Issue of the day Does it still suit you, sir?

THE two- and three-piece suit as we know it is facing extinction as changes in workplace requirements usher in a new way of dressing.

Says who?

Says high street retailer Marks & Spencer, who know a thing or two about suits. They have sold them for generations – since 1939, in fact – to those men whose job requires one. Or who simply don’t feel properly dressed in anything other than a whistle and flute. Or who are facing what is termed in the trade “impending nuptials”. A wedding, in plain English.

What’s different now?

Among the many social and economic changes the pandemic has wrought is an increase in homeworking. That has brought about a commensurate decrease in the number of suited and booted chaps schlepping into a city centre office somewhere. Why squeeze into a slightlytoo-tight suit for eight hours in an overheated building when you can do the same job at home? And if you are at home, why not swap the suit for a pair of neon yellow joggers and a Rick and Morty T-shirt? With that in mind – well, probably not that exactly – Marks and Spencer has reduced the number of shops at which you can buy a suit.

Numbers please ...

Only 110 of Marks & Spencer’s 254 clothing stores currently offer suits. Beyond the anecdotal evidence there is hard data behind the move: in-store sales of formal wear at the retailer fell 72 per cent in the year to April, while online sales dropped 15%. Over the same period, online sales of casual wear rose 61%. You don’t need to be a fashion genius to see which way the sartorial wind is blowing. For the record, sales of women’s suits have also fallen, though not as precipitously.

So is it RIP for the suit?

Yes, no – and sort of. While suit sales have fallen drastically over the last 18 months, they were already on the slide. According to new research from market analysts Kantar, Britons bought five million suits annually a decade ago but that number had fallen to 4.3 million even by 2016. Over the past year, however, only two million suits were sold. But the suit lives on in a sense because what is replacing it for those who do need to get back to the office is something called “the broken suit”.

The broken suit?

Yes. It’s a suit that isn’t quite a suit because it’s actually a smart shirt and a pair of equally smart chinos. In other words, there is still a degree of formal attire associated with office jobs, it’s just not as formal as it once was. And for this brave new world of work, you need a “broken suit”.

Can it be true?

“Covid hit fast forward on the trend to more casual dressing that was already in train,” says Marks & Spencer menswear director West Taylor, “so our smart-wear is now more focused on smart separates – easy to wear, stylish smart clothing that can be worn in lots of different ways.”