This dark, muted green linen was a risk. I had never had anything like it before, let alone seen it on anyone else.  But I think it’s worked out very well. I’m pleased as well as relieved.  The colour is unusual ye...

This is a summary and analysis of the high-twist wools available from different mills and merchants.  As with the linen one we did last year, the aim is to set out most of the range so that bespoke customers know if the...

Relief, and relaxation. Those are my abiding memories of this, my fitting at Gieves on a new suit. Readers commented on a previous post that it was nice to know what I was thinking and feeling during a fitting. That it f...

Layering knitwear can be both stylish and practical. Practical, because it gives particular warmth on a cold day - more, usually, than a shirt. And stylish because it looks so relaxed and casual, yet unusual.

You know when you think you’re not part of a trend, and then see everyone wearing the same thing? As a clothing snob that likes to think he’s different to everyone else, it’s very annoying. I had admired Michael Hi...

In some ways, summer trousers are more challenging than jackets in terms of cloth, and therefore more interesting. Trousers present the challenge of having something cool, but with enough body or crispness to hang straig...

Pop-up shop update: Sartoria Formosa are in the shop today, Friday and Saturday. Gennaro Formosa is on site, together with Gianluca Migliarotti – director of the ‘O Mast’ film among other things   There was a time...

Someone asked me the other day when I'm going to run out of things to write about.  To be honest I have yet to have that problem - there's usually too much rather than too little. But as one writes more (1612 posts an...

The next in our series on Cloth is a guide to weaves and to designs. As with the A-Z this is meant as a reference tool, which we will link to as we publish more detailed pieces about trousers, jackets or overcoats. When ...

As the next post in our series The Guide to Cloth, we have put together a glossary of cloth-related terms, covering everything from different animal fibres and their properties, to the various stages of spinning and fini...

What makes a cloth suitable for a jacket, but not for a suit? This is a question I know many readers struggle with, particularly as offices become more casual. Without the safety of a dark suit and dark shoes, what shoul...

This week we are launching another big project for Permanent Style: The Guide to Cloth. This has been a long time in the works, but we wanted to do it right. There is a lot of piecemeal information out there about cloths...

I have a friend who wears what he calls ‘knockabout’ suits. How exactly he knocks about in them I don’t know, but the meaning is clear: these are casual suits, that don’t belong in a formal environment like an of...

A couple of months ago I sat down with Gregor Thissen, Executive Chairman of cloth merchant Scabal, in Brussels after a tour of the factory. You can read more about Scabal and that factory on my first post here.   Perm...

Last week I was in Brussels visiting the headquarters of cloth merchant Scabal. They moved buildings two years ago and now have an attractive, open-plan space on top of their warehouse. That warehouse stores a lot of clo...

I was up in Yorkshire last week, based in Huddersfield and seeing a few of the mills and merchants, including Pennine, Johnsons and Dugdale.   What struck me hardest when I got back was the lack of understanding among b...