Secrets of Thrifting: A Tale of Two Pieces

Thrift stores are full of orphans; suit jackets without their pants,suit pants without their jackets or worst of all, a matching jacket and vest without pants. It's unfortunate, really, because often these items are useless in their separation. Sure, you might be able to wear a seersucker jacket with summer weight grey slacks, or salvage a navy suit coat with some brass buttons, but that's about it. Often, suits make it all the way into the thrift store and wind up separated there. Always check. For example:

 The other day, I came across this beautiful pair of pants, in navy blue herringbone, with an incredibly soft hand. Sure, I suppose you could wear these alone, but I've got a thing against navy blue dress pants. Don't know why, but I do. It's a separate post. Anyway...

 They're vintage, probably early 1960s, with all the right details, like a longer rise and a steel zipper,

Waistband notched at the back, brace buttons on the outside. So nice, but half a suit. This happens all the time in the dirty and disorganized madhouses where I find this stuff. Rather than feel pity for the orphan, I decide to do what I can to reunite it with it's family. Pants in hand, I head to the jacket rack, to see if I can match the fabric. Nine times in ten, it's a strike out, but it's worth the effort for the one time it's not. This time, I was in luck:

There, alone, was this jacket, the top half! Three button front, two button cuff, un-darted, and a pretty damn good fit, to boot. By the way, that's "Bill", my mannequin, newly arrived from California. This is good news for all of you, as it means I can now take proper photographs of jackets and suits, which in turn means such items will be making their way to the online store soon. Anyway...

The corker: it's vintage Andover Shop, a score the likes of which shocks even me. J.Press and Brooks Brothers are (relatively) easy to come by out there once you get the knack, but you rarely see Andover stuff. I've turned it up before, but I've never seen old vintage from them before.

 Reunited and it feels so good! Being apart, the two pieces were priced separately: $5.99 for the pants, $5.99 for the jacket. But it was half price, so I got the whole rig for $5.99. Good thing too, it wouldn't be fair to pay twice for what is essentially one garment (tongue firmly in cheek).

Shopping this way really is a time consuming pain in the *ss, but that's how you get an Andover Shop suit for $5.99. If you find a nice half, take some time to see if you can make it whole. Don't get discouraged when you miss, because when you hit you hit big.

p.s. Store Policy Update:
Getting to the post office can be tricky when you've got two kids. For that reason, all items purchased at the online shop will ship the following Wednesday, arriving in about a week in the US. 

p.p.s Thank You
Sheesh, you guys are ravenous! I can barely keep stuff in the shop! To all of you who made a purchase this week, or even stopped by to look, my sincerest gratitude.