Press less, hang more

Most suits that come back to us worn out have not been worn out. They have been cleaned out. The heat and the solvent of a dry clean are hard on wool, and the pressing that comes with it flattens the shape a tailor spent two fittings putting in.

The night off

Wool recovers on its own if you let it. Hang the jacket on a wide, shaped hanger, empty the pockets, and leave it a day before it goes back on. Most of the creases you can see at six in the evening will not be there in the morning.

A narrow wire hanger does the opposite. It carries the whole weight of the jacket on two points, and after a few months there is a dent in each shoulder that pressing will not take out.

How often to clean it

Twice a year is enough for a suit in weekly rotation. More often than that only if something has been spilled on it. Everything else on this list does the job that a clean is usually asked to do.

• Brush it. A soft clothes brush, down the way the cloth lies, lifts most of what a clean would.
• Spot-clean with a damp cloth and let it dry on the hanger, not on a radiator.
• Air it. A bathroom after a hot shower, twenty minutes, and the creases relax.
• Rotate. Two suits worn alternately last more than twice as long as one worn daily.

Trousers first

Trousers wear out several times faster than the jacket they came with, because they take the friction of sitting down. If a suit is going to be worn weekly, a second pair of trousers is the cheapest way to double its life. Order them at the same time, from the same length of cloth, or the two will not match in two years.

When to bring it back

A seam that has opened, a lining that has torn, a waist that has moved: bring it in. Alterations are free, and there is cloth left in the seams because bodies change. A suit that is ten years old and has been let out twice is a suit that has been used properly.