Crispaire en — outBespoken

My second order session at Ring Jacket lead me back to what I had initially intended as my first suit. As avid readers might know, I surprisingly ended up ordering the Olive Classic Mohair suit first.

Either way, as I mention in my article about summer fabrics, my intention was to get a couple of high twists for the summer and I had initially set my eyes on a Fresco suit. After a little research and comparing the different high twist bunches I ended up going for Crispaire from Holland & Sherry instead of Fresco.

Seeing as this is my first high-twist suit, not to mention a brown which for me is a staple, it’s a somewhat significant for me personally.

Holland & Sherry Bunch 2.jpg — Cloth Properties

Holland & Sherry
　→ Crispaire 3321056
100% Worsted Wool
280/310g
Plain Weave
Now familiar with and impressed by the quality Holland & Sherry provides I was confident in the choosing Crispaire over Fresco. I find the quality of their fabrics, from colour to texture and in this case breathability to be exquisite.
To be more specific the reason I chose Crispaire over Fresco came down to two aspects.

The first one being the touch of the cloth.

Crispaire is not as coarse as Minnis Fresco which normally isn’t significant. In fact I like coarse fabrics. But there is something about the specific roughness of Fresco I don’t particularly enjoy.

Now, this is by no means to say that Fresco isn’t any good, quite the contrary, but at this level you have to go with what feels right for you.

I actually find Crispaire to be remarkably soft for a high-twist, to the extent that I almost don’t want to compare it to the other high-twists. If you are persuaded by the properties of a high-twist but don’t like coarse fabrics, this is definitely your choice.

Both as a suit or separated trouser and jacket it is just a pleasure to wear. It feels far less constrictive when worn, but that it does come at a cost when we start nitpicking.

Crispaire is not as breathable as some other high-twists. Mind you, these are minuscule differences.
All high-twists I’ve come to now are excellent for hot climates, but it does result in me preferring my Fox Air suits on the hottest days.

As with all things in life it’s a matter of weighing pros and cons and the softness of Crispaire is unequalled.
If we disregard the comparison, Crispaire on it’s own terms is an incredibly breathable cloth. The 2-Ply yarn makes for a good amount of spacing in the warp and weft letting air flow nicely.

Furthermore, Crispaire is actually my favourite cloth for trousers. I had a spare pair made as well as other shades as I found myself wearing these as separates more often than not.

Cloth Look

Back to the two reasons for choosing Crispaire over Fresco, although the least important of the the two reasons, I preferred the shade and colour nuance of Crispaire over Fresco.

Despite the broader range of brown shades from Minnis Fresco, of the the darker brown shades in the different high twist bunche, the Crispaire dark brown just matched what I had envisioned perfectly.

It does mostly have a solid brown appearance but there are slight nuances to the brown shade, albeit not as much as some other high-twist cloths.

Being quite the aficionado of brown in tailoring there is no doubt there will be more brown suits added, but it was important to me to have exactly this shade for the first one.

The Suit

Going with the same preferences as the Classic Mohairs suit, both the jacket and trousers are exactly the same. The jacket, based on the No-269 model, a 3-roll-2 buttoning, has double stitching along the lapel and down the skirt.

The double stitching is picked up on hip pockets fittingly giving the suit a casual appearance. The lapels are the same 9,4cm lapels with a slightly higher gorge line. To me they appear quite wide, but not overtly wide as such. I have considered adding a little width to my future orders but looking at the jacket as a whole I think these are the best proportions. And 9,4cm is fairly wide after all.

As you can see, there’s a single line of stitching on the sleeve cuffs as well as along the darts.

This jacket is also half-lined, unsurprisingly, seeing as it’s inherently a summer suit.

I went for a contrasting brown cupro for the lining and brown horn buttons.

Trousers

The first thing to note here is upon ordering a second pair I removed the loop that goes over the waistband. In addition, with the second pair I omitted the buttons on the back pockets.

Not something related to regrets, but simply to have the option to go with a slightly more sleek look if I wish to do so.

The trousers I initially went with are the same as my others (until now), with buttons on the back pockets and the elongated waistband. Of course I added turn-ups as per usual.

These also have that longer rise which I prefer. Honestly, although I prefer a higher rise I have come to like either as they serve different purposes.

The key difference is that the slightly lower rise gives a somewhat more casual and relaxed vibe.

On the other hand, the higher rise of these and my other custom trousers creates a nicer proportion and looks a lot more elegant.

Some Thoughts

I mentioned in the beginning of the article that this suit has some significance for me personally. It’s not a deep personal story, but rather a sartorial one.

First up, the fabric. Cutting to the chase, this suit is the perfect brown “base” suit. I’ve been through a couple of brown suits by now and as much as they were nice suits, none of them were ever this suit. From the beginning, before I knew about cloths and how to articulate what I wanted due to lack of knowledge, this was the exact fabric I was envisioning; a slightly coarse, textured brown plain weave. It’s not necessarily the prettiest suit ever or a colour most people lean towarss, but for that base brown suit that I wanted, this is exactly it. When you then add the fact that I now acquired this fabric in a suit that matches my preferences down to the finest details, hopefully you can appreciate why this is significant for me. It’s like a chip off the shoulder. And with regards to the shoulder…

Secondly, the fit of the shoulder and the rise. Granted, my shoulders change quite a bit throughout the year, and months for that matter. But Ring Jacket really got it right with this jacket (not that they otherwise didn’t).

It’s cut perfectly from the high armhole and fits beautifully over the shoulder. Also, it’s not a secret that I am quite fuzzy about the rise of trousers and these ones are perfect.

Crispaire