In a recent article I lamented the dumbing down of popular culture. Today, I experienced a variation of the theme of societal decline first hand when I attempted to buy a new suit. It was quite a remarkable experience, so let me tell you how well it went.

I own multiple dress jackets and a few dress pants, but I was quite surprised when I realized that I only ever bought two complete suits myself as an adult. The experience both times was very good and almost looks unreal in hindsight. The first one I bought in London during my studies. I went to some kind of suit outlet store, told the guy I needed a black suit that fits well. I wanted nothing that looked modern or trendy and it should not look cheap despite my limited budget. He asked me to stand tall with my legs put together, took one look at me, and then quickly collected three or four suits, holding them up in front of me, one after the other. One of them I liked more than the others, so I tried it on. It fit great, so I bought it. It’s a black suit with a normal fit. If you saw me in it, without knowing the backstory, I could believably claim that this suit was made-to-measure.

I once also walked into a store in London that offered made-to-measure suits, not a cheap place at all. The guy greeted me and upon hearing that I have been contemplating getting a nice suit, he was curious to know why, and to learn a bit about my background. He then showed me a few fabrics and asked me to pick one. Moments later, he was taking measurements, brought a dress jacket and pants, and used needles to temporarily adjust the length and overall fit. This suit really looked great one me, it was black with thin red pin-stripes that were about an inch apart. Looking at myself in the mirror, I felt like a million dollars. The total cost would only have amounted to 700 pounds, which I probably could have scraped together, but in the end I declined. I am not sure this was a good choice in hindsight.

Years later, back in Germany, I randomly came across a store of a mid-market Italian brand and as I had some time to kill, I walked in and randomly inquired about their suits. Again, the sales clerk was very helpful. Just by looking at me, he was able to accurately judge height and build. He jokingly asked if I am prone to losing and regaining weight, because in his view, I should wear a slim suit. I said something about fashion trends and that I did not want to buy a suit that would look out-of-style next year, but he put me at ease, recommending I try on a “real Italian suit” first. The end result was that I ended up spontaneously buying a suit, and one I have been supremely happy with it.

This was my experience with buying suits. Even when I bought individual items, I recall that sales staff was quite competent and genuinely added value. As I had been wearing pretty casual clothes for years, I had no need for more formal outfits. Thus, today’s experience came as a bit of a shock. I went to one of the big fashion retailers, not a luxury one but one that is solidly mid-market and above. My first surprise was that floor space for formal men’s clothing was a lot less generous than it used to be. High-end brands had disappeared completely. I remember that I saw brands like Brioni and Armani there ten to fifteen years ago. To give you an idea of what kind of purchasing power we are talking about: an Armani suit, one by the Giorgio Armani label, is apparently pegged to the average monthly post-tax salary, and a Brioni suit at double that. The most expensive brands I saw there today were Emporio Armani, which is the budget line of Armani, which is still fairly expensive, and Ralph Lauren. I did not see any niche brands in the now much reduced section for neckties. Pocket squares I did not see any, but they may have been hidden somewhere. Lastly, the selection for dress shirts was much reduced. These were categorized by price range, which is an approach I had not been familiar with.

In the men’s section, there was only one guy tending to customers, and I did not have the impression that he was particularly knowledgeable. This was a fairly young guy, wearing hip hop clothes. Apparently, he was in charge of showing you what you could buy if you asked. Gone where the middle-aged well-dressed clerks of yore who had decades of experience selling suits to men short and tall, rich and poor, old-fashioned and trend-conscious. There was one other customer who was looking at suits. Seeing how awkward he behaved, he may have been in the process of buying his first suit ever, at the behest of his wife who had certain opinions about which colors he should consider. The in-house expert could only contribute with remarks related to other suit brands. There was no real conversation between the clerk and the customer. In my limited experience, if you address a sales clerk with the statement, “I would like to buy a suit.”, the answer should be along the lines of, “Of course. What is the purpose?”, and not, “What color? (…) We have some other blue suits over there.”

Unsurprisingly, I did not end up buying a suit. I have noticed that friends of mine who dress well stick to a few specialized stores they know and like, probably after having made experiences similar to mine. Of course, it is easy to understand why there is no longer an interest in having qualified sales staff. There is pressure from online retailers, and the average customer may just be fine with buying jeans, sweaters, and chinos randomly. If these people go to a clothing store, they can of course buy them without the help of staff. Thus, the mass marked has crowded out the somewhat more sophisticated customer. This seems to be yet another aspect of the disappearing middle class, i.e. the mid-market is thinning out. More affluent customers choose specialist retailers if needed, and the other customers are apparently perfectly fine with a substandard shopping experience. This seems to be happening everywhere. At my local supermarket, I also noticed that store brands have gotten a lot more shelf space, but so have more expensive organic offerings. These are all anecdotes at this point, but it seems that there is a strong tendency of brands to engage in price differentiation, via cutting costs and reducing quality on one side, and via ramping up prices until the customer hits their breaking point on the other.