Full Canvas vs. Half Canvas vs. Fused Suit

What would make you upgrade from a fused suit to a canvas one?

A fused interlining in your suit is attractive financially, so there must be a good reason that a person would choose a more costly canvassed suit.

As it turns out, there are some excellent reasons to pay more for a full or half canvas for your suit jacket.

But first, let’s examine each option to understand them better.

What is Suit Canvassing

You may not have a firm idea of what canvassing is, but you do know that your other clothing doesn’t have it. So why does your suit jacket have it?

The surprising answer is that without it, your suit would be lifeless.

Think about the cloth of your suit; for example, picture a bolt of wool. When you lay it out, it’s flat and limp; it doesn’t hold shape on its own.

So, a suit needs an interlining that will help give it shape and mold it. Canvas gives your suit a tailored and crafted look. In short, it breathes life into it.

Canvas is a thick and rather stiff material, commonly made from horsehair or synthetic fiber.

It is sewn between the suit’s main fabric (in this situation, called the shell) and the suit’s lining to give it shape.

Canvassing prevents your suit from looking like a pair of pajamas. It’s only attached to your suit jacket; your trousers don’t need to be shaped.

So the result of canvassing your suit is structure.

Sometimes your canvas may be incredibly stiff and may seem like it has too much structure.

However, this doesn’t last long; the canvas molds and conforms to your body.

After you wear your canvassed suit for a while, it will begin to take your shape and look incredibly natural.

Different Suit Jacket Canvas Constructions

Because life is full of choices, here’s yet another one for you to make.

When buying a canvassed suit, you need to decide if your suit jacket construction will be full canvas or half canvas. Each type has its attractions, and both demonstrate a quality suit.

Because the canvas is sewn in by hand, it moves with your body and doesn’t pull on the suit fabric.

Therefore canvassing helps to reduce the strain your movements put on your jacket’s cloth.

The canvas material is sturdier than wool, so it can take the stress. That’s why full vs. half canvas offers different levels of protection and shaping.

Half Canvas

You can choose a half-canvas construction that only covers portions of your suit jacket. It covers the top half of your jacket, from shoulders down the chest to the jacket’s mid-point.

This canvas portion gives you good solid shoulders and chest area and helps form a tapered waist. The jacket lapel is also canvassed.

This style for your suit is a compromise between the full canvas option and glued interlining.

While the top half of the suit jacket is canvassed, the rest is fused until the hemline.

You’ll get the best of each: the benefits of canvassing without paying the entire cost of this pricy option.

Aside from paying less than you would for a full canvas, you may also prefer the lighter feeling you get from a half canvas suit jacket.

The canvas material is rather weighty, so you feel less weighed down. This can be a perk, especially in hot summer weather. You might notice you are less hot without full canvassing.

While including any canvas is more expensive than opting for a fused lining, you’ll undoubtedly save some money.

However, you still have the downsides of the glued interlining to contend with, just not as pervasively.

Full Canvas

As its name implies, full canvas construction covers the entire suit jacket, all the way down to the hem. The canvas lining makes the whole garment highly structured.

Choosing a suit with full canvassing adds more weight to the suit jacket, helping to shape it better and give a more personalized fit.

The bottom half of your jacket seems to gain structure from the canvas, preventing it from moving as freely as an unstructured suit jacket would. It gives you the appearance of being very well put together.

Full canvas suits also enjoy increased durability. The canvas relieves stress through the entire suit jacket, extending your suit’s life.

The typical areas where clothing can become strained, such as the elbows and shoulders, don’t feel the full effects of our movements because they are sewn directly onto the canvas.

The canvas moves with our body but allows the suit fabric to move where it needs to instead.

The only true downside of a fully canvassed suit jacket is that it costs more than other suits.

Canvas can be very expensive, partly because it requires more material but primarily because of the labor.

Attaching canvas is very labor intensive; it involves hand sewing and can take quite a bit of time.

What is Fused Suit Jacket Interlining

Fused interlining is the most common option for modern suits since the majority of suits on the market are sold off the rack.

Fused interlining is incredibly quick and effortless to incorporate, making it a dream for mass production. That’s why off-the-rack suits are highly affordable.

Still, the glued interlining gives the suit the shape you’re looking for, although the suit jacket isn’t as solidly structured.

Sadly, there are many drawbacks to fused interlining. The main downside is that this interlining is glued in, so it doesn’t provide the same flexibility as the canvas.

In addition, the glue forces the suit cloth to move along with you instead of giving the buffer that a sewn-in canvas does.

So your suit fabric has no relief at its common stress points. When these areas are repeatedly strained, they wear down quickly.

The other way a fused suit jacket isn’t as durable as canvas is that the glue eventually loses its strength.

The adhesive can begin to peel away in spots as it gets old or stressed, resulting in bubbles and blisters in your suit. Of course, this looks terrible, and you can’t wear your suit anymore.

So, although fused interlining may be much cheaper up front, does it really save you money in the long run?

If you need to replace your suit every few months or years because of wear and tear and interlining that no longer holds, it may be worth paying more upfront for a longer-lasting suit.

Besides, the earth will thank you for making a sustainable choice.

Canvassed vs. Fused Suit Jackets

Can you tell just by looking at a suit jacket whether it is canvassed or fused? Perhaps. A well-trained eye might be able to.

Canvas provides a more structured drape to the jacket and ultimately takes your body’s shape.

As a result, you look more at home in a canvassed suit, as if it were made specifically for you. Which it most likely was.

Typically, a suit with canvassing is higher-end, so it will be more flattering and have a stylish cut.

Can’t eyeball it? Here are two simple tests to help you figure it out.

Try the pinch test to feel it out. Hold the jacket sleeve and feel it between your fingers and pinch it. This is an excellent place to get your baseline feeling for the cloth since the sleeves aren’t canvassed.

Next, compare it to the fabric beneath the lowest buttonhole on both sides of the jacket.

Pull the layers of the cloth apart; you’ll be able to tell if there’s another layer between those two. If there is, your suit is fully canvassed.

Can you tell there’s something there because it feels different than your sleeve, but not another layer of fabric? Then it’s fused.

You can also try the lapel test, a less sure way to determine suit canvassing.

Look at the underside of the suit’s lapel. If you see small stitches there, your suit is canvassed. Don’t see any at all? Your suit is fused.

This method is challenging, though, because the stitches are often so tiny that they are difficult to see.

How Does the Canvas Affect the Suit Cost?

A fused suit is certainly the most affordable, while a full canvas is the most expensive type of suit.

But why is there such a large price difference, and why is canvas so expensive?

Besides material, an incredible amount of labor is involved in inserting a canvas interlining.

Most canvassing needs to be attached by hand. Since a person needs to spend hours laboriously attaching canvas, these suits can’t be cranked out in mass production.

Therefore, the higher prices are justified because canvassed suits take much longer to produce.

That’s why half-canvas suits are popular. You are still paying a higher rate because they involve more labor than fused suits but less time than full canvas.