Glossario

A tailor who adjusts existing garments rather than making them. The most under-used resource in menswear: a good one improves ready-to-wear more than the next price tier would.

A shoe with a raised panel stitched over the vamp, as on a Norwegian loafer or a split-toe derby. The stitching is the decoration, and hand-stitched versions are among the more difficult operations in shoemaking.

The opening a sleeve is set into. A high, small armhole allows more arm movement, not less, because the sleeve pivots without dragging the body of the coat. Harder to cut and less tolerant of error.

Whether a coat hangs level front to back. A coat out of balance rides up at the back of the neck or falls away at the front, and nothing else about the fit can be judged until it is right. It is the first thing a cutter looks at.

A tightly woven cloth with a fine broken-rib surface, traditionally used for dinner jackets and military uniform. Matte, dense and unreflective, which is exactly what evening cloth should be.

A breast pocket cut on a gentle upward curve, like a little boat: barchetta in Italian. A Neapolitan signature, and purely a shape: the pocket does nothing a straight one does not.

Long temporary stitches holding a garment together for fitting, removed afterwards. A basted garment can be pulled apart and recut, which is the point of the basted fitting.

The convex curve along the outer edge of a lapel. A lapel with belly bows gently outward; a straight-edged one reads as severe. Florentine tailoring cuts a pronounced belly; English tailoring generally does not.

A garment cut from a pattern drafted for one person and made through fittings in which it is taken apart and corrected. From cloth being 'spoken for' by a customer. The operative test is the individual pattern, not the amount of hand work.

The waist of a sole trimmed close and angled in under the arch, so the sole almost disappears at the middle of the shoe. Difficult, elegant, and requires the welt to be stitched very close to the upper.

A small all-over weave producing a pattern of tiny dots, usually in two colours. Reads as a solid from a distance and as texture close up, which makes it one of the most useful suiting patterns.

A hybrid shoe construction: the upper Blake-stitched to a midsole, then an outsole stitched to the midsole from outside. Slimmer than a welt, easier to resole than plain Blake.

A standard pattern in a given size, from which made-to-measure garments are modified. Bespoke draws a pattern from nothing instead; the distinction between block and draft is the distinction between the two services.

A small thread loop behind the left lapel, holding the stem of a flower against the cloth. Its presence indicates a working lapel buttonhole rather than an embroidered one.

Chrome-tanned calfskin finished to a smooth, close-grained surface with a fine box-like grain. The standard leather for dress shoes: fine enough to shape closely over a last, and strong enough to take a polish for decades.

The fold where the trouser hem meets the shoe. Full, half or none, all correct; the choice should follow the width of the trouser, since a wide leg needs more break than a narrow one.

The period during which a shoe's insole and lining compress to the wearer's foot. Permanent, personal, and the reason a bespoke shoe is uncomfortable for a fortnight and unimprovable afterwards.

A narrow tape sewn along the lapel roll line inside a jacket, holding the roll in place and stopping the lapel stretching. Set with slight tension by hand so the lapel curves rather than lying flat.

A merchant's book of cloth swatches, grouped by weight, season or type. What a tailor puts in front of a customer, and the unit in which the cloth trade organises itself.

The reference a merchant assigns to a cloth within a book. It is what a tailor writes on the order and the only reliable way to reorder the same cloth years later, worth recording.

Working a leather surface with friction and wax to darken and polish it, usually at the toe and heel. Also the technique used to restore shell cordovan's lustre.

How high the fastening button sits on a jacket. A high stance shortens the visible torso and lengthens the leg; a low one does the opposite. Along with lapel width it is the fastest way to date a coat.

A collar with small buttons fastening the points to the shirt front. Adapted, by Brooks Brothers' account, from English polo players pinning down flapping collars. Needs to be unlined and long enough to roll.

The stiffened interlining that gives a jacket its chest shape. Traditionally layers of linen, wool and horsehair, attached by stitching. See full canvas for how it works and why it matters.

