The thobe is the indispensable garment in the Saudi man’s wardrobe, serving as his primary formal attire for work, social occasions, and even outside the home. Beyond being the official and classic attire, the thobe is, in Saudi society, typically tailored specifically for each client regardless of the steps of its making or the fabrics used.
On the other side, the formal suit holds a similar place for men, sharing some of the same traits as the thobe. It is the essential and formal piece in a man’s wardrobe in almost every part of the world. The formal suit also, by default, carries the same standard of being custom-made for the client.
From here, this article sets out to open the door for dialogue and analysis between the traditional thobe and the formal men’s suit. Naturally, I drew on the voices of influential figures in both Saudi Arabia’s thobe-making industry and the world of suits, bringing in local brands, designers, and craftsmen who shared with me their perspectives on whether they agree or disagree with the idea in its different dimensions.
First: Craftsmanship – The Thobe Compared to the Formal Suit
It is commonly recognized that the formal suit is distinguished by its craftsmanship in tailoring, such as the Italian or British traditions. Through research, I found that the thobe likewise carries its own craftsmanship and specific steps in its making.
Louay Nasseem, founder of the brand Lomar, says:
“Yes, the thobe we present at Lomar is held to high standards of tailoring. We developed the tailoring process and expanded its stages to include 18 steps, compared to the standard process commonly practiced in the local menswear market, which consists of about 8 steps.”
Christophe Bouvies, who worked at Lomar for around 12 years and today collaborates with the brand as an independent craftsman, adds:
“Yes, there are very precise standards when it comes to constructing and designing the thobe. When tailored to order, the client chooses the fabric, as well as the shape of the sleeves (or sleeveless), the type of collar, and the chest design (exposed buttons, hidden buttons, hidden zipper, etc.).”
He continues, comparing the Saudi thobe to other traditional garments in the Gulf:
“The Saudi thobe is considered the most complex in terms of cutting, as it is made from about 24 pieces sewn together. Today, it is also the most diverse in terms of colors and designs.”
As for men’s formal suits, fashion designer Nasreen, founder of the suit label Rosa Canina, shares her perspective on the craftsmanship of tailoring suits compared to the thobe:
“The suit is, of course, more complex in terms of construction. There are the padded shoulders and chest and the different methods of assembling them, the keyhole buttonholes, stacked buttons, and the lining… all of these details do not exist in the thobe.”
When I asked her why she chose to specialize in tailoring suits for her brand in Saudi Arabia, particularly given that the thobe is the official attire, she replied:
“The suit is a piece that every employee, employer, or student must have in their wardrobe, given its specific occasions. It does not replace the thobe, but rather adds wider and more diverse options to the wardrobe. The jacket can be worn over the thobe or with jeans, and the trousers can be paired with a shirt or a T-shirt.”
Suit by Nasreen (Rosa Canina)
Second: Bespoke Tailoring for the Client
One of the aspects that most intrigued me is that both the thobe and the formal suit are usually tailored to the client’s measurements. In the world of fashion and high-end tailoring, creating a piece to a person’s exact size today is considered a privilege and a luxury, something rarely found in women’s wardrobes except in haute couture and in formal suits.
In this section, we look more closely at the experience of acquiring a thobe or a formal suit made specifically to the client’s measurements.
Omar Ashour, a thobe maker with an architectural background, shares from his experience in tailoring thobes:
“Yes, in the market you will find tailors who make a thobe for each client, but the work is often at an average level, since the tailor does not necessarily follow precise or strict standards. Also, one tailor usually handles the entire garment, which reduces the level of specialization compared to workshops that use an assembly line system, where each tailor specializes in a specific part of the thobe and masters it.”
He continues:
“At Omar Ashour House, we receive clients by appointment, and during each session I am present with the client to study what they want and to provide a design that suits them.”
He adds about the type of garments the house offers:
“We provide thobes that are custom-designed for each client, with the aim of elevating Saudi attire. So in addition to bespoke tailoring, we also offer lifetime maintenance and preservation for each piece.”
