There's many thing how to determine a good quality of a suit. At first we could feel the quality of the fabrics how nice is it feels. Then you want to try it, how does the fittings, how killer it makes you look. 

But have you even noticed, why in every suit you had been wearing, has a different feelings? 

The hidden details. The construction. Eventually when determining the overall quality of a suit, construction plays a large role. 

We'll discuss the different types of suit jacket construction. Why does it matter to you. It'll be a bit of technical and maybe some of you think what's the point knowing it. Just bare it for a moment, because it will be useful for you.

Inside every proper suit jacket, between the exterior cloth and the lining, lies a secret, the hidden layer of cloth, make a shape of the suit. The canvassed and the fused construction.

Il Primo la Canvassed

A bespoke suit or a top-end ready-to-wear design design feature the canvassed construction. Hence better drape, climate friendly and more longevity. Generally comprised of wool and horsehair, sometimes camel.

Sewn into the jacket suit by hand in every inches determines the very integrity of the suit it self. A middle structural layer, the canvas is stitched to the fabric rather loosely “floating” canvas. What results is a suit that drapes much more naturally, conforms to the body and looks much better, especially when you’re making moves. 

Keeping the proper balance, structure and shape. The form of the suit to your body. And as you wear a canvassed suit over time, the canvas itself begins to conform to your body, thereby becoming a better fit the more you wear it.

A canvassed jackets are the most labor and time intensive, require a higher level of skill to make, and thus, tend to be pricier. But in return, you'll get a suit that not only molds to you, but will last the longest.

The Second Suggestion of a Fused

The fused or the Fusible interlinings have come a very long way over the last 40 years. A German company developed the technology whereas an interlining would have a special resin applied to it which, when heated, would melt, and if another piece of cloth was pressed very firmly against it while the resin was soft, a bond was formed and the interlining was fused (or glued) to the cloth.

Many of Indonesian tailors knows this technic, even more this is the basic learning for making a suit for them. But for some, it's lazy for them to learn more, the higher standards like the canvass one.

the glue will degrades more quickly than its average time or may come unstuck during the dry-cleaning/pressing process.

Where the wool detaches from the fused backing, the fabric ripples around the chest and lapels, a phenomenon known as “bubbling.” Unfortunately, there is no way to fix this problem once it’s occurred.

So why does it exist? Somewhere along the way when mass production became the name of the game, suit manufacturers started using this construction method to increase production capacity while keeping costs down – its construction is not only quick, it doesn’t require any skilled labor. It serves its purpose in the mass market.

Although fusing has long been deemed inferior to hand canvasing, this is no longer universally so. Improvements have been made, possible to create fused suits that (sometimes) fit better than some canvassed ones.

How to Tell?

Pinch an inch of the jacket's fabric, between the bottom two buttonholes. If you feel two layers, that means the jacket suit/blazer is fused, the exterior cloth and the linings facing each others. If you feel three layers, that's mean its a canvassed one, between the exterior cloth and the linings facing each others there'll be a third material floating in between.

If after performing this test you still not assured, ask the salesman. If he doesn't know what you're talking about, you probably in the wrong store.

Final Thought

We hope it can bring you more informations. Suit jacket construction is not something readily seen but it should never be overlooked.

"Like all things in life, quality starts from the inside out"