Can I wear a light colored suit all year long?

In the suit world we have 2 seasons, fall and spring. Does this mean you can only wear a fall suit in the fall/winter and a spring suit in the spring/summer? The answer is, yes and no. But don’t fret, it’s not confusing. Take a fall suit, if it's made of heavier fabric you just wouldn’t want to wear it in the hot summers months, but could be totally appropriate for a brisk spring night. On the other hand, take a light colored linen suit. This is a classic one season suit. It’s perfect for the spring/summer but you definitely would not want to wear it during the fall or winter months. The featured image of this post is a light blue suit. This would be appropriate to wear during the spring and summer months only. Another example would be a seer sucker suit. Wear it in the spring/summer only and it’s a good idea to store in towards the back of your closet during the fall and winter months.

So you have some seasonal examples of suits that you wouldn’t want to cross over into the next season, but there are some seasonal suits that “suit” all seasons, pun intended. Take, for example, a subtle navy pinstripe suit that has an all year around weight. This is appropriate to wear during all four seasons as you will not overheat during the hotter months and is still a dark enough color to wear during the cold months. Another example would be your solid colors like navy, grey and blue. These are all seasons suits, as long as the grey or blue is not too light. Light grey suits are a great color to have in your wardrobe but during the colder months of November to February we don’t recommend wearing it.

Getting into more fabric specifics, a sweet spot for an all year around fabric weight is between 250-275 grams per meter. A good way to tell if a fabric is an all year round weight is by feeling it with you fingers and holding the jacket in your hand to feel its weight and comparing it to different suit jackets. If it feels heavier, its a fall suit. If it feels lighter it is an all year around suit assuming it not too light in color or linen. 

So to recap, just because a color is on the darker side it can still be a four season suit as long as it isn’t a heavy weight suit. There are some suits that don’t cross seasons like a light colored linen suit. And if you are not a big suit guy and want to get the most use and value out of a few suits, stick with an all season suit such as a navy, beautiful or royal blue, charcoal, or medium grey suit. Those are the staples colors and you get the most bang for your buck.