Keeping History Alive

This post was supposed to be about the mundane task of fixing up an old suit. Instead, it is something of a history lesson.


Some of you may remember, I used to work for the long gone Simon's Copley Square, the kind of men's shop where all the products bore only the name of the store itself. I have a high regard of the clothing that I find from such long gone places, and when posting about it, I always do my best to research the old shop. Finding great stuff for short money is half the fun of thrift shopping. The other half is learning the provenance (if you can) of the stuff you find. Often, I come up with nothing, so it is when researching an old place that lived and died before the Internet.On rare occasions, if I'm lucky, a reader will remember the place and offer some insight. In even rarer case, I manage to find something out about the place.

Let's start with the garment itself; medium grey, lightweight for Spring, probably wool blend, in a snappy Prince of Wales check. This suit is something of a hybrid, combining American traditional details with British touches. For instance, it's 3/2(American), but it's darted(British).

It has plain front, cuffed pants with a narrow leg, and a two button cuff (American),

It has hacking pockets and a ticket pocket (British).

Here's where the history lesson comes into it. It's from a shop called Weber and Heilbroner. In their hey-day, Weber and Heilbroner operated nine stores in Manhattan alone. I have a feeling this was the place to shop for the man of style and class who didn't graduate from an Ivy League school, and didn't shop at Brooks Brothers or J.Press, but had very similar taste. Sure, the Brothers and Press may be with us still today, but if these guys had nine shops back then, they must have been doing something right, too. For extra cool points, see this old painted ad on a brick wall for "Stein Block Clothes in the New York Manner".

Amalgamated Garment Workers Union, June 13 1970.
And now on to the original intent of my post. I like to make my own repairs to things, if I can. It's definitely a skill worth cultivating. This suit has a few holes in the lining. No big deal, I'll just come up with some creative way of patching them. It's a trifecta, really: It's "green" ( note: that term drives me insane), it's "punk" (note: that term dives me insane), and it even bears homage to the old WASP tradition of conspicuously ragged cheapness (note: the term WASP is as silly and outdated as "punk" already is, and "green" will be soon enough).

All well and good. But then: What am I going to do about this weird pleat that serves as a vent? I'll try to fashion a normal vent out of it. I can already hear some of you crying out "take it to the tailor!" My tailor is a close ally, and I'd trust him to sew up a wound in my own children any day, but if I can avoid paying him, and learn something about the construction of my clothes in the process, I will.

Did I mention that this suit cost $1.00?

Two outcomes are possible here: I fix the suit, and wear it with pride. Or I wreck the thing, and wind up recycling the fabric into some cool throw pillows, or a bow tie or something. Either way, it's a dollar well spent, don't you think?

Stay tuned for updates.