Cycling for Suits

In addition to my shower room, my company has a wellness program to encourage employees to remain/become healthy. If someone were to workout five times per week, their full club membership would be paid. We have in-house yoga, pilates, massage- none of which are my kind of scene. I worked it so that I turn in my Polar heartrate monitor calendars, and receive points- tons of points that ended up worth hundreds of dollars in gift certificates. Since I'm relocating, I thought it was time for a few new suits.

Earlier this week, Lise and I went shopping at the Men's Wearhouse. Say what you will, but they probably offer the best deal in town on wearable suits. I went in wearing my post-bike shower casual jeans and T-shirt. A salesperson appeared quite disinterested in helping us, despite my attempts to convey that I was completely ignorant of the suit buying process. Truthfully, I'd been through this before, but that really doesn't mean that I know anything. Lise insisted that we find suits that leaned more toward european styling, rather than the typical two-button American style. We explored a few options, and I was quick to discover that the Italian suit fit like a glove. It was simply amazing. It would also blow the entire budget. Lise commented that we could purchase two regular suits for the price of one Italian marvel. The salesperson mentioned how important it was to have a different suit for the second interview. Suddenly we were looking at buying two suits- neither of which would be Italian.

In the fitting process, I was presented with an excellent pair of shoes. These felt completely at home on my feet and immediately were added to our stash. Then they rolled out the ties- and the best two hopped on board. I put up quite a fight, despite Lise's urging, and resisted any $50 shirt purchases. I don't care if they didn't require ironing, my budget was already blown to bits. The shirts could wait. So, OK, the suits didn't end up being free, but they were certainly cheaper than what I would be able to find in Norway. And living so close to Italy- as we will, relatively speaking- we decided we would buy Italian when we happened to be in the neighborhood.

I'll be more than happy to be able to maintain my sub-business casual wardrobe with my future job (whatever that ends up being). It will be nice to have more suits when we move. Men in Norway wear suits for major holidays, family events, etc. I've never visited when there was not some occasion requiring me to dress up. While I'm not a huge fan of formal decorum, a little bit is nice to dress up once in awhile.