R19, I agree 100%! I had to wear a suit to work for quite a few years, and since I was making decent money but certainly not "wealth," I had to figure out ways to economize. This was around 20 years ago, when eBay had been around for a bit, but still had lower name recognition outside the US.
The second time I shopped for suits on there, I did a double-take when I saw a too-good-to-be-true Buy It Now listing: a BRAND-NEW Brioni suit – trousers still entirely unhemmed – from a German men's shop for $375. Even 20 years ago, Brioni suits started around $4,000, and I'd seen one similar to the one on eBay at Barneys (RIP). I was half-convinced it HAD to be a fake, but then it arrived and I took it to my tailor, and he confirmed it was definitely legit!
(Speaking of which: also definitely agreed on finding a good tailor. A FOAF introduced me to one who initially seemed sketch AF: his "shop" (or I suppose studio) was a windowless room in some generic office building near Grand Central, and on an upper floor. He was also at least 70 by then, and took over a month to get anything done. The end results, however, were Savile Row-level tailoring for a tiny fraction of the price.)
The $375 Brioni is still the best deal I've seen to date, but my *favorite* deal to date was at the final closeout sale for Helmut Lang – and, to clarify, I mean the ORIGINAL Helmut Lang, not the resuscitated "brand" bought by Theory with far more pedestrian attire. In the very back, I found a stunning peacoat in an unusual royal blue color, and it was immediately obvious why it hadn't sold, even at 90% off ($2,000 reduced to $200): it was a men's 58 (in Euro sizing - equivalent to a size 48 men's suit jacket). I had no idea they even *made* clothes that big, and given that I wear a 42, the jacket looked ridiculous on me. Still, I had faith that my tailor could make it work, and that's exactly what happened – though the alterations ended up costing almost as much as the jacket itself, given how much literally all of it had to be "shrunken."
In any event, I didn't know Taylor was outspoken against fast fashion, but I'm glad to hear it.
