The Lounge's Best Vintage Suit Seller

[Marc Chevalier]

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He called himself "slicedbread". A newbie who proceeded --within a few short months-- to learn about vintage '20s-'40s menswear more thoroughly than anyone else I've known. In other words: a prodigy. And then, he began to sell suits.


WOW. Incredible stuff. Good, reasonable prices. The guy's inventory was AMAZING.


For those who don't remember or never knew, here are just some of slicedbread's items and sales:



http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?18975-For-sale-ALL-MY-SUITS

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?17452-40s-German-Jacket-Beltback

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?23854-Slicedbread-s-Preview-Sale(Continuously-updated) (Scroll down a bit on this one. You won't be sorry!)

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?26-Show-us-your-suits&p=441218&viewfull=1#post441218

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?20824-1930-s-Cream-Off-White-Belted-Back-3-Pc-Suit

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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Then there was the Lounger called "Enigma1947". Another up-and-comer with huge promise. Quick learner, lots of enthusiasm, thoughtful posts. Shared with us a wonderful trove of suits that he'd stumbled across:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...mp-Sportcoats-amp-Vests.-One-of-my-best-finds!


And then ... nothing. After only 36 posts, Enigma1947 skipped town.


Since 2008, we've not only lost some of our 'best and brightest' Loungers in terms of Golden Era menswear ... we've also not lured in an equivalent number of Loungers to replace them. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to do so, but so far I've come up with no solutions. I feel increasingly like Don Quixote, a relic from another era around here.


Several of us old timers are tuckered out and would like to be able to pass the torch, but we don't know who the heck to pass it to.

 

[dhermann1]

7/27/32. Wow. Mighty nice. Don't know what to tell you, Marc. I wonder if there has been a great sucking up of the cream of the crop of vintage suits world wide? Maybe the good ones are almost all gone (to Japan?)

 

[Gene]

Pass that torch to me.

Come at me bro

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Slicedbread's collection was astonishing. My only problem with him was that the bugger was exactly my size, and was buying up all the good stuff at a moment when I was either too busy to search eBay or was very poor between jobs. I think I watched pretty much everything he bought, wishing that I could get it!

.

Since 2008, we've not only lost some of our 'best and brightest' Loungers in terms of Golden Era menswear ... we've also not lured in an equivalent number of Loungers to replace them. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to do so, but so far I've come up with no solutions. I feel increasingly like Don Quixote, a relic from another era around here.


Several of us old timers are tuckered out and would like to be able to pass the torch, but we don't know who the heck to pass it to.

You're not wrong. People move on or step back, of course, and that's fine. Like me, they are very probably still into vintage and still buying great stuff, but just don't have the time or inclination to post it. But like you, I haven't seen the void filled with new talent! The suit section, at least, is almost in the realms of "nice suit" being the limit of conversation. Where are the new button-obsessives (moi), the zipper freaks (i.e. BellyTank and others), lining mavens, and people obsessed with all those little details so central to dating a vintage piece?

[old timers reminiscence alert!]

Would it be possible these days, for example, for Biltmore Bob to get banned for taking the Michael out of an esoteric discussion? His point, I think, was not particularly about silk boxer shorts and their lack of masculinity, it was generally about the apparently pointless, esoteric discussion about minutiae that at that time dominated the clothing sections of the FLounge. I'm not seeing such a preponderance of those discussions now. The CC41 stuff and British suits thread are good, but relatively isolated, examples of the kind of detail-oriented posts that were around "back in our day", Marc.

Ho Hum, enough whining. It's not like I'll be posting much in the next 6 months, anyway, so who am I to talk?!

bk

 

[herringbonekid]

Shared with us a wonderful trove of suits that he'd stumbled across:

i missed that post the first time around. interesting how all of the jackets have the non-cutaway, straight front closure which seems to hark back to the early 20s.

