The Best Suit Fabric for Hot Weather: A Los Angeles Tailor's Guide
Men in Los Angeles tend to assume a suit is a hot thing to wear, and most of the suits they have worn were. That is rarely the fault of the weather. It is the cloth, the lining and the way the jacket was put together, and all three can be chosen differently.
This is how we think about cloth for warm weather at 221 Culver Blvd, in the order that matters.
The short answer
For most men in Los Angeles the best hot-weather suit fabric is a high-twist wool in an open plain weave, at around eight to nine ounces. It lets air through, it does not cling, and it shakes out its creases by the next morning. Linen is cooler still and creases freely, which suits some occasions and not others. Everything below is the reasoning.
Weave matters more than weight
The usual advice is to buy the lightest cloth you can find. It is half right. A very light cloth woven tightly is a windbreaker: it is thin, but air cannot pass through it, so the heat stays in. A slightly heavier cloth woven openly breathes far better and hangs better too.
Hold a length of cloth up to the window. If you can see daylight through the weave, air will move through it when you walk. That one test tells you more than the number on the ticket.
Weight, in plain numbers
Cloth is weighed by the yard, in ounces, or by the metre, in grams.
- Seven to eight ounces (about 210 to 250 grams): true summer weight. Cool, but it creases more and needs a good weave to hang properly.
- Eight to ten ounces (about 250 to 300 grams): the useful range for Los Angeles. Light enough for August, enough body to keep a clean line, and wearable for most of the year here.
- Eleven ounces and above: autumn and winter elsewhere. In this city, a suit for December evenings and for travelling.
Below about seven ounces a suit starts to look tired by lunchtime. We would rather put a man in nine ounces of open cloth than six and a half of something that will not hold its shape.
The cloths worth knowing
High-twist wool
The yarn is twisted hard before weaving, which makes it springy and dry to the touch, and it is woven in an open plain weave. It is the coolest wool there is, it resists creasing better than anything else on this list, and it looks like a proper business suit. If you are having one warm-weather suit made, this is the one.
Tropical worsted
A fine, smooth, lightweight wool in a plain weave. It is softer and a little dressier than high-twist, and it is what most good summer business suits are cut from. It creases slightly more and breathes slightly less.
Linen
Nothing is cooler. Linen carries heat away from the body and dries quickly. It also creases the moment you sit down, and that is its character, not a fault. A heavier linen creases in soft folds and looks handsome; a very thin one crumples. Right for a daytime wedding, a beach ceremony or a summer lunch. Less right for a boardroom.
Wool, silk and linen blends
The Italian answer to summer. The linen gives coolness and texture, the wool gives it shape, and the silk gives a quiet depth of colour. These make beautiful jackets and relaxed suits, and they crease much less than linen on its own.
Wool and mohair
Mohair is crisp, cool and holds a sharp crease, with a slight lustre. It is the traditional choice for evening wear in warm places, and a fine one for a summer tuxedo.
Cotton
Comfortable and easy, and best thought of as a casual suit. Cotton creases, fades with wear and does not recover overnight the way wool does. A tan or stone cotton suit is a pleasure at the weekend. It is not the coolest cloth on this list, whatever its reputation.
What is inside the jacket
Cloth is half of it. A jacket has a layer of structure between the cloth and the lining, and in most ready-made suits that layer is glued in. Glue does not breathe. It is a large part of why an inexpensive suit feels warm even in a light cloth.
A full canvas jacket has no glue. The canvas is stitched in and floats between the layers, so air can move through the front of the coat. Every jacket we make is full canvas, at every price. We have written about how a suit jacket is built if you would like the detail.
Then there is the lining. A full lining is another layer of cloth across your back. For a summer suit it is worth asking how little lining the jacket can have. Lining is one of the things chosen at the consultation, and it makes more difference in August than most men expect.
Colour
Pale colours reflect the sun and dark ones absorb it, which you will feel within a minute of standing in a car park in the Valley. For daytime, mid blue, light grey, stone and tan are all cooler to wear than navy or charcoal. For the evening it matters far less, and navy is always correct.
The Los Angeles particulars
This city is not one climate. It can be twenty degrees warmer in Pasadena or Woodland Hills than it is at the beach on the same afternoon, and the coast is cool in the evening for most of the year. The warmest weeks often come in September and October, not July. And every office, restaurant and hotel is air-conditioned.
So the suit that works here is not the lightest one possible. It is one that is comfortable in the sun, does not leave you cold indoors, and is still right at nine in the evening by the water. That is the argument for eight to ten ounces of open-weave wool: it covers nearly the whole year. We wrote more generally about dressing for the Los Angeles seasons.
Three mistakes worth avoiding
- Choosing by the Super number. Super 120s, 150s and so on measure how fine the wool fibre is, not how cool the cloth is. Very high numbers are softer and more delicate, and no cooler.
- Buying thin and tight. A light cloth with a dense weave is warmer than a slightly heavier one you can see through.
- Forgetting the lining. A cool cloth over a full polyester lining is a warm jacket.
What it costs
A bespoke two-piece suit starts at $1,795, fully canvassed, with unlimited fittings and a year of complimentary alterations. The price is set by the cloth and the making is the same at every level. Suits in domestic cloth take four to six weeks, and imported Italian and English cloth six to eight. There is a fuller breakdown on our page about what a bespoke suit costs in Los Angeles.
The easiest way to choose is to handle the cloth. The first consultation takes an hour and costs nothing: you will meet Robb or Ben and look at cloth with the prices in front of you. Tell us where and when you will wear the suit and we will put the right ones on the table. Book a consultation, or call 310-503-3592.
Questions we are often asked
What is the coolest suit fabric?
Linen is the coolest, followed closely by high-twist wool in an open weave. Linen creases heavily; high-twist wool hardly creases at all, which is why it is the better choice for work.
Is wool too hot for summer?
No. Lightweight wool in an open weave is cooler than most cotton and far cooler than polyester. Wool lets air through and moves moisture away from the body. It is the weave and the lining that make a suit hot, not the fibre.
What weight of suit is best for Los Angeles?
Eight to ten ounces, about 250 to 300 grams. It is cool enough for the warmest months, holds its shape, and can be worn for most of the year here.
Linen or wool for a summer wedding?
For a daytime or beach wedding, linen or a wool, silk and linen blend looks right and feels cool. For an evening or formal wedding, a high-twist or tropical wool keeps a cleaner line through a long day and photographs better late on.
Does a lighter colour really make a difference?
In direct sun, yes. A pale grey or tan suit is noticeably cooler than navy or charcoal in the same cloth. Indoors and in the evening the difference is small.
Does a higher Super number mean a cooler suit?
No. The Super number describes the fineness of the wool fibre. It tells you how soft the cloth will feel, not how well it breathes.