Japanese craft in Kyoto: Hosoo, Kaikado, Kohchosa...

April 21st 2017

When I was in Japan at the end of last year, I was keen to see not just menswear crafts, but traditional crafts in other areas as well. Previous articles on swordmaker Sasuke and kimono maker Motoji attest to some of that, but there were also three ...

Japanese craft in Kyoto: Hosoo, Kaikado, Kohchosa...

Match in comments:
Hi Ruben, I'm afraid I don't, most only produce for ready to wear and that's not an area I've looked into...

ClothApril 21st 2017

Superfines: The story of refining wool

March 9th 2017

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 ti...

Superfines: The story of refining wool

Match in comments:
Will do...

ClothMarch 9th 2017

Fox Brothers vintage cloth – available in t...

March 3rd 2017

Shop update: Sartoria Solito and Luca Avitabile shirts will be in the shop today and tomorrow for a trunk show. They're pretty full already, but if you want to try and make an appointment, please contact [email protected] or luigisolito@yaho...

Fox Brothers vintage cloth – available in t...

Match in comments:
No, not at all Nick. Often the opposite - vintage clothes were often woven more densely and so are stronger. Not always of course though, and I'm sure there are more delicate cloths that won't age as well...

ClothMarch 3rd 2017

The ‘Guide to Cloth’ microsite

January 27th 2017

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 and counting) it's nice to work on...

The ‘Guide to Cloth’ microsite

Match in comments:
Good question. It will appear as a main post as well. The microsite is more a grouping of relevant posts - and an easy place to link to for references...

ClothJanuary 27th 2017

The guide to cloth: Weaves and designs

January 23rd 2017

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 we describe the benefits of ga...

The guide to cloth: Weaves and designs

Match in comments:
I don't know I'm afraid, I don't have any experience with it...

ClothJanuary 23rd 2017

The A-Z of cloth

November 11th 2016

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 finishing. This took a lot of wor...

The A-Z of cloth

Match in comments:
Very few places do - there are places in the East End but the selection there is pretty random. Online a few houses do cloth straight to the consumer, like Fox for example, who are certainly one of the best for trousers....

ClothNovember 11th 2016

The guide to worsted suitings

October 31st 2016

Choosing a suit cloth is, in some ways, harder than any other area of clothing. Because they all look so similar. If we leave aside the more aesthetic – and subjective areas – of colour and pattern, we are left with dozens of sim...

The guide to worsted suitings

Match in comments:
No worries. That Whitcomb one is pretty good, but you could also go more matte if you wanted...

Cloth - October 31st 2016

The guide to jacketings

October 17th 2016

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 should a man wear? Why doesn’...

The guide to jacketings

Match in comments:
Yes I think I would...

ClothOctober 17th 2016

Sartoria Pirozzi at E Marinella, and the ‘t...

October 3rd 2016

The amount of good soft-tailoring in London seems to increase by the month. And not just because people decide to start travelling: sometimes I just miss them. Nunzio Pirozzi has been travelling to the E Marinella store on Maddox Street for several ...

Sartoria Pirozzi at E Marinella, and the ‘t...

Match in comments:
It's close...

ClothOctober 3rd 2016

The basics of selecting cloth

September 28th 2016

Selecting cloth may be the hardest part of the bespoke (or made-to-measure) process. You pick the style of a suit every time you buy one off the rack, but you’re unlikely to have ever looked at a tiny square of cloth and tried to imagine what i...

The basics of selecting cloth

Match in comments:
Hey Nav, I wouldn't worry about the difference in weights, it's only a small one. I'd go for the colour you prefer...

ClothSeptember 28th 2016

Introducing: The Guide to Cloth

September 26th 2016

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, yarns and weaves, but (for m...

Introducing: The Guide to Cloth

Match in comments:
I will have to check the suit. Will get back to you....

ClothSeptember 26th 2016

The corduroy suit

September 9th 2016

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 office. Most no...

The corduroy suit

Match in comments:
Great, thanks, Simon....

Casual clothing - ClothSeptember 9th 2016

A lapis-blue linen jacket for summer

August 20th 2016

Summer clothing, particularly from Italian brands, often includes a lot of light, bright colours. These can be difficult to wear, particularly in northern European countries where the sun might not be that consistent. I'd suggest that of those brig...

A lapis-blue linen jacket for summer

Match in comments:
Probably not, no...

Cloth - JacketsAugust 20th 2016

Coarse vs fine cottons in tailoring

July 25th 2016

We covered the appeal of cotton as a tailoring material generally last week, but didn't talk about the different types of cottons. There are corduroys and moleskins of course, gabardines and seersucker. But a difference I find particularly interesti...

Coarse vs fine cottons in tailoring

Match in comments:
I still think the finer cottons here are good, but they're definitely a different aesthetic - they're not shiny, but they are finer, not as tough...

