Tailored jacket
01“It looked sharp in the shop and now the lapel rolls oddly.”
Outside at the top
Underbuild
What’s holding
this shape
Two jackets. Same cloth to the touch, three times the price. The difference is in a layer you will never see, because it is on the inside.
Layer 01 / 07 — Outer cloth
The only layer you can see. It is not what holds the shape.
The layer nobody photographs
Interfacing, tape, padding and canvas are decided in a factory every day. They are where cost and quality actually separate. And they never appear on a product page, because they are on the inside.
This site says what is probably under there, where it will most likely give first, and how to find out with your fingers.
01 — The vocabulary
Seven layers,
outside inwards
Not every garment carries all of them, and no garment is worse for leaving one out. This is the order they sit in when they are there.
- 01
Outer cloth
The only layer you can see. It is not what holds the shape.
- 02
Canvas
Gives the chest and lapel a shape of their own, independent of the cloth.
- 03
Interlining
Stiffens the smaller areas — front edges, pocket mouths, hems.
- 04
Tape
Stops an edge from stretching along its length.
- 05
Padding
Fills and shapes the shoulder and the top of the sleeve.
- 06
Reinforcement
Takes the load where a small area is pulled again and again.
- 07
Lining
Covers the structure and lets a sleeve slide on.
02 — How it reads
Photograph it. Read the section. Then use your hands.
01
Photograph the outside
One picture of the whole garment, and a closer one of the collar, the lapel or the shoulder if you have it. Say what it is and what is bothering you about it.
02
Read the section
You get the layers a garment of that type usually carries, which ones the outside suggests are probably there, which are probably not, and where it is most likely to give first.
03
Check it with your hands
The part that settles it. Where to pinch, what to do with your fingers, and what it means when you feel it — or when you feel nothing.
03 — Pinch it yourself
A diagram you can put your fingers on
Every numbered point is a check you can do right now, on the garment in your wardrobe. Click one, or tab through them.
Pinch it yourself
01 — Where
The lapel, about halfway between the collar and the buttonhole
What to do
Take the lapel between your thumb and forefinger and pinch gently, then roll your fingers slightly apart.
What it means
If you can feel a distinct third sheet slide between the outer cloth and the lining, there is usually a separate canvas in there. If it feels like one solid card, the front is more often fused.
None of these checks opens the garment. If a check would need you to unpick a seam or cut anything, it does not belong on this site.
04 — The sections
Six categories, six sections
Each of these is the structure that type of garment usually carries. It is not a reading of any particular one — that needs your photograph, and your hands.
Shirt
02“Why does one collar stand up and the other flops?”
Outside at the top
Coat
03“This coat was expensive. What am I actually paying for?”
Outside at the top
Skirt
04“The waistband keeps folding over on itself by the afternoon.”
Outside at the top
Knitwear
05“The hem on this jumper flips outwards and won't sit flat.”
Outside at the top
Trousers
06“The waistband rolls over and the pockets have gone baggy.”
Outside at the top
Fewer layers isn't worse. A soft unstructured jacket leaves them out on purpose, and a shirt that is meant to sit soft is meant to sit soft.
05 — Where this stops
Four things this will never tell you
Not caution, and not small print. These are outside what a photograph can support, and two of them would cause real harm if we got them wrong.
Nothing here can be confirmed without opening the garment. Every reading on this page is an inference drawn from the outside.
Whether yours definitely has a given layer
That needs the garment opened. We give you the inference and the check; you do the check.
Whether a maker cut corners
We evaluate no brand and make no value-for-money judgement. Fewer layers is very often the design.
Whether something is genuine
No authentication, no counterfeit identification. That needs the object and a specialist.
What it is worth
No valuation, no price opinion, no view on whether you overpaid.
06 — Pricing
Three tiers. Nothing else to buy.
No credit packs, no top-ups, no stored balance. Prices in USD, VAT included at 23%. Subscriptions renew until you cancel, and you cancel in one step from your billing page.
Free
USD $0
Enough to read five garments a month and see how it works.
- 5 garments per month
- The layer diagram for that category
- Which layers it probably has, and probably doesn't
- Where it will most likely soften first
Most people want this one
Layerup
USD $9 / month
or USD $86 / year
The hand-check card — where to pinch, and what it means when you feel it.
- Unlimited garments
- No watermark
- The hand-check card for every reading
- Saved wardrobe, so you can come back to a garment
- Print-ready diagrams
Shell
USD $27 / month
or USD $259 / year
Read several garments against each other, and browse the whole category library.
