Lightweight Suits
New Lighter Fabrics Are Now Becoming Available
Wearing a suit in hot weather is rarely much fun – especially during what promises to be a hot summer. But the good news is that as temperatures rise suit fabric weights are falling with some of the lightest, coolest ever cloths being produced this year.
A lightweight fabric for mens suits is made from fine yarns, which are usually then finely woven. “In terms of wool we consider the fabric light when it weighs no more then 170gsm. Previously a wool fabric of 200gsm was considered light,” says Pier Luigi Loro Piana of the fashion house and fabric producer Loro Piana in an email interview with the author of this article.
Cashmere and Silk Light Fabrics
Loro Piana has a cashmere and silk fabric weighing only 100gsm. Specially processed, it has the strength necessary to withstand weaving and a kilo of this yarn would extend for around 570 km, the company has calculated.
The GSM is the weight of the cloth in grammes per square metre. One of the lightest available find at the moment is, for example, just 190gsm with Ermenegildo Zegna’s Trofeo 600 fabric while the heaviest is around 480 to 500gsm and is used for coats, according to a company spokeswoman in an interview with the author of this article.
There are wool-only fabrics which weigh just 110gsm but few tailors can work with something so light just in wool unless they’re treated or mixed with something else. Read the rest of this entry »