The guide to summer jacket cloths
July 24th 2017In 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 straight. Jackets are les...
The guide to summer jacket cloths
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Often it does Josh, but not necessarily - it might just have been badly treated in the past. However, I wouldn't take the risk of making a suit out of it, you could end up wasting quite a lot of money...
Olive covert-cloth suit, from Sartoria Vergallo
May 31st 2017It's hard not to feel that the future of the suit lies in more practical cloths than the fine worsteds of the past 30 years. We may move towards a situation where these cloths will be reserved for formal wear, while everyday suits and jackets are ma...
Olive covert-cloth suit, from Sartoria Vergallo
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It definitely will be. It was very much an old fashioned blazer cloth, where something could be very sharp and hard-finished because everything else was that smart - it wasn't a sports jacket....
Japanese craft in Kyoto: Hosoo, Kaikado, Kohchosa...
April 21st 2017When 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...
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There are various systems and awards in France - I can't remember exactly what and how they relate - but they are pretty much all meritocratic and based on craft, unlike the royal warrants which are often but not necessa...
Superfines: The story of refining wool
March 9th 2017Pop-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...
Fox Brothers vintage cloth – available in t...
March 3rd 2017Shop 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...
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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...
The ‘Guide to Cloth’ microsite
January 27th 2017Someone 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
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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...
The guide to cloth: Weaves and designs
January 23rd 2017The 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
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A little, perhaps, but only because stains etc are easier to spot clean on a wool. Unless you sweat a lot into it...
The A-Z of cloth
November 11th 2016As 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
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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....
The guide to worsted suitings
October 31st 2016Choosing 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
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No worries. That Whitcomb one is pretty good, but you could also go more matte if you wanted...
The guide to jacketings
October 17th 2016What 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
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I have found (at least for me) that dark to mid-brown is the most versatile color for suits and sport coats. It acts the same way as it does for wrist straps and feet, blending into the background while also being quite ...
Sartoria Pirozzi at E Marinella, and the ‘t...
October 3rd 2016The 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 ...
The basics of selecting cloth
September 28th 2016Selecting 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
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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...
Introducing: The Guide to Cloth
September 26th 2016This 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
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I will have to check the suit. Will get back to you....
The corduroy suit
September 9th 2016I 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
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Great, thanks, Simon....
A lapis-blue linen jacket for summer
August 20th 2016Summer 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
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Did Anderson & Sheppard itself shorten the sleeve this way from the cuff? It is immediately noticeable that there isn’t enough fabric there. I am surprised they let it go like that....
Coarse vs fine cottons in tailoring
July 25th 2016We 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
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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...
The appeal of the cotton suit – bespoke fro...
July 20th 2016I'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...
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With something that sounds pretty minor like that, yes I will usually. It's just the character of the piece...
Interview: Gregor Thissen, Scabal
July 8th 2016A 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
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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...
The Holland & Sherry cloths I have known
June 3rd 2016At 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
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I don't think so, no. Is it a large rip? Invisible mending might be able to fix it - it won't be cheap, but a lot cheaper than a new suit...
Scabal: Why make your own swatch books?
May 4th 2016Last 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?
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Not usually, no. Partly because the books have some cost, and partly because they don't usually have capacity to take on private customers...
A green cotton suit?
January 12th 2015In 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?
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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...
The Button Queen
July 28th 2014Last 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
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i believe they have moved now.they are based in west wales but have an online purchase https://www.thebuttonqueen.co.uk/...
W Bill and Smith’s sold: Mark Dunsford inte...
March 3rd 2014Last 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...
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Not really a football fan I'm afraid. Cycling, cricket and rugby, in that order...
Italy’s mills and merchants explained
July 29th 2013This 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
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Hi Nicholas, Can I ask why? It's a very big world (much bigger than that for bespoke clothing) and you won't be able to buy any of the fabric unless you're a brand ordering hundreds of metres......
Vitale Barberis Canonico
July 23rd 2013This 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
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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?...