A steep, pronounced double-line twill in heavy worsted, originally cut for riding breeches. Hard-wearing, distinctly ridged and dry to the hand: a country trouser cloth that outlasts almost anything else in a wardrobe.

A shoe whose sole is glued to the upper. Cheap, light, flexible, and generally not resoleable. The majority of footwear made today, including a great deal of expensive designer footwear.

The Andean communal round-up in which wild vicuñas are herded, shorn and released. An Inca practice revived as the basis of the modern legal vicuña trade.

The layered haircloth-and-domette assembly inside a jacket's chest, pad-stitched by hand into a permanent curve. It is the part of a canvassed coat that actually makes the chest, and the reason a good jacket has a shape the wearer does not.

An ankle boot with two or three pairs of eyelets, unlined or lightly lined, often in suede on a crepe or thin leather sole. Named for a period of play in polo.

A jacket front that lies smooth with no wrinkling or fullness. The Milanese and Parisian ideal, and the opposite of the deliberate fullness of a drape cut.

Cutting the upper's pieces from a hide. The clicker chooses which part of the skin each piece comes from, which decides how the shoe will crease and wear. The most consequential decision in shoemaking after the last.

Sewing the cut pieces of a shoe upper together, including the lining. Done by a closer, who is a separate specialist from the clicker and the maker.

A collar with rounded points rather than square ones. Named for Eton, where it was worn, and revived periodically ever since. Distinctly assertive, and it wants a small tie knot rather than a large one.

The tailor who makes the jacket, working from the cutter's cut cloth and pattern. Traditionally paid by the piece and frequently working at home. The shortage of trained coatmakers is the trade's binding constraint.

The upright strip a shirt collar is attached to, encircling the neck. Its height determines how much collar shows above a jacket; a low band disappears under the coat.

A visible space between the jacket collar and the shirt collar. Almost always a fault (usually the balance, the neck point or the shoulder) and one that a good tailor can correct.

The curve a shirt collar makes as it stands up from the band and turns down. A collar with roll frames the face; a fused collar cannot roll and lies flat. It is what people are responding to when a shirt looks expensive.

Italian for a lightly roped sleeve head: a small roll where the sleeve meets the shoulder, less pronounced than an English rope. Common in Milanese and Roman work.

Ground cork laid in the cavity between insole and outsole in welted construction. It compresses to a footbed shaped by the wearer, which is most of what breaking in a welted shoe means.

A button material made from the nut of a South American palm: vegetable ivory. Hard, dense, takes dye well, and used on good shirts and jackets as an alternative to horn.

The stiffener at the back of a shoe that holds the heel. A leather counter moulds to the wearer; a synthetic one does not, and heel slippage in an otherwise well-fitting shoe usually starts here.

A dense twill, usually fawn, flecked from using two shades of yarn, traditionally with rows of stitching at the hem and cuff of the coat made from it. From riding through low cover.

Pigmented, moisturising shoe polish that feeds the leather. It is what prevents cracking, and it does a different job from wax, which protects and shines the toe and heel.

The pressed line running down the front and back of a trouser leg. Set with an iron and held by the wool; a cloth with high synthetic content or a very soft finish will not keep one.

A regenerated cellulose fibre used for jacket linings, smooth and breathable. Bemberg is the best-known trade name. A better lining than polyester and cheaper than silk.

A strip of cloth hanging free inside a trouser waistband. It grips the shirt, hides the internal seams and allows the waist to be let out. Cheap trousers have none, which is why the shirt escapes.

The person who measures the customer, drafts the pattern, cuts the cloth and runs the fittings. In the London system the cutter does not make the garment; a separate coatmaker does. The cutter's name matters more than the house's.

A studded rubber sole, grippy and weatherproof, and the usual alternative to leather on an English shoe. A trade name that has become the generic term for the type.

A tapered fold sewn into cloth to remove width and create shape. The front dart in a jacket takes cloth out at the waist; Florentine tailoring reduces or omits it and shapes from the panels instead.

