This article is brought to you by my friend Kevin Tournaux.
Passionate about tailoring and working at Mond, a Danish half-measures brand, he has plenty to share with you on the thorny issue of cycling in a suit.
Good reading !
Benoit
A few months ago, while visiting the very welcoming city of Amsterdam, I took the opportunity to visit Pauw Mannen, a very renowned high-end “Tailoring” boutique.
In a magnificent space
“And your customers, do they ride bikes in costumes?” To which he replied: “Why would they do such a foolish thing?!” »
Indeed, living in Copenhagen, the true “bike city”
Whatever the season, bicycles dominate in Copenhagen. (Photo credit: Max Adulyanukosol - Unsplash).
Here, most people move around the city on bicycles, and unfortunately, bicycles and suits usually don't mix.
The crotch wears out, the material tears and the seams crack. All this, at an absolutely prodigious speed.
After a long and very painful apprenticeship
In this article, you will see that costume and bicycle are not necessarily antagonistic (Photo credit: Matteo Minoglio - Unsplash).
We will first identify the problem, then discuss valid tips to extend the life of your costumes
This problem, which those who cycle to work while wearing their suit have surely encountered several times, is the following: after X number of wears, the fabric cracks at the crotch level. In some cases, it is the seam that will give way first, over a truly incredible length of 30 cm or more!
This unfortunate incident very often occurs in the middle of the action and in the middle of your journey, as if to add to the embarrassment of having destroyed your precious pants, the humiliation of having to cross the city with your buttocks bare. And if you're wondering, yes, it's real life.
Why and how do your pants get there? (Photo credit: dappered.com)
Wool, the material that makes up the vast majority of (good) suits, is, contrary to popular belief, a durable material. But, like almost everything, wool also has its kryptonite, and becomes extremely fragile due to the combination of 5 factors:
- The heat
- humidity
- Stretching
- Friction
- The accumulation of dirt
These five factors are all present when you play the Contador of the towns and fields, while your pants are tight at the thigh and hip.
The following advice therefore aims to reduce or eliminate one or more of these factors.
Tip #1: Use each pair of pants only once a week
Give him some rest, he will repay you. (Bernard Zins pants).
After wearing, and in order to eliminate as much humidity as possible, due to perspiration and which the wool absorbs, it is advisable to let the pants rest as much as possible, in a very airy wardrobe and with sufficient space between them. each hanger.
This advice also applies to your shoes and other pants, which are only recommended to be worn twice a week, at most. A wardrobe consisting of 5 pairs of suit pants is therefore essential if you are a cyclist! Take it from my experience: in the long term, your bank account will thank you.
Tip #2: ban very tight cuts at the hip and thighs
I understand you, “slim is swag”. Well, if we believe the advertisers. For my part, I foresee an end very soon for him. With a double counter-attack in progress: from the “high-fashion” of the catwalks, and elegant influencers like Fabio Attanasio:
The days of ultra-slim are numbered, so get ahead of the curve and choose a clip or two, with a generous thigh and hip. The slim appearance of the piece can be retained at the knee and ankle, while the deadly “stretch + friction” combination will be eradicated. Thus preserving the life of your precious Husbands suit. It’s a Royal win-win!
Example of stylish pleated pants by Andreas Weinas:
Tip #3: Avoid fabrics that are too fragile
Certain fabrics are particularly sensitive to friction and should therefore be avoided.
I am thinking in particular of carded and combed flannels
There is, however, an exception: sports tweed or hunting tweed, a very heavy and tear-resistant fabric, old favorites of the English nobility for… hunting activities![bg_info txt="+"]And yes there was no trap.[/bg_info] (Photo: tweedchasse.com)
Tip #4: Brush
Here, when it comes to canvas suits and mostly made of wool, there is no question of removing the dirt, dust and grime that accumulates behind the knees, in the crotch and behind, by machine washing.
You're going to have to brush. No, it's not a waste, take the sacrosanct Sanglar hair brush from the Bois de Fontainebleau, your best lint roller, and brush the affected areas!
Bonus: don’t be shy and treat yourself! Treat your PEL to the Rolls of brushes, and a whole shoe care set, with a Liège-Mahogany box included!
