I think you need to readjust your lens. In general, people simply cannot afford a well fitting suit as their regular clothing. Some people fit into a cheap 2-piece suit from Macy's for $300 with some tailoring. Many don't. For those, the cost jump is at least to $500 for a made to measure. At which point, you're going to have to spend a lot of time trying to get the fit right and it'll take some time. And if you really want it to fit "right" then it's $3,000 per suit because you have to go bespoke. If you don't live near a very popular and fashion conscious city, you probably won't find a bespoke tailor.

Compare with $25 jeans and a $10 t-shirt that people will wear everyday, it's pretty easy to see why they go with that. Lotta sizes and fits that will eventually fit you in that price range. You can have ~7 pairs of jeans and t-shirts for the price of one very cheap fused low end fabric suit. Enough to have something different for every day of the week. You can have about 15 pairs of jeans and t-shirts for 1 made to measure suit. You can have about 70 pairs of jeans and t-shirts for the cost of one bespoke suit. That's enough jeans and t-shirts to last you over a decade.

We didn't even factor in the cost that nicer dress shoes cost and the cost of fitted dress shirts or all the accessories that can go with suits. (Belts, pocket squares, ties, bowties, tie clips, cufflinks, etc.)

> I think you need to readjust your lens.

Do you regularly buy suits, and have you bought one recently? You post is the kind of unfounded delusions people have about suits (easy to spot when someone mentions the "need" for bowties...) that keep them from buying one. Discount suits are a thing. The last suit I bought cost $50. Polyester fabric is cheap, far more durable than cotton, and comfortable. Alterations are $15-30. Department stores have sales - my summer suit is a great linen I bought for under $100 from a major department store (I think it was Nordstroms).

> That's enough jeans and t-shirts to last you over a decade.

Suits will easily last you for over a decade, as long as you don't cycle in them (that will destroy any pair of pants quickly). My first suit turns 15 years old this year and it is still in good shape. Polyester and wool fabric will outlast the cotton that jeans and t-shirts are made out of many times over. Suits as work clothing work out to be less expensive than replacing the discount $25 jeans and t-shirts that fall apart after a year.

Mail-order made-to-measure dress shirts are less expensive than off-the-rack dress shirts in department stores. Last time I ordered I paid about $40 per shirt (easier to buy in bulk once a decade... again these shirts last), department store ones were $80 and up.

I've yet to see a suit with anything approximating “plenty of functional jacket pockets for all of your belongings”; suit pockets tend to be between decorative and merely very low capacity, to avoid breaking up lines. “plenty of functional jacket pockets for all of your belongings” is something I'd only use to describe a jacket with military-style cargo pockets.

You could wear comfortable and weather-appropriate t-shirt/sweater and jeans for about $50. A comparably comfortable and weather-appropriate suit will cost >$1000. I don't think it's hard to see why so many people don't want to wear a suit every day.

How about having the CHOICE to do this?