Removing the small balls of tangled fibre that form on knitwear, with a comb or a stone rather than a razor. The garment improves after the first few sessions as loose short fibre is taken out.

Mechanically separating the fine down from the coarse guard hair in cashmere and similar fibres. The step that determines quality more than any other, and the one nobody publishes figures for.

The failure of a fused interlining, where the adhesive gives way and the outer cloth bubbles. Not repairable. The characteristic failure mode of fused construction.

The part-payment taken when a bespoke commission is placed, typically about half. It funds the cloth and the cutting, with the balance falling due on delivery, and it is normally non-refundable once the cloth has been cut.

A stiff collar fastened to a collarless shirt with studs. Standard until the mid-twentieth century, now confined to white tie and to a handful of formal contexts.

A soft napped felt laid over the haircloth inside a jacket chest, so the horsehair does not work through to the outer cloth. Invisible, and the difference between a chest that stays smooth and one that prickles.

An Irish tweed with coloured slubs of contrasting fibre flecked through a plain ground. Recognisable instantly, forgiving of almost any error in wear, and one of the few cloths that looks better slightly worn than new.

A shirt cuff folded back on itself and fastened with cufflinks rather than buttons. The two folded edges should meet, kiss, rather than overlapping.

A jacket with two parallel columns of buttons and a front that wraps across. More formal than a single-breasted coat, cut with peak lapels by convention, and worn buttoned.

Diagonal creases radiating from a point of strain, showing where a garment is pulling. They point towards the problem: creases from the shoulder blade mean the back is tight; from the sleeve head, the sleeve is set wrong.

A jacket cut with a little extra cloth over the chest and shoulder blades, so it hangs in a soft vertical fullness and moves with the wearer. Associated with Frederick Scholte and, through him, with Anderson & Sheppard.

The difference in inches between a jacket's chest measurement and the matching trouser waist. A six-inch drop is the common standard; anyone outside it is buying separates whether they know it or not.

A shirting woven with alternating coloured and white threads, which reads as a soft solid at a distance and as texture close up. One of the most useful patterns in a shirt wardrobe.

A tweed pattern commissioned by a Scottish estate for its staff and guests, coloured to blend with that estate's ground. Hundreds are documented and many are still woven.

The line where the upper meets the insole around the perimeter of a shoe. Where the welt is stitched, and the line a maker's precision shows on most clearly.

A raised spine along the underside of a shoe's waist, shaped like the back of a violin. Both decorative and structural, and a marker of hand finishing.

The last fitting, with the garment essentially complete and only small adjustments possible. If something is structurally wrong at this stage it should have been caught earlier.

A short dart, usually in the back of a trouser or the back of a jacket, taking out a small amount of cloth. Named for its shape.

A lapel notch cut so that the collar and lapel edges interlock like a mouth rather than meeting at a step. The Camps de Luca signature, and technically difficult because the two curves must meet exactly.

A raised, tapered extension of the trouser waistband at the centre back, cut like a fish tail, carrying the brace buttons. It sits higher at the back so the trouser hangs from the shoulders properly.

How much a jacket's skirt opens out below the waist. A little flare gives shape over the hip; too much reads as theatrical. Parisian and Nutters-descended houses cut more of it than most.

A fitting after the basted one, with the garment made up further. How many there are depends on the figure and on how well the house already knows it.

Trouser pleats that open towards the fly. The English convention. Reverse pleats, opening towards the pocket, are the Italian and American one; neither is more correct.

An internal tab behind the fly of a trouser, buttoning across to support the waistband and keep the fly flat. Invisible, laborious and one of the clearer signals of a well-made trouser.

A shoe with a wingtip toe cap and perforation along every seam. The most decorated brogue pattern and the least formal; also called a wingtip in America.

