This question comes from reader Fergus:

I have a black, single button blazer that I like a lot. It’s a few years old now, but I’ve been careful about cleaning (and not over-cleaning) and it looks good – no obvious wear, fading, etc. The problem is that it’s gotten a little floppier over the past couple of years – it was never heavily structured in the first place, but it’s even less so now. Any advice?

My response:

Without seeing the jacket, I’m guessing it was off-the-rack and not terribly expensive. The construction in those kinds of jackets will only keep its shape for a couple of years, no matter how well you take care of it.

That said, I like the worn-in look (of high quality clothes). I personally don’t like my jackets for the first few months because they look too stiff and “perfect”. Once they start to mold to my body, that’s when they are really alive. Sadly, however, less expensive jackets don’t have the internal construction that even allow this to happen. They simply get floppy, as you say.

Something that might work is to get it professionally pressed. Pressing is the last stage in the making of a jacket and actually helps to give it shape. Sadly, most dry cleaners press the life out of jackets, totally flattening lapels and pockets. So the trick is finding a better (and thus more expensive) dry cleaner who knows what they are doing. I’ve been very happy with Careful Cleaners (they have a few locations in the city). Just make sure you tell them exactly what you want done – press the shape back into the jacket.

If that doesn’t do it? Save up and get a custom blazer. It will look much better and serve you much longer. And get dark blue which is far more versatile than black.

[Pictured above, my own older, off-the-rack “floppy” blazer]