Palm Beach: the Summer Fabric

Palm Beach was a famous brand that created a uniquely blended fabric for warm weather wear.  It was very popular during the Golden Era (before dying out in the 1950s) because it offered men one of the best and most stylish ways to stay cool in the heat while wearing a suit.

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What was Palm Beach fabric?  It was a warm weather blended fabric created in the late teens/early 1920s.  The blend was kept secret and is still up for debate, but general consensus is that it's a blend of linen, mohair, and, added in the mid-1950s, rayon and nylon.  One 1950s Palm Beach material tie is tagged with the following blend:

50% rayon

32% mohair

12%cotton

6% nylon

It should be noted that this is a later blend after Palm Beach was sold by Goodall in 1953.  The previous original blend did not contain rayon nor nylon.  While the Palm Beach fabric died in the 1950s, it should not be confused with the Palm Beach brand, which existed separate from the fabric from the 1950s up to at least the 1980s if not later.  After the 1950s the Palm Beach brand name was just that: a name.  Unimpressive wool and polyester Palm Beach brand suits and jackets litter thrift shops across the country; these later garments share no heritage to those made out of true Palm Beach fabric.

I was able to pick up a Palm Beach suit the other day.  Surprisingly it fits me pretty well.  It has stains throughout but I'm currently working on them.

The interesting thing about this suit is that the two pieces are not original to each other.  If you look at the photo of the jacket above you'll notice by the low button stance, highly padded shoulders, and very generous lapels that this jacket dates from the Bold Look, or the mid-1940s to the early 1950s.  It dates from before the Palm Beach name was sold by Goodall in 1953 because the brand tag still mentions Goodall.

The trousers, however, have a button fly as well as an NRA tag in them, dating them from 1933-1935.

Thankfully for me the material blend and weave didn't really change in the time between when these two pieces were manufactured so they match perfectly.

With so many stains throughout this suit it will be somewhat difficult to clean well.  Palm Beach fabric can easily develop dry rot if stored in a hot, dry area and can shred at any attempt to clean it.  Oxiclean has been known to also destroy the material as it's a fairly harsh cleaning method.  From a couple experts I've talked to, the best bet for cleaning vintage Palm Beach fabric is in soapy water with a mild soap.  However, if dry rot has occurred even a gentle hand-wash in soapy water can still shred Palm Beach.  Avoid dry cleaning.

Anyone lucky enough to find a good-condition garment made of Palm Beach fabric can attest to its usefulness in the warm summer months.  I've thankfully finally joined their ranks with this great suit that, with a little elbow grease, will serve me well.

And just in time for winter...

An Intro to Overcoats

This is a topic I've been meaning to discuss for some time now.  It's fitting that I post this piece on the day the Midwest is receiving not just a winter storm but a blizzard.

Perfect timing.

Overcoats.  What does that word do to you?  What pops into your mind when you first hear it?  Do you picture an overcoat as being heavy, bulky, stiff and itchy or soft, warm, sleek and comfortable?

The category that is represented by the word 'overcoat' is vast and full of many different styles of coats.  So whether you pictured the big, bulky overcoat or the stylish, sleek coat your idea was probably correct, if limited.

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Comparison: the overcoat of the 1940s and a 'modern' one of the late 1950s.

The overcoat is an old garment with one simple goal in mind: keep the wearer warm.  Now, that doesn't mean it can't be jazzed up a bit to look stylish, just that the main goal is warmth and that style is secondary.  If it succeeds at the latter but fails at the former, well, it makes a poor coat of any kind.  The overcoat has its roots in the military with the Greatcoat, hence its utilitarian purpose.  But the overcoat would not have survived so long had it not grown to be stylish.  From the dull military garment made of rough, thick wool with brass buttons to the stylish and gentlemanly garment of the 1930s, the overcoat has gone through many different rebirths.  

Yesteryear the overcoat was a staple of the wardrobe.  It provided, obviously, warmth on a cold day and most often looked quite snappy.  There were many different and unique styles of overcoats back then, especially during the Golden Era.  The late 1920s to the early 1940s was the apogee of overcoat design.  The materials, construction, styles, price, and availability of overcoats were all outstanding.  Even department stores like J.C. Penney's and Younkers carried interesting and well constructed overcoats back then.  The overcoat was a necessity, and a stylish one at that.  Every man had one, whether he was a wealthy businessman or politician right down to the homeless man on the street.

No more.

The overcoat of today is not only rare to see in its natural habitat (being worn), it's also boring, rather poorly made, and usually very high priced for what you get.  Maybe that's why so few men wear them.  When was the last time you saw a modern overcoat with a belted back?  A loud yet attractive plaid fabric pattern?  Pleating and an impeccable fit?  Not today unless you spend $600+ for a made-to-measure or bespoke overcoat.  But not many of us can afford something like that.

Yawn.  Wake me when it at least grows some peaked lapels.

In the next few posts of this series we'll take an in-depth look at different styles and examples of vintage overcoats and see just what the overcoat was really meant to be: not only warm but also classically stylish.

The Fabric is the Soul of the Suit

May 6, 1944

The Summer Suits

Spring reared it lovely head for the first time this week, reminding us that summer is soon to arrive.

While winter is the apogee of the style year (with heavy-weight fabrics like tweed, sharp looking overcoats and snappy felt fedoras to keep our heads warm), summer is another time of the year when weather extremes force us to innovate and try things unknown or, in our case, long forgotten.

Enter the summer suit.
During the Golden Era men who were dressing not only to stay cool but also look cool would go with wool, gabardine, linen, seersucker or the famous Palm Beach fabric (a secret mix of rayon, linen and mohair). While these were thicker than most standard fabrics of today they were still rather light by yesteryear's standards and actually quite breathable.

How can wool be more breathable than, say, a 100% cotton fabric of the same weight? Wool is not as tightly woven, wicking away any sweat from the skin and allowing it to evaporate, thereby letting our natural air-conditioning to work. Tightly woven cotton does not allow our sweat to evaporate as easily. It also keeps air from circulating around the body.

Another way vintage suits keep wearers cool is color. While black and dark colors absorb sunlight, white and lighter colors reflect a large majority of it. Unlike today, white was a popular summer suit color in the Golden Era, though suits were usually more of an off-white or cream color rather than pure white. The different shades of white added some depth to the suit.

It's a shame more men don't wear white suits today (or even just more suits) but the usual excuse is that white is too difficult to keep clean and too hard to get stains out of. And while it is true that white can be difficult to keep clean, it is definitely worth the effort. Nothing draws the eye like a man sharply wearing a white suit. They knew it back then, we should know it today.

Of course there is more to the summer suit than just being white.

What about seersucker?
Most people today think of a certain style of suit when they hear "seersucker", preferable one with thin blue and white stripes. However, seersucker originally described a type of fabric that 'puckers' and warps as a result of the weave. Seersucker fabric was largely available pre-1960s but then it began to disappear and is now quite expensive.

And while not a seersucker, the 1970s summer suit below looks very much like one and does the trick.

And, of course, we cannot forget the ubiquitous sports coat combination. I wrote about it several months ago but I want to point out another aspect of this look. Wearing khaki trousers with a navy blue sports coat is a very nice conservative touch if you are in a more formal setting such as an interview. However, if no rules are holding you back you can be inspired by the Golden Era and replace those plain khaki trousers with ones that are white.

A double-breasted sport coat paired with white trousers, spectator shoes and a Panama hat looks quite dapper. I can't wait to try it.