Knitwear knitted as shaped panels and linked together, rather than cut from knitted fabric. Nothing is cut, so nothing unravels, and the seams follow the body. Look for chevron marks at the shoulder.

The silk braid running down the outside seam of evening trousers. One row with a dinner jacket, two with a tailcoat, by convention, and it is why evening trousers have no belt loops and no side pockets in the usual place.

The fineness of a knit, measured in needles per inch. A 30-gauge cashmere is fine enough to wear under a jacket; a 7-gauge is a chunky outer garment.

The small button partway up a shirt sleeve placket, closing the gap above the cuff. Its presence indicates a properly finished sleeve; its absence lets the placket gape.

The canvas rib glued to the insole in Goodyear-welted construction, to which the welt is stitched. The one component that can fail, usually after several resolings.

The welt-stitching machinery developed in the 1870s by Charles Goodyear Jr. It made welted construction producible in quantity, which is what turned a repairable shoe from a luxury into a category and built Northampton's modern industry.

The seam where the collar meets the lapel, and by extension its height on the chest. A high gorge lengthens the torso and reads as modern; a low one reads as classical. It is one of the fastest ways to date a jacket.

How far up the chest the collar-and-lapel seam sits. High gorges lengthen the torso and read as modern; low ones read as classical. It moves with fashion more than almost any other measurement on a coat.

The seam itself where collar meets lapel, considered as a line across the chest. Its angle as well as its height is a house decision, and a steep one reads as more contemporary.

A metric measure of cloth weight, alongside the traditional ounces per yard. Roughly: 250 g/m is a summer cloth, 340 g/m a three-season one, 450 g/m a winter suiting.

An openwork leno-woven silk, made by a small number of weavers around Como, used almost exclusively for neckties. Textured enough to be interesting without a pattern.

A heavily ribbed silk used for evening lapel facings, trouser braid and hatbands. The matte alternative to satin, and the more restrained of the two.

A stiff cloth woven with horsehair in the weft, used as the chest piece inside a canvassed jacket. It springs and holds a curve, which is exactly what a chest needs, and it works its way through cheap cloth if not covered with domette.

A jacket lined only across the upper back and the fronts, leaving the lower back unlined. Lighter and cooler; the internal seams are then finished by hand because they can be seen.

A repair replacing only the front part of an outsole, leaving the waist and heel. Cheaper and lighter than a full resole, and the right repair for most wear.

A description with no fixed meaning. It can cover a garment with one hand-sewn operation or thirty. The useful question is which operations, not whether the phrase appears.

A twill in which the diagonal reverses at regular intervals, producing a chevron. Extremely common in jacketing and coating, and one of the few patterns that works at any scale.

Yarn spun with more turns per unit length than usual. Wiry, springy and resilient; the basis of fresco and of most genuinely good hot-weather suiting.

The vertical ridge cut from the insole itself in hand-welted construction, to which the welt is stitched. Goodyear welting glues on a canvas rib instead: the essential difference between the two.

A basket weave in which pairs of threads cross pairs, producing an open, textured, hard-wearing cloth. Navy hopsack is the standard summer blazer cloth, because the texture lets it work as an odd jacket.

Buttons made from animal horn, used on good tailoring. Each is slightly different in colour and figure, which is how they are distinguished from plastic imitations moulded to look irregular.

A broken check with pointed extensions, woven in two colours. Large-scale versions are bold jacketing; small ones (puppytooth) read almost as a solid.

The range of cloth a maker includes in its quoted price. Cloth outside it is charged separately, which is why an entry price and a final invoice can differ substantially.

A trade name for a wool-and-hair interlining cloth used in canvassed tailoring. One of several proprietary names for the same class of material; tailors use them loosely.

Extra cloth left inside the seams of a bespoke garment so it can be let out later. Cut at the centre back, side seams, seat and sleeves. It is why a bespoke suit can be altered for decades and a factory one cannot.

A pocket set into the cloth with two narrow welts of fabric and no flap. The most formal pocket treatment; standard on dinner jackets and common on business suits.