 

[herringbonekid]

Since 2008, we've not only lost some of our 'best and brightest' Loungers in terms of Golden Era menswear ... we've also not lured in an equivalent number of Loungers to replace them. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to do so, but so far I've come up with no solutions. I feel increasingly like Don Quixote, a relic from another era around here.

Several of us old timers are tuckered out and would like to be able to pass the torch, but we don't know who the heck to pass it to.

this place seems to be better for people who are on the first wave of vintage obsession and still have lots to find out and are really enthusiastic about finding those things out. once you get to a certain level of knowledge it plateaus out and all you're really doing is refining that knowledge and finding more and differing examples to add to it, but the knowldege isn't really expanding like it did in the first rush. that can bring on the jaded feeling, and things can often turn sour.

i left this forum around 2007 - 2010 when i got into the jaded zone. i also began looking more into making clothes and finding out how they were made, so i had an entirely new area to explore, and this forum isn't so good when it comes to detailed info about tailoring techniques. i mainly visit now to hopefully find fresh examples of features on suits (and other garments) i've never seen before, and share the occassional bit of info about vintage British clothing.

as for newcomers, i don't worry about that like you do Marc. they're here and they're learning but i would hate to be starting out from the bottom as a buyer today (especially in the UK and europe). as dhermann1 already noted, the vast majority of great suits are already bought, so the pool is drying up.

 

[thunderw21]

...the vast majority of great suits are already bought, so the pool is drying up.

That's the problem with vintage: it will eventually all dry up. That's been something I've been considering recently and perhaps a reason why new folks aren't so into the details: they can't find very much good vintage with all of the unusual details. Now that won't be for a while but once it's gone it's gone and while there'll be collectors like us around for quite some time yet, vintage will eventually be hunted and worn into extinction.

 

[Two Types]

Yes, the well of vintage clothing is drying up - and will inevitably die out - but that can make the thrill of the chase even greater. Especially here in the UK where it's really difficult to find anything good.
After many years of inactivity (bringing up young children) I am now free to search the charity shops in search of good vintage clothing. There may not be much out there but that means only the dedicated (or the very lucky) will find the good pieces.
I know I am highly unlikely to find anything pre-war, let alone any pre-war pieces that fit me, but that doesn't mean I should give up the fun of looking - especially since it means my wardrobe is now overflowing with 1950s ties. Even buying suits that don't fit (or are a style I am not initerested in) - and that I don't desperately need to sell - and keeping them for my son when he gets a bit older, is fun.
Anyway, look at it this way: this generation is getting its hands on the suits of a generation that is now dying out. When the current batch of vintage collectors gets old and dies, there will be some very lucky young kids (who aren't even born yet) who will reap the rewards as our children sell it all off.

 

[Feraud]

Add to the discussion the current availability of vintage clothing is mostly (but not all) selling for high prices.
There is applause for suits that pull in big bucks. The downside of suits selling at $3-500 bucks a piece is at those prices new enthusiasts are probably not going to buy many suits to fill a wardrobe or to compare and contrast details.

People grow older, marry, divorce, have children, etc.
My son is a high school senior who wants to go into medicine. With the cost of education I won't drop hundreds of dollars on suits to compare the lining.

With the crop of vintage clothing drying up I'd love to see the continued growth of quality vintage reproductions.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Great suits. Thanks for posting the old threads again Marc. I just downloaded all the pictures so I can look at them more often. Haha.
I agree on herringbonekid about the newbies (because I am still one of them) I will post pictures of my vintage suits and share my knowledge. But I rarely find something here in germany so I can't contribute this much. I still make the afford to answer threads where people ask very basical questions. It's good to help each other. I imagine some of the new users might have luck and find some vintage suits eventually. Maybe they sell them here and it all comes back. Good suit karma so to speak.