Cloth - JacketsJuly 25th 2016

The appeal of the cotton suit – bespoke fro...

July 20th 2016

I've always found cotton very appealing for summer suits, but historically haven't had much luck with them. I had a navy one made by Choppin & Lodge, but the make was really too English and structured for the material (my fault, not theirs)....

The appeal of the cotton suit – bespoke fro...

Match in comments:
With something that sounds pretty minor like that, yes I will usually. It's just the character of the piece...

Cloth - SuitsJuly 20th 2016

Interview: Gregor Thissen, Scabal

July 8th 2016

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. Permanent Style: I’ve always ...

Interview: Gregor Thissen, Scabal

Match in comments:
From a Tailors perspective the issue of purchasing material on line is fraught with complications and customers need to be made aware that CMT is not a pathway to a cheaper suit. It is almost impossible to underwrite the...

ClothJuly 8th 2016

The Holland & Sherry cloths I have known

June 3rd 2016

At the Young Tailors Symposium in a couple of weeks, we will have one floor of the Stefano Bemer atelier dedicated to my favourite Holland & Sherry cloths. Holland & Sherry have generously supported the event, and I thought the best...

The Holland & Sherry cloths I have known

Match in comments:
Yes I think that might be the case. You're basically describing a jacketing material there...

ClothJune 3rd 2016

Scabal: Why make your own swatch books?

May 4th 2016

  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 cloth. Most of the ...

Scabal: Why make your own swatch books?

Match in comments:
Not usually, no. Partly because the books have some cost, and partly because they don't usually have capacity to take on private customers...

ClothMay 4th 2016

A green cotton suit?

January 12th 2015

In my review of Spanish tailor Reillo’s cotton suit last week, there proved to be only room to analyse the fit and make. Yet a reader rightly pointed out that green cotton-gabardine is hardly an everyday cloth option. I’ll expla...

A green cotton suit?

Match in comments:
It would have both those advantages, yes. And I'd imagine it would be suited to the kind of person that liked the look and line of hopsack, but didn't live somewhere particularly hot...

Cloth - ShoesJanuary 12th 2015

The Button Queen

July 28th 2014

Last week I discovered The Button Queen, on Marylebone Lane in London. It’s hard to believe I’ve never been in before; I don’t think I will ever select buttons for tailoring from anywhere else. The Button Queen has been around sin...

The Button Queen

Match in comments:
i believe they have moved now.they are based in west wales but have an online purchase https://www.thebuttonqueen.co.uk/...

ClothJuly 28th 2014

W Bill and Smith’s sold: Mark Dunsford inte...

March 3rd 2014

Last week the sale was finalised of the W Bill and Smith’s cloth brands to LBD Harrison‘s. The company, run by Mark Dunsford, has been built on acquisitions, starting with Pedersen & Becker over 20 years ago and more recen...

W Bill and Smith’s sold: Mark Dunsford inte...

Match in comments:
Not really a football fan I'm afraid. Cycling, cricket and rugby, in that order...

ClothMarch 3rd 2014

Italy’s mills and merchants explained

July 29th 2013

  This is a follow-up to my popular post on English mills and cloth merchants: how to tell them apart, how they are related and how to select between them (basically, don’t; there is little difference). Italian mills are a lot simple...

Italy’s mills and merchants explained

Match in comments:
Oh, they look like just what I'm after, thank you!...

ClothJuly 29th 2013

Vitale Barberis Canonico

July 23rd 2013

This past week I’ve been in Biella, visiting the lovely people at Vitale Barberis Canonico and researching a piece on Italian mills and bunches – a follow-up to the popular post on English mills. Barberis is going through something of a t...

Vitale Barberis Canonico

Match in comments:
Raw materials as in merino, cashmere, silk and linen mixes, and of course Super 120s etc which tell you how fine the wool is. Then there's the weave and the set. All objective facts. Does that make sense?...

Cloth - July 23rd 2013

Dugdale Towers

April 29th 2013

The Dugdale Brothers building in the centre of Huddersfield (scale model, above) is exactly what you’d hope the headquarters of an old cloth merchant would be like. Four and a half floors of old furniture, worn wooden floorboards and the occasi...

Dugdale Towers

Match in comments:
I want to go there! LM...

ClothApril 29th 2013

WT Johnsons – finishers, Huddersfield

April 24th 2013

When suiting cloth comes off the looms and is washed, it feels surprisingly rough, like thin cotton khakis. It is the finishing of the cloth that gives it the touch and the handle we expect. It reveals the potential of the cloth, first, and can the...

WT Johnsons – finishers, Huddersfield

Match in comments:
On green tweed, I had a suit made at A Suit That Fits ages ago, but I wouldn't really recommend that. There was also a pale green jacket from Cifonelli and a green jacket my wife was having made at Kathryn Sargent. I'll ...

ClothApril 24th 2013