stiff that there appears to be mohair at work. Odd colors for many of those, in a Reid & Taylor-ish vein. I have also seen from Lesser, in a U.S./Jodek assemblage of the "formals and standards" book, a sort of marine blue solid in 14oz that could work as a suit or a blazer.