I present to you your pants' new best friend!
I assure you, to combat the Sunday evening blues, there is nothing better than a Waxing-Brushing-Meditation-Chakra Opening break.
Tip #5: Adopt a saddle softer than the bibifoc belly
The worst enemy of the cycling suit is this:
You will therefore need to avoid leather saddles, rivets and more generally any roughness or abrasive material which will increase the friction exerted on your precious suit.
Some “hardcore” cyclists even use saddle covers made of silicone or very smooth plastic which make it very soft.
Personally, I had a rubber saddle installed. Smoother than that is Vaseline. And for that, I will leave it to you to try!
Tip #6: be wary of thin and light fabrics like the plague.
This advice won't please everyone: it's about forgoing ultra-light suits and instead investing in heavier, thicker, more durable fabrics.
It is also very difficult to implement because the overwhelming majority of the current ready-to-wear sartorial offering is made up of ultra-fine, very soft and very light fabrics.
The lightest suit in the Suitsupply range, in fine Super 150 wool. On your bike saddle, its days will quickly be numbered.
Traditional costumes, made of thicker fabrics, sell little or nothing. The problem with this approach is that a fabric weighing 200 grams per meter will never be as durable as one weighing 400.
Same problem regarding tissues with stratospheric titers. Their omnipresence and good reputation among consumers are the vestiges of the “super war” waged by unscrupulous ready-to-wear and half-measure brands in the early 2010s.
It is important to remember that Kévin is talking here about two very distinct things: the fineness of the fiber and the thickness of the fabric.
We can, in theory, have a fabric of reasonable thickness with a very fine fiber, which would not be much more fragile than a suit of the same weight made of thicker (and therefore "coarser") fibers.
As for fast fashion, I wouldn't blame it on her (for once) for a fairly simple reason: she would already have to work with 100% wool fibers most of the time, so that we can 'accuse of being responsible for having reduced the weight of woolen fabrics...
A super 200's, it's beautiful, it's silky and it shines in the disco
I find myself obliged to bring a small contradiction here: the "super 1xx's" system designates a fineness of fiber only and not of yarn. We could, once again, have a wire as thick as an elevator cable which would be "super 200's". It’s just that you would have to pay a lot of money for all this very fine wool 😉
Indeed, thicker fabric means more raw material. This being already rare and precious, if it takes twice as much to make a piece of fabric, prices soar, the consumer takes out a loan to afford such madness, bankers have strokes, wives leave us for young, less expensive Justin Bieber lookalikes…
Finally, you see the picture!
As far as I'm concerned
On the other hand, any honorable half-measures house or “Bespoke” tailor will give you this information willingly. It depends on your satisfaction over time, which, if excellent, will most likely lead to further orders.
Tip #7: choose the right weave
To apply this last tip, you will need to acquire a bit of technical knowledge. In fact, the fabrics most resistant to friction and tearing belong to the heavy twill category: cavalry twill, bedford cord and whipcord.
You will need to recognize them on the costume you wish to purchase. Or in the bundle, if it is an order. You will also need, with some exceptions, to eliminate all fabrics that are too airy: Gauze, Voile, Jersey, Mock Leno, Mesh and others.
For this I give you 6 explanatory photos, instead of a beautiful speech
Example of Cavalry twill.
Structure of a Cavalry twill.
Example of Bedford cord.
Structure similar to the Bedford cord.
Whipcord example .
Structure of a Whipcord fabric.
Tip #8: choose the right saddle height
The last tip, but also the most practical. If you adjust your saddle height as the majority of specialists require you to do
The trick will therefore be to find a happy medium, between a completely straight leg and a leg that is too bent. The latter, in the long term, can also cause knee pain.
Here, I can only recommend the good old empirical approach, the very Saxon “trials and errors”
Of course, this solution cannot be applied if you plan to do 50 kilometers every morning, but for short journeys, it has proven to be a lifesaver. (Photo credit: Paul Green - Unsplash).
The final word
That's all for the moment. You are already well equipped to move around your city on a bike and in a costume, while limiting wear and tear.
All you have to do is hop on your Cannondale and smash the Strava record on Magenta Boulevard.
But please, leave the Cifo suit in your closet!
