Over the last year and more, we have all had to learn the new normal of working from home, zoom meeting scheduling, and a new dependence on technology to help us teach our kids, register for vaccines, and order our groceries. As our world pre-pandemic starts to reopen again and we start to go back to a more familiar life, one thing we will happily bring along with us is comfort. Comfort was always known as a bit of an enemy of style, with the excuse of oversize, ill-fitting clothes that were more at home lounging on your sofa and maybe a quick walk with the dog around the block.
Comfort and casual go hand in hand, and it is only natural that with the overarching casualization of menswear, that casual brought along its sloppy friend, comfort. What has changed is the look and feel of what these two together normally produce. In fact, the need for comfort has pushed the need for looking really good, but with all the comfort we have become accustomed to. We capture this new partnership between Casual and Comfort by calling it Performance, an active dynamic of how we want our clothes to perform for us, moving and on the go, looking good all day long and really easy to take care of.
Our current line-up of fabrics includes many performance aspects, all designed to answer today’s need for the clothes we want to wear. Here are few examples that we can sometimes take for granted, but they may help guide you through what they are and what they help with.
Stretch.
This adds elasticity to fabric with only a small amount of a stretch yarn (Elastane or Lycra), a fabric gains a stretch and return characteristic similar to the movement that a rubber band when pulled and let go: it bounces back to its original state. In fabric, this works mostly in a horizontal direction and is ideal for trousers and pants because of how the seat and thigh of the body expand when someone sits down. It also gives the fabric a great return, so it keeps shape around the knees, which is another great factor for someone who has to sit at a desk a lot. You can find this technology in our Reda Flexo suiting, which uses a unique Japanese stretch yarn and is almost invisible, giving amazing comfort to suiting. We recently introduced a 4-Way Stretch which adds a vertical movement to the horizontal one, which adds another dimension of bounce back over knee and seat areas making for an incredibly comfortable pant similar to activewear; it moves with you so much that you don’t even feel it.
Breathable.
This isn’t a term widely used in menswear but more used until now in workout gear. This characteristic can be created through weaving fabrics, so air passes easily through it, such as our Piquet, which we offer in summer knits, or Tropical wools, which we offer in suiting. Certain fibers are more breathable than others, and the lighter the fabric, the better breathability. This characteristic is great for guys who suffer the heat easily, letting out the heat from the body through micro holes within the weave. To a certain extent, all fabrics need to breathe naturally except when we get to outerwear when you want to keep the air better trapped for warmth. Generally speaking, outerwear fabrics keep the cold air out, too, due to the compact weave.
Wicking.
Apologies, but this term doesn’t refer to candle-making, but it is actually kind of gross. Wicking helps the moisture of sweat evaporate quickly, keeping the tiny droplets on the surface of the fabric without absorbing them into the fibers. Great in workout gear but also on the golf course, and in your clothes for guys who run hot, avoiding the discomfort of overheating easily. Our poly-tech knit is a great knit with this technology in the fiber and weave created to evaporate moisture.
Non-Iron and Easy care.
Similar treatments to a finished cotton fabric or garment, with non-iron being a more intense treatment than easy care, but both add the easy maintenance of wash, dry, and go. The latter of these two treatments only needing generally a light iron to return like new without a wrinkle. It also makes garments resist the wrinkle during the day, especially effective in shirting fabrics, making them an ideal travel option for guys sitting on airplanes or cars for long periods of time. We recently introduced our first custom-made Non-iron pant fabric, which is an ideal choice for guys who don’t want to worry too much about taking care of their pants and prefer the clean look of the cotton to look a little more dressy with the lack of wrinkles.
Whatever the comfort factor, we may not be too interested in what they are or what they do, but we know we prefer them and want them built into a modern wardrobe. Looking great doesn’t mean you aren’t comfortable, but maybe that’s another secret in the J.Hilburn collection.
