How many suits do I need? Especially if I'm doing a long jury trial? Forum

[Basile]

Keep to the topic at hand. not the same SUIT (singular). 3 suitS

[The Lsat Airbender]

If you have three suits, and Suit A is at the cleaners, and you spill wine on B at a coworker's birthday thing, now you have to wear C several days in a row waiting on one of the other ones to become available again. That's not good for the suit, and it looks weird if anyone notices. If you had five then you'll basically never have this issue, and you can make your life even easier by keeping a backup stashed in your office/car.

Likewise, nobody's going to notice if you wear the same pair of black shoes every day, but only owning one pair of shoes isn't a realistic plan for anything longer than a summer associateship.

[Basile]

If you have three suits, and Suit A is at the cleaners, and you spill wine on B at a coworker's birthday thing, now you have to wear C several days in a row waiting on one of the other ones to become available again. That's not good for the suit, and it looks weird if anyone notices. If you had five then you'll basically never have this issue, and you can make your life even easier by keeping a backup stashed in your office/car.

Likewise, nobody's going to notice if you wear the same pair of black shoes every day, but only owning one pair of shoes isn't a realistic plan for anything longer than a summer associateship.

oh yes, forgot the shoes! Maybe 2 or 3 pairs of those would be fine. I would have at least 1 pair with laces and at least 1 pair being slip-on.

I also doubt that that kind of situation involving the suits would occur. And if it does, there are cleaners out there that have expedited services, so there's no way I would wear the same suit for several days in a row. Maybe 2 at the most, but still, I'd make sure that it wouldn't be the exact same suit because I'd have a different tie and shirt. Same pants and blazer jacket color are fine.
P.S. spilling wine on a suit might not make a difference if the suit is black or very dark. I would still wear the suit if the wine can't be seen.

[nixy]

Keep to the topic at hand. not the same SUIT (singular). 3 suitS

If you’re only talking about 3 suits, nothing Lsat Airbender said suggests people would notice. They expressly said no one would notice if you rotate three suits. Therefore they’d only notice your suits if you were wearing less than 3 suits every day. That’s why I asked what I asked (because yes, some people do notice what others wear).

Also it’s nice that you doubt such a situation with the suits would arise, but the whole point is that such things are unpredictable. Is there a reason you’re so strongly committed to only three suits?