How to Recognize High-Quality Clothing

And Know You're Buying the Best Garments!

How many times have you looked at a stranger and noticed how well they were dressed? I'm not talking about how well the color and the prints of their clothing matched necessarily. I'm talking about how their clothes looked on them- how their suit hung well on their shoulders, or how their pants were creased and looked crisp. This is the difference between low-end clothing and the more expensive, high-quality stuff. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking clothing that's bought at Wal-Mart™ or K-Mart™. I buy a fair share of my casual wardrobe at those type of department stores too. I can always find my size, and it fits my budget.

But if you're looking for business attire, or for an outfit to wear for a special occasion, then you need to look for, and recognize high-quality clothing. Knowing how to spot well-made dresses, skirts, suits, blouses, slacks, shoes, and other wearable items, will not only help you buy distinctive dress clothes. It will also assure that you're getting value for your money.

In order to recognize high-quality clothing, you'll have to learn to look for specific signs. Buying costly, brand name items such as Gianni Versace, Polo, Adidas, Nautica, Alfred Dunner, and Nine West generally assure you that you're getting your money's worth. These brands usually wear and look good for a long period of time. But a brand name and a high price don't always equal high-quality.

Here are the signs to look for to recognize high-quality clothing:

1. Fabric
Inspect the fabric whether the garment be cotton, gauze, silk, linen, wool, twill, polyester, velvet, and so on. The fabric should have been cut and sewn on the grain. Patterns and stripes should match all over the garment. Not run against each other.

The fabric should also hold its shape fairly well if you grab a handful of it, bunch it together, then let it loose.

Grab the fabric at the seams with both hands. Gently pull it. If the thread in the seams pulls apart a bit, they're not sewn properly. The seams should be reinforced and the thread should hold securely.