No. 1 Sack Suit

Museum Textile Services recently conserved an early 20th-century Brooks Brothers three-piece suit. It is a family heirloom of Edward Phillips-Jones, who continues to wear it on special occasions despite some thinning and small tears. Edward, a scholar and farmer in western Massachusetts, inherited the suit from his uncle Owen Jones, who was given it by Edward's great grandfather, James Morison Faulkner. Other than being a bit short in the leg, the suit fits Edward perfectly.

The suit is likely an example of a Brooks Brothers famous No.  1 Sack Suit, which debuted in 1901. Founded in 1818 by Henry Sands Brooks, Brooks Brothers was the first ready-to-wear fashion emporium in America. It now makes 70% of its suits in nearby Haverhill, MA. Sack suits were available in a variety of weights and weaves. This single-breasted, three-piece sack suit is made of grey wool in a herringbone twill. The vest and jacket are lined with silk while the pants are lined with cotton. There are six buttons on the waistband of the pants that read “Trafalgar Braces.” Trafalgar braces, or suspenders, have been worn by distinguished men including Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Oscar Wilde.

Walter Nelson's Mass Histeria blog tells us that, "The sack suit, walking suit or business suit (or, in Britain, the "lounge suit") was leisure wear for men who might wear a frock coat, and the best clothes of vast majority of American men. A banker would wear a sack suit to a picnic, and a cowboy or farmer would wear it to church. It first came into fashion in the 1850s as a very large, baggy garment, and then became more fitted during the '60s. It evolved into the modern three piece suit. Its popularity was assured by the fact that it could be purchased, ready-made, at prices working men could afford. 

After conservation dry cleaning, we stabilized several holes on the jacket and pants with hand stitching and cotton fabric underlays. Conservator Morgan Carbone rewove thinning areas in the arms, legs, and seat with matching wool yarns. These repairs, along with light use and continued care, will assure that Mr. Phillips-Jones can pass his sack suit on to the next generation.

Morgan Carbone has a BA in Art History from Grinnell College. She recently finished her Master of Arts degree in Fashion and Textile Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

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