With winter just around the corner now is the time to get your cold-weather closet in order. A high-quality winter suit should protect you against harsh winter weather without compromising on style, but which fabric makes for the best winter suit? Let’s take a look at the most popular options.
1. Wool
Wool is by far the most popular winter suit fabric thanks to its reasonable cost, fantastic durability, and ability to maintain its form. A high-quality winter suit will last for years provided that it is well taken care of, and since it is adaptable to temperature change it can work well not only for winter but for spring and fall too. The brilliant thing about wool is that it can be spun as loose or tight as necessary. Loose-spun wool will give you a more breathable suit and one which is spun tighter will be much warmer. Wool also gives off a very subtle sheen which gives it a luxurious edge.
2. Tweed
Tweed is constructed by combining and twilling three different colored wool yarns, which gives it a distinctive speckled pattern. It’s an incredibly popular winter suit fabric thanks to its incredibly warm and water-resistant nature. The downside of tweed is its course texture and heavyweight. It isn’t the most comfortable winter suit, but it is certainly durable and the best protection against harsh winter weather. This is the ideal choice for anyone who lives in a very cold winter climate, provided they don’t mind the rough feel of the fabric.
3. Flannel
Flannel is a brilliant fabric for winter because it is incredibly warm thanks to its worsted wool construction. However, this also makes it very heavy, and flannel suits can therefore be somewhat uncomfortable for office life. This is a great choice if you’ll be spending lots of time outside or up on your feet rather than sitting at a desk in a stuffy environment. Traditionally flannel suits have been associated with mature gentlemen, but in recent years the fabric has been reinvented as a stylish choice for younger men. It has an extremely soft finish which makes it more comfortable than tweed, but its luxuriousness comes with a heftier price tag than other winter suit fabrics.
4. Herringbone
Herringbone is usually made from twilled wool or flannel fabric and has a distinctive zigzag pattern. It is heavy and warm which makes it perfect for cold weather, and it has the benefit of being incredibly durable which makes it a brilliant option if you’re looking for a winter suit that will last for years. The tight weave of herringbone makes it the perfect fabric for a very structured suit. Its thickness, in combination with the zigzag pattern, gives it the illusion of depth which makes it a popular choice for those with very slim figures who want to create the illusion of a broader frame.
5. Cashmere
With its sumptuously soft texture and impeccable insulating properties, cashmere is by far the most luxurious winter suit fabric available. The biggest downside is its cost; cashmere is one of the most expensive fabrics on the market, and a 100% cashmere suit will be a serious investment.
Cashmere is also not the most durable fabric, which means it isn’t as long-wearing as other options. Plus, it is beloved by moths; if you’re going to invest in a cashmere suit be sure to have a cedar closet to store it in. Many people opt for a cashmere-wool or cashmere-polyester blend when buying a winter suit not only to improve durability but also to reduce cost.