The folded-back front edge of a jacket, formed by turning the cloth outward from the buttoning point. Notch, peak and shawl are the three shapes; width, belly and gorge height are what vary between houses.

Measured at the widest point of the lapel. Roughly half the distance from the collar seam to the shoulder end is the durable proportion; anything much narrower or wider dates quickly.

The wooden or plastic form a shoe is built around. Not a copy of a foot: a designed object accounting for how a foot behaves under load. See the full article for what that means in practice.

The separate charge for carving a customer's last, payable on a first bespoke commission and not on subsequent pairs. It is why a first pair costs so much more than the second.

The room where a bespoke shoemaker stores customers' lasts. A long-established house holds thousands of them, including the lasts of clients long dead, and they are the most valuable thing in the building.

A dense boiled and felted wool from the Alpine countries, with a hard weather-resistant face. Traditional in Austrian and Bavarian country coats and widely borrowed since.

A garment made by modifying an existing block pattern to a customer's measurements, usually with one fitting or none. A legitimate product, considerably cheaper than bespoke, and not the same thing.

A stiff textured cotton weave with a fine raised pattern, used for the bib, collar and cuffs of a formal evening shirt and for white bow ties and waistcoats with white tie.

The decorative perforated pattern on the toe cap of a brogued shoe. Purely ornamental, descended from the drainage holes of Irish and Scottish country footwear.

A heavily milled woollen coating with a dense felted surface and no visible weave. Windproof, warm and used for overcoats and for the undercollar of a tailored jacket.

A thousandth of a millimetre, and the unit in which fibre diameter is measured. Merino suiting wool runs about 17–21 µm, cashmere 14–19 and vicuña about 12–13. Finer means softer and, in every animal fibre, weaker.

A hand-worked lapel buttonhole in glossy silk with a long tapered keyhole: asola lucida. The most conspicuous piece of hand finishing on a jacket, and purely ornamental.

Controlled shrinking of woven wool in warm water so the fibres felt together, producing a denser, softer cloth. What turns a plain woven wool into flannel.

The grey-and-black striped or checked trouser cloth worn with a morning coat. Cashmere stripe is the traditional pattern; a houndstooth check is the accepted alternative.

The iridescent shell lining used for good shirt buttons. Thicker, heavier and cooler to the touch than plastic, and it chips rather than cracking. A reliable marker of a well-made shirt.

A small two-colour weave producing tiny square dots, slightly larger than birdseye. It reads as a solid colour at conversational distance and as texture close up, which is why it is among the most useful patterns for a business suit.

Raised fibre ends on the surface of a cloth, lying in one direction. Napped cloths must be cut with every panel running the same way or the colour shifts between them.

The ordinary lapel, with a right-angled step cut where the collar meets it. Less formal than a peak; standard on single-breasted suits and sport coats, and a compromise on a dinner jacket.

A jacket worn with trousers of a different cloth: the correct term for what is loosely called a blazer. See the sport coat article for why an orphaned suit jacket does not work as one.

Jacket fronts cut so they curve away below the button, showing more trouser. Characteristic of Neapolitan and Italian tailoring, and one of the quickest identifiers of a soft Italian coat.

A suit jacket whose trousers have worn out or been lost, worn on its own. It rarely works: suit cloth is flat and smooth precisely so that it reads as continuous with the trousers.

A maker who works at home rather than in the house's premises, paid by the piece. The traditional arrangement in London and Naples alike. Not a defect, but it means consistency depends on which maker a garment goes to.

A basket-weave cotton shirting with a slightly rough, textured surface. More casual and more durable than poplin; royal oxford is a finer, dressier version of the same weave.

A pocket made by sewing a piece of cloth onto the outside of the garment rather than cutting into it. Informal; standard on sport coats and Neapolitan jackets, out of place on a formal suit.

Colour applied by hand to finished leather in translucent layers, producing tonal depth a uniformly dyed hide cannot. Skilled work, and finishing rather than construction.

