Suit Patterns: Stripes, Checks and Weaves, and What to Order First

Most men come to pattern third. The weight is settled, the colour more or less decided, and then a bunch falls open on a chalk stripe and the room changes. Pattern is the part of a cloth decision people enjoy most and think about least, and it sets how often a suit gets worn.

The rule that matters more than taste

The bolder the pattern, the fewer times a year the suit can be worn. A plain navy goes out on Monday and again on Thursday and nobody notices. A broad windowpane is remembered by everyone in the meeting, so it comes out once a fortnight. The mistake is spending a first commission on the second kind.

There is a test for it. Look at the length in your hand, then stand back eight feet. If the pattern dissolves into one colour it will behave like a plain suit. If you can still count the lines, treat it as a choice, not a staple.

Stripes, and the differences between them

Stripes run with the length of the cloth, so vertically on the garment. Spacing does more work than width.

• Pinstripe. A single fine line, often a row of dots rather than a solid rule, a quarter to half an inch apart. In navy it reads almost plain at a distance.
• Chalk stripe. Wider and softer edged, as though drawn with chalk, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch apart. It belongs on flannel, where the surface gives the line something to sit in.
• Shadow stripe. No contrasting yarn at all. The stripe is made by changing the direction of the twist, so it comes and goes as you move. The quietest patterned cloth there is.

Checks, from faint to emphatic

Prince of Wales check, also called Glen check, is a woven grid of small broken checks grouped into a larger one, often with a faint overcheck in a second colour. In grey, at a modest scale, it is among the most useful patterns a man can own: sober enough for most offices, and the suit never looks like a uniform.

Windowpane is a wide open check of single lines crossing at intervals of an inch or more. It is the boldest thing here, so it is a third suit rather than a second. Gun club and the country checks belong on jackets, as we set out in odd trousers.

Weaves that read as pattern up close

Some of the best patterned cloths are neither striped nor checked. The pattern is the weave, so the suit reads as a solid across a room and shows itself only to the person beside you: interest at no cost in wearing frequency.

• Birdseye. Small light dots with dark centres on a darker ground. In navy it is the quietest alternative to a plain suit, and it hides creasing.
• Nailhead. The same idea a little larger, the dots in rows like pin heads. A shade more visible and just as sober.
• Sharkskin. Two colours woven in fine diagonals, so the cloth shifts between them as the light moves. It photographs well.
• Hopsack. An open basket weave with air between the yarns. More texture than pattern, and the natural choice for a navy jacket worn on its own.

What pattern asks of the cutting table

A patterned cloth is more work to cut, and that is where a pattern drawn for one person tells. Stripes have to run true down the front, across the pocket flaps and down the centre back, and a check has to match at the shoulder and across a waistcoat. A cutter also places the repeat deliberately on the body, so a check sits kindly on the chest rather than drawing a target across it. The making itself does not change: every garment is full canvas, sewn by hand in our atelier in Southern Brittany. That is covered in full canvas, half canvas and fused construction.

Pattern under Los Angeles light

This city has hard, bright light for most of the year, and it is unkind to anything flat. That is an argument for texture: a birdseye, a hopsack or a fine herringbone catches light at several angles, so the colour keeps its depth outdoors and in a photograph. Strong sun also sharpens a pattern, so a check that looks quiet indoors can read a size bolder at noon on a terrace. In the warmest weeks the weave matters more than the design, the subject of the best suit fabric for hot weather in Los Angeles. Shade is in suit colors, weight in Super numbers and cloth weight.

The order to commission in

Plain first: a navy or mid grey in a mid weight worsted. Second, something that reads plain at eight feet and interesting up close, so a birdseye, a nailhead or a shadow stripe. Third, a pattern you can see across the room, a Prince of Wales check or a chalk stripe flannel. Men who wear a suit in the same room five days a week need that sequence most, lawyers above all, as in dressing for a Los Angeles courtroom. A good custom tailor Los Angeles talks you out of the exciting cloth first and into it third.

Where pattern sits in the price

Pattern itself costs nothing: a chalk stripe and a plain cloth from the same bunch are the same price. What moves the figure is the cloth: a two piece starts at $1,795 and a three piece at $2,045 in our house cloths, with Drago from $2,995, Zegna and Holland and Sherry at $3,495 and Loro Piana at $3,995. Drago and Zegna run smooth and lustrous, Holland and Sherry drier and firmer in the hand, Loro Piana finest of all. Full canvas, unlimited fittings and a year of complimentary alterations come with all of them. The full picture is on bespoke suit cost Los Angeles, and the process on bespoke suits Los Angeles.

Questions we are often asked

What is the difference between a pinstripe and a chalk stripe?

Width and softness. A pinstripe is a single fine line, often a row of dots, a quarter to half an inch apart. A chalk stripe is wider and softer edged, three quarters of an inch to an inch.

Is a patterned suit less formal than a plain one?

Generally yes, and formality falls as the pattern becomes more visible. A navy pinstripe is as formal as a plain navy, a Prince of Wales check a step down, a windowpane further.

What is the most useful patterned suit to own?

A navy birdseye or a grey nailhead. Both read as plain cloth across a room and show their interest only up close, so they wear as often as a plain navy.

Can you match stripes and checks across the seams?

Yes, and it is one of the places bespoke shows. Stripes run true down the front and across the pocket flaps, and checks are matched at the shoulder, the side seams and the centre back.

Does a patterned cloth cost more than a plain one?

No. Price is set by the cloth and the mill, not the design woven into it.

Which patterns suit a larger or shorter frame?

A fine vertical stripe set reasonably wide apart lengthens the line, and a quiet weave such as birdseye suits any build. Large checks add width.

Come and see the bunches open

Pattern is the hardest thing to judge from a photograph. Twenty minutes with the bunches open, a chalk stripe and a birdseye held to the window against your own skin, settles it. The consultation runs an hour and costs nothing, with Robb or with Ben at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey. You can book a fitting, choose an appointment time, or call 310-503-3592.