Dappered

Affordable Men's Style

An open letter to Hilfiger about shoulder pads

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Hilfiger Trim Fit Merino Wool Sport Coat – $128.11 ($395)
The pattern up close

Yo Tommy.  We need to talk.

First, excellent work on the comeback.  The brand hasn’t looked this good in ages.  But there’s always room for improvement, and we’re thinking that it’s time to ditch the monstrously thick shoulder pads used in your trim fit suits and blazers.

This right here is an otherwise awesome blazer.  The merino wool fabric has a terrific weight to it.  The pattern is nails.  It’s made in Mexico and feels plenty solid.  The button stance might be a little high, but it’s the shoulders that are the deal breaker.  38R, 40R, doesn’t matter which size that gets worn, the pads are just so damn big that whenever you move an arm, they jut out to Ziggy Stardust proportions.

Now, most of us aren’t so picky that we demand completely smoothed out traps/shoulders all the time.  We get that affordability, uh, has its price.  But these shoulder pads are bricks.  You can easily feel how big these suckers are in there.  And if they were half the size or less?  This jacket would be a total steal.

Sure your “trim” fits could be brought in a little more at the sides (here’s another off the rack pic.)  But most of us have a tailor, so, that’s fine.  It’s really the shoulders.  Consider this a formal request to put those pads on a diet.

Sincerely,

– Dappered

Comments

  1. Joe, in all seriousness this letter should be sent to somebody in Tommy Hilfiger’s design department. Why not, right?

  2. Yep, agreed. Is it at all possible for a tailor to soften shoulders like this? I know the sleeve itself is cut/sewn according to the padding/structure of the shoulder, but can you at least remove a little padding without it looking weird?

  3. It’s so hard to do (and more often than not, completely impossible) that it’s just usually not worth it. 

    The cost to look ratio on this one, for me personally, is there to the point that I considered for a second holding onto it… and then running the damn thing over with my car in an attempt to break the shoulder pads down.

    Sanity prevailed though.  I won’t be doing that.

  6. Joe, You need some fence work done. What’s going on with all those screws and nails sticking out?

  8. Can any one confirm if this is the case for all their suits. They offer a trim fit olive cotton suit which is really rare in trim fit. Most trim cotton suits are navy or khaki. That would be a nice option. But I don’t want those pads