A lapel whose upper points rise towards the shoulder, cut so the notch closes to a narrow V. More formal than a notch lapel; standard on double-breasted coats, morning coats and most dinner jackets.

Leather from a wild South American pig, the premium material for gloves. Recognisable by the distinctive pattern of pores in groups of three. Thin, strong and expensive.

Cloth dyed after weaving rather than before. Cheaper and more uniform than dyeing in the wool, and it cannot produce the depth of colour a tweed gets from blending pre-dyed fibre.

Small balls of tangled fibre forming on a knitted surface. Caused by short fibre ends working loose, which is why fibre length rather than fineness predicts it.

The rotation of a sleeve within the armhole, set to match how the wearer's arm hangs. Most arms hang slightly forward; a sleeve set straight will twist.

The strip of doubled cloth down the front of a shirt carrying the buttonholes. A French placket has no visible stitching and reads cleaner; a plain placket is the ordinary stitched-on version.

The simplest interlacing: over one, under one. Firm, matte, hard-wearing and more porous than a twill, which is why the summer cloths are plain or near-plain.

The number of individual yarns twisted together to make one thread. Two-ply is the standard for good knitwear and shirting. It describes construction rather than thickness: a two-ply of fine yarn is thinner than a single-ply of coarse yarn.

A collar with points close together and angled down. The narrower, more conservative shape, and the one that suits a rounder face. Long-pointed versions are a distinct look with their own history.

A plain-weave cotton shirting with a fine crosswise rib, smooth and slightly lustrous. The standard business shirting; crisp when new and less forgiving of creasing than an oxford.

A large glen check, usually with an overcheck in a contrasting colour. Named for Edward VII or Edward VIII depending on the source; both wore it, which is why the attribution is contested.

Where a garment was actually made, and by whom. Frequently different from where the brand is from, and almost never stated in full. Asking is reasonable; a precise answer is informative either way.

The front edges of a jacket below the buttoning point. Open quarters curve away from each other; closed quarters fall nearly straight. Open is Neapolitan and Italian; closed is English and more formal.

The rear sections of a shoe upper, wrapping the heel. On an oxford they are stitched under the vamp: closed lacing; on a derby they sit on top: open lacing.

A ribbed weave with a pronounced cross-rib, the basis of striped club and regimental ties. The stripe direction differs between British and American convention, which is a genuine and much-discussed distinction.

Replacing a shoe's outsole. Possible several times on welted construction, once or twice on Blake with the right machine, and generally not at all on a cemented shoe.

Leaving harvested flax in a field or in water so bacteria break down the pectin binding the fibre to the woody stem. The step that makes linen possible.

The distance from the crotch seam to the top of the waistband. It determines where the trouser sits (natural waist or hip) and therefore how long the leg looks, whether a waistcoat can work and whether braces make sense.

Cloth, principally denim, that has been mechanically pre-shrunk and will not shrink significantly when washed. Raw unsanforised denim shrinks substantially on first wash and is bought oversized to allow for it.

Italian for a tailor's workshop. Unregulated: it appears on shops that cut every garment by hand and on shops that take measurements and send them to a factory.

A weave with long floats passing over several threads before interlacing, producing a smooth lustrous face. Used for evening lapel facings and linings; it snags easily.

The part of a trouser covering the buttocks, and the measurement across it. The commonest alteration in trousers, and the reason bespoke trousers are cut with a generous inlay at the centre back seam.

A cotton woven with alternating slack and tight warp threads, producing permanent puckered stripes that hold the cloth off the skin. Summer suiting and shirting; it should not be pressed flat.

The self-finished edge of a woven cloth, produced when a shuttle loom turns the weft at the edge. Visible as the banded seam inside a turned-up jean cuff.

A stiffener (steel, wood or leather) set under the arch of a shoe between insole and outsole, supporting the waist. Its absence is why cheap shoes collapse in the middle.

