For the many men who studiously avoid seersucker suits, there are a growing number of warm-weather options.
Men's suit makers have been doing a brisk business recently, with double-digit sales growth over the past year. In an effort to keep sales from slipping in the hot months, the men's suit industry is pushing a variety of tactics.
Some makers are using lighter, superfine yarns. Others, including high-end makers, are removing heat-trapping jacket and trouser linings -- usually a no-no for pricier suits. And some traditional clothiers are increasingly using high-tech fabrics that are similar in design to the wicking material used in running clothes.
Brooks Brothers has rolled out a line of $328 poplin suits that have polyester fibers designed to move moisture away from the body. Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., has launched a line of $595 "Stays Cool Suits," which contain the same fibers that NASA developed for spacesuits to prevent astronauts from getting overheated. The material is designed to sense the body's temperature and pull excess heat away from it.
Earlier this spring, Perry Ellis introduced "featherweight" suits, which are made with higher yarn counts and lower-weight fabric -- 260 grams per square meter rather than the traditional 300 to 450.
Even some makers of higher-end suits, from Ermenegildo Zegna to Joseph Abboud, are experimenting with lighter fabrics and blends as well as "moisture management" technologies. At least one, Faconnable, is approaching the problem of suits that overheat in a slightly different way. The companies are now making jackets with lining that goes only to the midpoint of the shoulder, leaving the bottom half of the garment unlined to help improve air flow. Lining remains in the shoulder area to give the jackets structure. (Giorgio Armani has long used no lining or half lining in some of its suits, but more as a fashion statement than as a cooling mechanism.)
But engineered fabrics and synthetic fibers, which appear in both the Brooks Brothers and Jos. A. Bank suits, aren't for everyone. Some people are allergic to some fibers and synthetics and can suffer skin reactions. Also, all the new-style suits might take some getting used to, as they may feel unsubstantial on the body. What's more, wearing these suits doesn't mean a man won't feel hot or won't perspire. It's literally just a matter of degrees.
The suits are hitting the market amid one of the steamiest summers in recent memory. This week, the temperature is well above 90 degrees in many places, and the mean temperature this month so far is the seventh highest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center.
The quest to make a summer suit that breathes better is the latest in a series of menswear innovations that signal the growing importance of technology in new clothing trends. In recent years, manufacturers have come up with shirts and pants that are iron-free, wrinkle-free, stain-resistant, and non-fading. A number of these new-style fabrics have migrated to work and casual wear after first appearing in sporting and outdoor apparel.
Men appear to be comfortable experimenting with the new fabrics, according to a recent survey of 2,500 people by NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y., market research and information company. Some 61 percent of men surveyed said they had used wrinkle-free clothing products, while 47 percent said they had used stain-resistant apparel products. An additional 12 percent said they had used apparel with moisture-management properties, according to Marshal Cohen, NPD's chief industry analyst.
Suits overall have been selling briskly in recent months. For the year ended in May, sales rose 14.7 percent, compared with the same period a year earlier, reaching about $2.5 billion, according to NPD. Suits are now one of the most profitable segments of the menswear industry, Mr. Cohen says. The aim with the new summer lines is to avoid slipping back into the deep slump of the dot-com boom, when corporate America went casual and suit sales plummeted.
Suit makers are concerned about people like Daniel Croll, a 36-year-old financial adviser in Beverly Hills, Calif., who wears a suit to work most days. When the temperature tops 90 or is very muggy, his 16 suits stay in the closet. "There is a threshold where people understand sacrificing style for comfort," he says.
Some retail consultants say they think the new summer suits have potential to sell well. Men "are by nature driven more by features and benefits," says Madison Riley, a strategist at retail consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates. "It doesn't mean that style isn't important, but if there is a feature to a garment that is going to make it more functional to them, they like that."
Joe Hale of Cincinnati recently bought two of Brooks Brothers' poplin suits. An avid runner, Mr. Hale was already familiar with the fabric used in the summer suits, Coolmax, from his workout clothes. "It feels a little lighter and cooler to me," says Mr. Hale, chief communications officer for energy company Cinergy Corp. He says the suits come in handy after his 45-minute lunch-break jogs when sometimes he finds that he's still perspiring again even after he showers.
Smart Fabric Technology, which appears in the Jos. A. Bank suits, was developed by Outlast Technologies Inc., and the suits themselves were made by an Israeli manufacturer Bagir Ltd. A company called Invista Inc. was behind Coolmax.
By Ray A. Smith, The Wall Street Journal
