My Palm Beach Suit

[Atterbury Dodd]

Thanks for posting the photo Mario. Well, you got a nice suit! If I find another that fits me better I am going to hang on to it.

 

[cookie]

Nah. In Cuba, you'd have worn an unlined dril cien suit: made of white, high-sheen,very wrinkly drill-weave linen woven in Irish mills. (The linen thread was turned on itself before weaving.)


More about old Cuba's fabled dril cien suits here: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-12-23/entertainment/8704050267_1_cuban-generals-suit-drill

Thanks Mark I have been looking for that article for years. I posted a thread on lin cienhttp://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?30660-White-Suits& . It is still available from Ulster Linen out of NYC in two colours. But in short width so you need big metreage.

Here is a longer version: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1988-08-14/news/0060200015_1_dril-cien-white-linen-suit

That store seems to have disappeared as I recall contacting them in the early 90s when I first developed interest in Cuban clothes.

Does anyone know if anyone are still manufacturing these suits?

 

[kyboots]

I believe all of those are gone now. Palm Beach outlet in Newport, Ky. was great. When I was in college we could all go to the Palm Beach outlet and buy suits for $39.95 and sport coats for $19.95. At some times of the year there would be even better discounts, they were great. Palm Beach sold world wide and sold under many names.They used to produce at lot of high end merchandise for private label stores in this country when produced here, but most of their fare was middle of the road for us average guys.They had dedicated employees and those from here always had a good work ethic. The light suits were obviously for the summer, but you had many a nice dark solid, or pin stripe wool etc for the winter to choose. There were factories through out this region at one time. Ky. had plants in Newport, Danville, Harrodsburg, and ? Corbin but others will know this better than me. They supplied the work force by employing rural Ky. women with somewhat descent jobs. They supported many a family during the 40's, 50's and 60's. The typical being high school educated lady and her farmer husband.Those jobs are gone including the quality. --John

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I believe all of those are gone now. Palm Beach outlet in Newport, Ky. was great. When I was in college we could all go to the Palm Beach outlet and buy suits for $39.95 and sport coats for $19.95. At some times of the year there would be even better discounts, they were great. Palm Beach sold world wide and sold under many names.They used to produce at lot of high end merchandise for private label stores in this country when produced here, but most of their fare was middle of the road for us average guys.They had dedicated employees and those from here always had a good work ethic. The light suits were obviously for the summer, but you had many a nice dark solid, or pin stripe wool etc for the winter to choose. There were factories through out this region at one time. Ky. had plants in Newport, Danville, Harrodsburg, and ? Corbin but others will know this better than me. They supplied the work force by employing rural Ky. women with somewhat descent jobs. They supported many a family during the 40's, 50's and 60's. The typical being high school educated lady and her farmer husband.Those jobs are gone including the quality. --John

Yeah, that was after Goodall had sold the "Palm Beach" name to another company. Henceforth, the suits were labeled as "Palm Beach" or "Palm Beach by Jon Weitz", but the famous cotton/mohair Palm Beach cloth of earlier years was no longer used on any of them.


Corbin -- what a great brand. I'm just old enough to remember when U.S. regions were associated with the fabrics and clothing they produced: Massachusetts for shoes, New York for suits, the South for cotton fabrics, etc.

 

[Tomasso]

The Palm Beach brand was killed off by Hartmarx just last year. They merged it into their Austin Reed label.

 

[kyboots]

Yeah, that was after Goodall had sold the "Palm Beach" name to another company. Henceforth, the suits were labeled as "Palm Beach" or "Palm Beach by Jon Weitz", but the famous cotton/mohair Palm Beach cloth of earlier years was no longer used on any of them.


Corbin -- what a great brand. I'm just old enough to remember when U.S. regions were associated with the fabrics and clothing they produced: Massachusetts for shoes, New York for suits, the South for cotton fabrics, etc.

I can remember getting a Corbin suit, one of my first suits. Good price and fit my mother was thrilled with it. Took it to college.
--John