To understand why steam is ruinous for tailoring, you have to first understand that suits and sport coats are not like other things in your wardrobe. They are built from many layers of haircloth, canvas, and padding, and then shaped through pad stitching and ironwork.

This is what makes tailoring so special: it's the unique ability to transform 2D cloth into 3D forms. You can read this thread about the difference between low- and high-end tailoring. Hopefully, you will walk away with an appreciation for *shape* https://x.com/dieworkwear/stat...

Have you ever seen a woman curling her hair? She can get it to twist and curl in certain ways by passing her hair through a flat iron and twisting the iron as she goes. This shaping is done through *heat and pressure.* The shape will hold for a while, even if she goes to bed.

This is because hair has memory. But what would happen if we blow steam through this woman's hair? Her hair would relax, and thus all the shape would fall out. If she naturally has limp hair, it would be limp again. This is the fundamental reason why steam is bad for tailoring.

Look at these two suits on Trump. The first looks like it has been ruined through steam, hence why it looks so puckered and limp. The second is much better, as it has been pressed into shape.

Here is a photo of Biden and Trudeau. Notice the puckering on Biden's right shoulder (near the armhole). This is again the result of steam. Trudeau's suit doesn't have this problem. My guess is that one of Biden's aides steamed his suit before he made this appearance.

The photos above show what can happen on a high-end suit—one that's fully canvassed and made with pad stitching and ironwork. Suit below is cheaper, so the front has been fused (i.e., glued). Someone ran steam across it and the fusing has now delaminated, hence the bubbling.

When I see steam damage, it's often something like this: puckering along the lapel and the wavy lines along the jets. Since tailored jackets are made from many layers of material plus stitching, steam can make these materials expand and contract at different rates.

To properly get wrinkles out of a suit jacket or sport coat, you need to go back to how that woman curled her hair. This is done through heat, steam, and *pressure.* That is, a professional dry cleaner or tailor needs to press your jacket, like this.

I don't recommend trying this at home. Pressing a jacket is not the same as ironing your shirt; it requires special equipment and years of training. OK, but it's unrealistic to send your garment to a high-end dry cleaner after every wear. So what to do?

The first step is to buy better clothes. In tailoring, the term high-twist refers to yarns that have been given an extra twist during spinning process. This gives the yarn some strength and spring-back quality. High-twist yarns are often used to make tropical wools, like this:

Here are some garments made from Draper's Ascot four-ply wool fabrics. You could scrunch these trousers into a ball, throw them into your suitcase, and leave them for a week. When you take them out, they will spring back to their regular pressed shape—including the front crease

A heavier flannel, such as a 14oz woolen flannel, will also be naturally resistant to wrinkling. This doesn't wrinkle for the same reason why a Pendleton blanket doesn't wrinkle—it's too thick and heavy.

So part of this is about knowing a bit about fabrics. Certain things lend their own wrinkle resistance: heavier material, high-twist yarn, and certain weaves (e.g., cavalry twill or whipcord). This cavalry twill suit will shed wrinkles if you hang it up for a day or two.

OK, you have the right suit. Now how do you pack it? Here's Tom Mahon, former cutter at Anderson & Sheppard, founder of English Cut, and now cutter at Redmayne. As a bespoke tailor, he packs a lot of suits for fittings, and they have to arrive wrinkle-free IG redmayne1860

There are many techniques for how to pack tailored garments, but they all follow the same principles: try to protect the face side of the fabric and avoid hard creases. Some involve turning the jacket inside out and tucking one shoulder into the other. YT PermanentStyleLondon

I've explained the Gold Standard for how to care for a suit, but you will need to make your own determinations. If you absolutely must steam a suit, be judicious. Understand the risks. Try to stay away from seams, shoulders, upper chest, and lapels, where there's a lot of shaping

Will gently steaming your garment once ruin it? Prob not. Will steaming it a lot and often do damage over time? Possibly. IMO, the key is to develop an eye for what constitutes quality tailoring, so you can assess the risks for yourself.

@dieworkwear Now I am curious how to do this.

@dieworkwear The one on the left looks like he slept in it then went hiking, hauling a fifty pound backpack

@dieworkwear But why doesn’t he know when to button vs. unbutton his suit?

@dieworkwear How do you know its the steam?