Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Difference Between A $99 Suit And A $5,000 Suit, In One Graphic

For more Planet Money fashion coverage, see our post: Why Did My Wedding Dress Cost So Much?

In his New York Times Magazine column this week, Adam Davidson writes about the surprisingly tough business of making ultra-high-end men's suits.

For a broader look at the suit business, we asked Salvatore Giardina, an adjunct professor of textile development and marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology, to give us a rough breakdown of what goes into making the three main types of men's suits — off-the-rack, made-to-measure and bespoke. Here's what he told us.