but not a real green suit, that's cruel

perusing magazines in concourse c, i came across another strong recession indicator on the cover of gq magazine: a not-at-all-snarky feature on the best suits under $500, including a snappy $89 number from target. five hundred bucks remains a goodly sum for most of us, of course, but the gentlemen's quarterly typically features pocket squares that retail for about a grand. further research shows that esquire has followed suit, so to speak, with a similar $500 suit feature.

but my next suit is coming from sears -- yes, that sears, still in business after all these years. according to treehugger and boingboing, sears is introducing a machine-washable $200 suit made from recycled plastic sody bottles. the manufacturer even provides carbon footprint information right there on the tag. as i recall, my very first suit was from sears -- a rust-colored polyester model with bell bottoms, righteous lapels, and fancy white stitching. it looked great (great, i tell you!), but it probably didn't breathe as well as the new sears/EcoGIR plastic-bottle suit pictured above.

i've got more faith in the cheap-chic marketing folks at target than their counterparts at sears, but i'd be tempted to invest in the manufacturer if the suit looks and feels even halfway decent. what says 2009 better than inexpensive, green, machine-washable business clothing? many men have to buy a suit at some point, and they'd prefer not to pay a lot of money for it. buying recycled allows them to exercise this preference as a value choice.