 

[dhermann1]

My interest, really since first finding the Lounge, has always been in general vintage lifestyle. I always found Matt's arm hole obsession, not silly by any means, but definitely amusing. All the esoteric issues really were about quality, what differentiates a vaguely vintage-ish looking suit from a really authentic one. I'd like to see a lot more support for people (like Matt and Indy Magnoli, and Stop Staring, on the distaff side) who are trying to create modern versions of classic style clothes. That's really the way forward for the vintage "movement".
But I'm also equally fascinated by vintage home decor, appliances, movies, art, music, etc. etc.

 

[Nick D]

i also began looking more into making clothes and finding out how they were made, so i had an entirely new area to explore, and this forum isn't so good when it comes to detailed info about tailoring techniques.

This has been my focus for a while as well, working out and learning about the things those linings hide. There are a few people here into the tailoring side, even a couple tailors, but there isn't much discussion of it. I'm a member of the Cutter and Tailor forum, but am barred from even asking questions because I'm not a professional, and even though they have an area for non-professionals I still can't ask the questions I have because of their rules (it's a catch-22).

I keep making vintage-style garments for myself and my wife (and now my son), partly because I really enjoy sewing but also because I cannot afford most of the things I find. If I could afford it every single stitch of clothing I own would have been made before 1955. I'm lucky enough to be on very good terms with a fabric merchant so I can at least get quality fabric at very good prices. I still find some vintage pieces, but as others have noted they're becoming increasingly hard to find.

 

[Qirrel]

This has been my focus for a while as well, working out and learning about the things those linings hide. There are a few people here into the tailoring side, even a couple tailors, but there isn't much discussion of it. I'm a member of the Cutter and Tailor forum, but am barred from even asking questions because I'm not a professional, and even though they have an area for non-professionals I still can't ask the questions I have because of their rules (it's a catch-22).

Maybe we need a new forum. Or a new forum section. I respect Sator's decision to keep the DIY-people out of C&T, but it is really quite frustrating how it seems to be the only place that draws people with those interests. It has pretty much turned into a read-only forum for me.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Maybe we need a new forum.

Maybe we do.

 

[Mario]

I'm with Flo here. I tend only to talk about things if I have the necessary hands-on experience - which, I am sad to say, am still lacking badly. I'm not good at learning from photos (and explanations) alone. I need to touch things.

That's the problem with vintage: it will eventually all dry up. That's been something I've been considering recently and perhaps a reason why new folks aren't so into the details: they can't find very much good vintage with all of the unusual details. Now that won't be for a while but once it's gone it's gone and while there'll be collectors like us around for quite some time yet, vintage will eventually be hunted and worn into extinction.

That perfctly illustrates my point.

Of course I have gone through many of the older threads over the past two years and it's plain to see that quite a lot of the expertise seems to have gone from this fourm.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Marc, I see you want to bring back the old "fire" of the early FL days. That's good. But it often sounds like a big reproach towards the members here. In fact it is rather discouraging for new members and won't bring back the good ole days.
If you want the old members to post more: Try to contact them and ask why they don't. It's like preaching to the converted here. We really want to see more suits and hats and stuff. YES! I don't "give up on humanity" for every vintage suit that has been sold for a small price. It means somebody got a great suit he maybe couldn't afford otherwise. Good for him (!) Maybe it was you? Good for you! No reason to get bitter over it. [huh] It is not easy to surprise you because you already know very much. Be glad you do!

The Fl is still a great place. There are still great sellers like Dinerman who find all sorts of vintage clothes. Workwear, suits, shoes. Everything.

 

[Mario]

^^ Amen!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Try to contact them and ask why they don't.

In recent months, I've been asking some of the missing FL 'experts' why they haven't returned. Here's a frequent reply: "Because so many other experts are gone and haven't returned." In other words, the lack of experts (either departed or new) stops other departed experts from returning (and, presumably, other new experts from even joining in). It also discourages the few who remain, leading them –in some cases– to “abandon ship”. A domino effect for sure.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

:eusa_doh: That's bad. What do they do now? Selling vintage? Reproductions? Writing in blogs?