A two-colour twill woven so the surface appears to shift between shades as it moves. A mid-century business suiting, back in and out of fashion ever since.

A continuous unbroken curve from the back of the neck down each front edge, with no notch or peak. Evening wear and smoking jackets; almost never a business suit.

The oval of dense membrane from a horse's hindquarters used for shell cordovan. Two per animal. See the material page for what makes it behave as it does.

A softer, lighter tweed spun from Shetland wool. The usual choice for a comfortable tweed jacket, and less obviously rural than a heavy cheviot; it can be worn in a city without looking as though you have come in from a field.

Polished, reflective patches on worn cloth, caused by fibres being flattened at points of pressure: seat, elbows, knees. Common on smooth-faced worsteds and gabardine, essentially permanent.

The curved lower edge of a shirt. Cut long enough to stay tucked when the wearer sits and reaches; a short square hem is a shirt designed to be worn out.

A trade term for the whole treatment of the shoulder (padding, extension, the sleeve head) considered together. A house's shoulder expression is the single most identifying thing about its work.

A shaped wadding inserted at the shoulder to build up or square the line. English and Milanese coats use a modest one; Neapolitan coats usually none. Not the same thing as the sleeve-head roll.

Two slits at the sides of a jacket's back rather than one at the centre. English convention; they let the coat sit properly with hands in the pockets and cover the seat better than a centre vent.

Seams sewn twice with one needle in separate passes rather than once with two needles. Slower, narrower, and less prone to puckering. A marker of a well-made shirt.

The part of a jacket below the waist. Its length and its flare are among the most consequential proportions in tailoring, and the first thing to change with fashion.

A strip of wadding inside the top of a sleeve, lifting it slightly above the shoulder seam. What produces a roped shoulder; distinct from a shoulder pad, which sits in the shoulder itself.

A toe with a seam running down the centre, usually hand-stitched. Norwegian in origin and a considerable display of stitching skill when done by hand.

A shirt yoke cut in two pieces rather than one, so each half can be angled to the wearer's shoulder. Allows the pattern to be matched in a chevron and accommodates asymmetric shoulders.

Cleaning and reshaping a garment with steam and pressure rather than solvent. Far gentler than dry cleaning and available from any good tailor. Ask for it.

A collar whose points sit wide apart, showing more of the tie knot and more shirt at the throat. Balances a narrower face; a cutaway is the extreme version.

A heel built from layers of leather rather than moulded from a single block or from rubber. Repairable a layer at a time, and the top piece is meant to be replaced regularly.

How long the individual fibres in a yarn are. Longer staple means smoother, stronger yarn that pills less. It predicts durability better than fineness does and is almost never published.

A welt with a raised lip that turns up against the upper, sealing the joint against water. Standard on country boots and unnecessary on town shoes.

The legal test behind country-of-origin marking: where a product last underwent a real manufacturing step that changed what it is. It is why 'Made in Italy' says less than buyers assume.

A measure of wool fibre fineness (Super 100s, Super 150s) commonly and wrongly read as a measure of quality. Finer fibre is softer and weaker. See the full article.

The amount a jacket is taken in at the waist relative to the chest. High suppression gives a marked hourglass line; low suppression gives a straight one. It is a house decision as much as a fitting one.

Cuff buttonholes that actually open, so the sleeve can be unbuttoned. A bespoke convention (the sleeve is finished to length before the holes are cut) and a problem on ready-to-wear, where it prevents shortening the sleeve from the cuff.

A collar with a small fabric tab fastening behind the tie knot, pushing the knot forward and holding the points down. Fussy, effective, and difficult to wear without a tie.

How much a trouser leg narrows from thigh to hem. A gentle taper flatters most figures; a heavy one makes the thigh look larger, which is the opposite of the intention.

Pinching a jacket's front panel to feel for a third loose layer between cloth and lining. It identifies a floating canvas, and must be done low on the front as well as at the chest, since half canvas passes high and fails below.