- Everything in Layerup
- Compare garments side by side
- The full category library
- Priority queue
Where the free tier stops
Free gives you five garments a month and the section for each — the layers that type usually carries, and which ones yours probably has. The section is watermarked.
What it does not give you is the hand-check card: where to pinch, what to do with your fingers, and what it means when you feel something. The section tells you what is usually in there. Only the check tells you about the one in your hands.
The watermark never covers the two things that must always be readable: that nothing is confirmed without opening the garment, and that fewer layers is not worse.
07 — Questions
The ones worth asking
Including the two that decide whether this site is worth anything to you. Both are answered no.
- 01Can you tell me whether my jacket has a canvas in it?
No. Nobody can tell you that from a photograph, and this site will not pretend otherwise.
What you get is two things. First, the layers a garment of that type usually carries, and which of them the outside of yours suggests are probably there or probably not. Second, where to put your fingers and what it means when you feel something. The second one is the part that actually settles it — and you are the one who does it, because the garment is in your hands and not in ours.
Anything more definite than that would require opening the garment, and we are not going to suggest you do that.
- 02If it has fewer layers, does that mean whoever made it cut corners?
No, and this site does not make that kind of judgement about anyone.
A soft unstructured jacket leaves layers out on purpose. So does a shirt with an unlined collar, and a summer trouser with no lining in the leg. In each case the missing layer is the design, not a saving.
We evaluate no brand, make no value-for-money judgement, and give no opinion on whether something was worth what you paid. A reading here is a description of structure, and it is not evidence of anything about anyone.
- 03What happens to the photographs I upload?
Your photographs are used to produce your reading, and for nothing else. They are not used to train any model, ours or anyone else's.
They are kept while your account is open so you can go back to a garment, and you can delete any of them at any time from within the tool. Deleting a garment removes its photograph. Closing your account removes all of them.
The full detail, including retention periods and how to ask for a copy or an erasure, is in the Política de Privacidade.
- 04How accurate is this?
Every reading is an inference from the outside, and the site says so on every result rather than in the small print. Words like "usually" and "probably" are not hedging — they are the accurate description of what can be known from a photograph.
Where something genuinely cannot be known, it is listed under what can't be known rather than guessed at. That list is never empty, and its first line is always the same: nothing here is confirmed without opening the garment.
- 05Can I use a reading to return something, or to complain about it?
No. The Termos de Utilização prohibit it explicitly.
A reading from this site may not be used as a quality claim about any brand or product, as evidence in a return, a complaint or a dispute, or published as a statement of fact. It is an inference drawn from a photograph, and it is not the sort of thing that can carry that weight.
- 06Do you tell me whether something is genuine, or what it is worth?
No to both. This site performs no authentication, identifies no counterfeits, and gives no valuation or price opinion.
Both of those need the object in front of a specialist, and getting either one wrong causes real harm. We describe structure and give you checks you can do yourself. That is the whole of it.
- 07How does the subscription work, and how do I cancel?
A subscription renews automatically — monthly plans each month, yearly plans each year — until you cancel. The price and the renewal date are shown before you confirm and again on your billing page.
You can cancel from your billing page in one step, without writing to us, and it is no harder to leave than it was to join. Cancelling stops the next renewal and you keep access until the end of the period you have already paid for.
Prices are in USD and include VAT at 23%.
- 08Is there a credit pack, and does my allowance roll over?
There is no credit pack, no top-up and no stored balance. There are three subscription tiers and nothing else to buy.
Each tier includes a monthly allowance for the period it covers. Unused allowance does not carry into the next period. If you regularly run out, the tier above is the answer; there is nothing to buy separately.
The allowance is a measure of service usage. It is not money, not a store of value, not refundable and not transferable.
- 09What can I get back, and when?
If you are a consumer in the EU you have 14 days to withdraw from a subscription, and the Direito de Livre Resolução page carries the statutory form and explains the one situation in which that right ends early — when you have expressly asked for the service to begin immediately and acknowledged that doing so ends the right once it has been fully performed.
Separately from that, this is a digital service rather than a physical product: it has to remain in conformity for as long as it is supplied, and it is updated as needed for that. The three-year guarantee that applies to physical goods does not apply here, and we do not claim it does.
- 10Is there an age limit?
Yes. You must be at least 18 to hold an account and to subscribe. The site is not directed at children and we do not knowingly create accounts for them.
Go and pinch something
Whatever is holding that shape, it is still in there. Take one photograph and find out what it probably is.
Five garments a month, free. No card to start.