I guess I had a different reaction, which is interesting to me in itself. The closeups of the fabric look like the coat would still be expensive today. Clothin

I guess I had a different reaction, which is interesting to me in itself. The closeups of the fabric look like the coat would still be expensive today. Clothing is efficiently produced, but much of it is modest quality, and produced from commodity fibers like cotton or polyester. If you want something that's a more exotic weave, made from a different fiber (say, a silk-wool blend) it's a different story. The impression I got from this was of more craftsmanship in the fabric production, but also more reuse of that fabric. There's something to be said for factory-efficient bulk clothing production, but I've come to appreciate the other philosophy as well. Many of my secondhand clothes have lasted much longer than firsthand purchases, at the same price, because the initially expensive garment was better made with more durable fabric. I can actually think of a t-shirt I recently purchased that's a bit like the coat in the article, in that it's made from an unusual fabric that I had tailored because I didn't like the hem style. Of course, there's probably some survivorship bias involved too: my guess is the cheaper bulk clothing from the era of that coat is all gone, disposed of just like we might a cheap cotton t shirt today.