A three-button jacket front where the lapel is pressed to roll softly over the top button, so two buttons show and only the middle one is used. Ivy and Neapolitan; the roll should be soft, not creased.

A small tab that fastens a jacket or coat collar closed at the neck against wind. Functional on outerwear, decorative on almost everything else, and one of the details a trench coat kept after it stopped being a uniform.

A small extra pocket above the right hip pocket, originally for a railway ticket. English, slightly sporting, and a detail that reads as deliberate rather than accidental.

The stiffener inside the toe of a shoe, holding its shape. Leather in good shoes, thermoplastic in cheap ones; a collapsed toe box is a failed toe puff.

The replaceable layer at the very bottom of a heel, in leather or rubber. It wears fastest and is the cheapest thing on a shoe to renew; leaving it until it wears into the stack is a false economy.

A specialist who makes only trousers. A separate trade from coatmaking, with its own apprenticeship, and one reason a bespoke suit passes through several pairs of hands.

A maker travelling to its customers: a cutter arrives with cloth books, takes measurements and holds fittings away from the workshop. How most international bespoke is actually commissioned.

A trial garment (a shoe, a shirt, sometimes a jacket) made to test the pattern before the real one is cut. Standard in bespoke shoemaking, where it is the only way to correct a last.

A folded cuff at the trouser hem. Adds weight so the trouser hangs better, and is conventionally not worn with formal dress or with a morning coat.

A weave in which the interlacing points step across on each row, producing a diagonal rib. Drapes and resists creasing better than a plain weave, which is why most suiting is a twill of some kind.

The felt or melton layer on the underside of a jacket collar, attached by hand in bespoke. It is what lets a collar be shaped to sit against a neck.

A jacket with little or no canvas and no shoulder padding. Harder to cut well than a structured one, not easier, and frequently sold at a premium despite containing less.

The front section of a shoe upper, covering the toes and the instep. It is where creases form in wear and eventually where the leather cracks, which is the whole argument for putting shoe trees in while the shoe is still warm.

A slit at the back of a jacket so the skirt can move. Single (centre) is American and sporting; double (side) is English and lets the coat sit properly when the hands are in the pockets; none is Italian and formal.

A jacket with no vent at the back. Italian and formal: the cleanest line standing still, and the least practical sitting down or reaching into a pocket. Standard on dinner jackets.

A very fine, open, semi-transparent cotton shirting for hot weather. Cool and delicate; not a shirt to wear without an undershirt in a formal setting.

Soft padding material used in shoulders and sleeve heads. Cotton, wool or felt; the amount and placement is what distinguishes a soft shoulder from a built one.

A tab of waistband extending past the fly and fastening with a hook or button, rather than the fly button meeting the edge. Cleaner under a jacket and a mark of a properly made trouser.

The threads held under tension along the length of the loom. The weft crosses them. In denim the warp is dyed indigo and the weft left white, which is why jeans are blue outside and pale inside.

The threads passed across the warp during weaving, also called the filling. In denim the weft is left undyed while the warp is dyed indigo, which is why jeans are blue on the outside and pale on the inside.

The strip of leather stitched between the upper and the sole in welted construction. It carries the sole stitching, which is why the sole can be replaced without disturbing the upper.

A widely spaced check of single lines forming large squares. Bold at scale; a windowpane suit is a considerable statement and a windowpane jacket a mild one.

Yarn spun from carded rather than combed wool, so the fibres lie in every direction. Loftier, warmer for its weight and weaker than worsted. Flannel, tweed and most knitwear are woollen.

Yarn spun from long wool fibres combed parallel before spinning, and cloth made from it. Smooth, strong, clear-surfaced and able to hold a pressed crease. Nearly all suiting is worsted; flannel and tweed are not.

The panel across the top of a shirt's back, joining the back to the shoulders. A split yoke, cut in two pieces, allows the pattern to chevron and accommodates uneven shoulders.