Louay Nassem responds:
“It is essential that the thobe is tailored to the client’s exact measurements. At Lomar, the measurement sheet is present at every step, from the cutting of the fabric to the final ironing before completion, with the responsible tailor comparing the finished garment against the client’s measurements.”
When asked about the margin of error in this process, he replied:
“In truth, it took a long time to reach this level of precision. In the beginning, there were some mistakes in sizing, and even though we accounted for accuracy at each stage, sometimes the error came from the fabric itself, for example if it had a looser drape.”
On refining tailoring methods to fit each client and their body shape, he explained:
“At the stage of hemming or folding and finishing the bottom edge, we take precise measurements of the stomach or waist area. If the person has a fuller midsection, we account for that in the finishing so that it blends naturally with the client’s body shape, ensuring the hem does not appear shorter than it should.”
Ashour comments on tailoring to suit the natural form of the body:
“The human body is not symmetrical by nature, so this difference in measurements between the right and left sides is taken into account during tailoring.”
Omar Ashour
On the craft of formal suits, Nasreen explains what distinguishes a suit tailored to the client:
“The suit is made to a person’s measurements, but it also incorporates several tools to adjust the body and conceal certain areas. The suit lifts the shoulders, gives the chest a more upright appearance, and hides the stomach. The trousers can disguise either fullness or thinness in the thighs to create a neater, more elegant silhouette.”
In both the thobe and the suit, we can see that when tailored to the client’s measurements, they offer the advantage of shaping themselves to the body, presenting it in its natural form but in a more refined way.
Third: The Fabrics Used
The Saudi thobe is distinguished by the variety of fabrics used in its tailoring. The fabrics can be light and soft to the touch, flowing almost like silk (in description, not material). In winter, the fabrics tend to be heavier.
Bouvies comments on the variety of fabrics used in thobes:
“Today, the Saudi thobe is made from a wide range of fabrics such as polyester, cotton, poly-cotton, linen, and even wool at times, depending on the client’s taste and needs. The fabrics can be stiff, soft, or extremely lightweight.”
Louay Nassem adds, reflecting on Lomar’s fabric innovations:
“In 2010, we commissioned the creation of a cotton fabric with five distinct features: it allows air to pass through, absorbs heat only up to 30 percent, reflects sunlight, contains a degree of stretch, and reflects sunlight even when in a dark color.”
He continues on fabric innovation:
“As someone who does not like to spray perfumes, I thought of a fabric that could generate scents such as oud, mint, and lavender, which were later adopted by European markets.”
“In fact, Lomar introduced several fabric innovations to the European textile market, which those companies now source.”
The thobe may enjoy a certain freedom in fabric use more than the formal suit, since it can be difficult to adapt thobe fabrics for suit tailoring, while the reverse is often possible.
Omar Ashour explains:
“That’s right, thobe fabrics cannot really be used to make suits, but the reason is purely structural and tied to the suit’s form itself. On the other hand, most of the winter fabrics we see with thobe tailors originally come from formal suit fabrics.”
Details from Omar Ashour House
Fourth: Custom Fit vs. Standard Sizes
In every fashion line that offers tailoring to the client’s measurements, there is also a ready-to-wear line with standard sizes at a lower price.
In the case of thobes, although it is common in Saudi society to have them tailored to the client’s measurements, the market also carries ready-made thobes in fixed standard sizes.
Louay Nassem explains:
“The idea of ready-made thobes only appeared in the 1970s. Their presence in the market became necessary for pilgrims and visitors to Mecca and Medina, where they were sold, and today they are much more widely available across different cities.”
Suits, on the other hand, entered the world of standard sizing in the nineteenth century, especially during wars that created the need for ready-made military uniforms. By the twentieth century, suits had become available in retail stores in ready-made sizes for men, since it was easier to produce them this way compared to women’s fashion at the time.
Fifth: Their Evolution
The thobe we see today is an extension of the garment that has existed for centuries in the Arabian Peninsula. The modern Saudi thobe is the result of a contemporary evolution that aligns with today’s lifestyle in the region.
Louay Nassem on the idea of evolving the thobe today:
“We present the client with nearly 400 thobe options to choose from, according to their personal preferences.”
