Cheap Threads

I needed another suit, one that does not show signs of a long life at the hands of an abusive someone who loathes to wear suits and who has ignored good eating habits for far too long. I need this suit because I have an obligation, soon, that will require me to wear one, despite my misgivings.

Now, as much as I know it's a good thing to have a decent suit to wear, I also know that I find the price of men's clothing to be ridiculously high. The suits that I find attractive and "wearable" (when I can find them that will, with significant surgical effort by a master tailor with magical talents, fit me) run $600 or more...sometimes much more. So, I went on a quest to find a suit that would meet my needs and would not cause me to rant about corporate greed.

It didn't take long. I visited a store just a few miles from my house, in a perfectly respectable shopping center, and found what I was looking for. ReThreads claims to have been in business for 30 years. It's been at its present location for as long as I've been in Dallas proper (as far as I know)...at least 12 years. I bought a black suit with grey pinstripes for $96 plus tax. It will cost $30 for alterations, so for $135 or thereabouts, I will have a nice suit to wear.

I bought a couple of sweaters there a year or two ago, as well. If memory serves, I paid about $15 each for sweaters that easily would have cost $90 or more, each, new. If I were truly smart and willing to look harder, I suspect I could have found a suit for even less at Goodwill or another charitable organization's retail store.

Back when I wore suits every day, I always bought new suits. In fact, I still buy most clothes new. It's just this most recent suit and those two sweaters that I bought "used." But I think I will start doing this more often. When I think back at how many suits I bought for $200-$600 and later discarded (actually, gave to Goodwill), it stuns me. And when I don't buy "re-threads," I will buy cheap, like t-shirts from Target. They're all made in India or Pakistan or China anyway, so why buy an expensive "name" garment when one priced at 15% of the higher-priced one will do?