Why Buy a Fully Canvassed Suit? What it means, and how it keeps the glue off of you!

Ever wonder why your suit just does not seem like the suits you see on the silver screen? You can select the highest quality fabric, but it is what is on the inside that counts.

Most suits are NOT constructed like the one seen above. In order to meet the demands of a consumer market, suits over time have been developed to be a short use consumable item. They are built to last like most items today, that is, repair by replacement (like that washing machine that died just after the warranty lapsed).

As can be seen above, most interlinings of a standard off the rack suit consist of a single piece of fuse-able canvas. What is fuse-able canvas you ask? It is an iron on application of structural material bonded by a glue compound. That expensive fabric you just spent your hard earned money on, was most likely glued to the structural layer of your suit. What is lost by the bonding of fabric and canvas in this way is first, the drape - the ability for your suit to hang naturally and contour your body unimpeded. The second thing lost, the breathability - the ability of a fabric to allow moisture vapour to be transmitted through the material. The last thing lost is the longevity of the garment. Glues, no matter how high the quality, will lose their bond during subsequent sessions to the dry cleaner and under the iron.

A half-canvassed suit, seen above, is an upgrade from fully fused in that the top half of the suit has the correct chest layers. This construction is still half-fused, which results in the bottom half of your suit having the same issues of longevity and less drape on the bottom half of the suit jacket. The only reason one would select this construction over fully canvassed would be a cost-saving measure.

A fully canvassed suit is the top level of construction available. All aspects of the interlinings are sewn into the suit, preserving the qualities of the outer fabric. This construction allows for the best possible longevity of the garment. The jacket will, over time, fit you better as the canvas will adapt and contour your figure the more you wear it. A fully canvassed jacket allows for the greatest flexibility available as it is built to move with you. The canvas is broken into three parts starting with the body canvas, the base foundation of the garment which runs the entire length of the jacket. The second part is the chest canvas, which runs from the waist to the shoulder and provides better structure for your chest and the drape of the garment. The last part is the domet, which allows the parts of the upper canvas to be sewn together and provides a smooth finish to the chest.

At Claymore Brothers, we only provide fully canvassed suits, as we believe this level of construction meets the needs of our discerning clients.