He continues:
“Through these options, we also set boundaries for the client so that the end result does not become a garment disconnected from the traditional Saudi thobe.”
He adds:
“We support innovation and the development of the thobe, but without distorting this cultural and heritage symbol. Context is key when introducing a piece that carries an innovative or evolutionary aspect of the thobe.”
When mentioning the name Lomar, the brand is considered a pioneer in thobe design, and through fashion shows and exhibitions, it has proven its innovative capability when it comes to the thobe.
A design by the brand Lomar from the first edition of the Saudi 100 Brands exhibition
Bouvies says:
“I often hear, especially in Riyadh, people saying they prefer to wear the ‘traditional’ standard thobe because it is part of their culture and they do not want it to change. But I ask myself, when did this ‘tradition’ begin in their view? For example, the polyester fabrics they wear today did not exist before the 1970s; at that time, only cotton or wool was available, in different colors and patterns. The thobe’s design was also simpler and looser. So what people consider today to be the ‘traditional’ or ‘standard’ design has in fact undergone many changes and innovations throughout the twentieth century. The same applies to traditional women’s clothing.”
As for Omar Ashour House, it is distinguished by incorporating elements of fine tailoring found in European shirts, particularly English ones, and adapting them to the construction of the thobe. For instance, the house applies certain shirt-making techniques to the thobe, such as the split yoke; the upper panel of the shirt that distributes stitching across the shoulder to provide greater comfort.
Details from Omar Ashour House
Ashour says:
“In the thobe, the shoulder area is the main pillar. If it is done well, the entire tailoring of the thobe succeeds. That is why we adopted some techniques from shirt-making and applied them to the thobes of our house.”
But where is the boundary between using Western tailoring techniques in the traditional thobe without altering its identity and form?
Ashour answers:
“The thobe must not be visually distorted or stray from cultural norms. At Omar Ashour House, we benefit from elements of the shirt and integrate them into thobes in a way that enhances them, offering more variety in features such as sleeves and collars.”
He continues his thoughts on developing the thobe:
“Context is extremely important. The main standards I rely on at Omar Ashour House are climate, occasion, age, and social norms.”
Indeed, the Saudi thobe we see today can be considered the highest expression of modernity and evolution, having reached a point where different fabrics not previously used have been adapted, along with the addition of contemporary collars to align with everyday lifestyles.
As for formal suits, in every decade we notice shifts and evolutions in their silhouettes. For example, in the 1980s, we saw the prominence of shoulder pads and an emphasis on a more masculine look, with relatively broader cuts. A pioneering designer like Giorgio Armani was able to make the men’s suit a garment associated with Hollywood’s leading figures, giving it a look that was both powerful and relaxed, as if the world revolved around them.
Suit by Giorgio Armani
Richard Gere in a suit designed by Giorgio Armani from the 1980 film American Gigolo
Then came the 1990s and the early 2000s, when Raf Simons introduced a perspective that celebrated the slim male silhouette, alongside Hedi Slimane at Dior Homme.
A men’s suit by Raf Simons from the Fall/Winter 2005 collection
A suit designed by Hedi Slimane for Dior Homme, Fall/Winter 2004
Nasreen shares her view on the adaptability of men’s suits:
“The suit is the formal attire in most countries of the world, and this is what has allowed it to evolve and change its forms continuously, unlike the thobe which is tied exclusively to Saudi national dress, keeping its form relatively stable.”
When I posed the central question of this article: how similar is the thobe to the formal suit. Bouvies answered:
“The tailoring of the thobe is closer to that of a shirt than to a suit, even though the construction of the thobe is more complex than a shirt. As for the suit, its tailoring requires more time and a higher level of manual skill.”
Ashour adds:
“Yes, the suit corresponds to the thobe in terms of category, but in terms of construction, the thobe is closer to a shirt.”
In conclusion, although the thobe and the suit differ in form and construction, we find several interconnected aspects between them. The thobe has largely preserved its shape and silhouette despite changes in tailoring methods, internal structure, and fabrics. The suit, on the other hand, has undergone greater openness and evolution over the past decades. This intersection creates a space for dialogue between the two and expands our understanding of their roles in what remains constant and what changes in men’s fashion.
