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Il Sartoriale The World of Fine Menswear
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470 entries across tailoring, shoemaking, cloth and craft Reference publication: we sell nothing and rank nobody for payment Every figure carries its source and the date it was checked

Learn

There is no natural order to a subject like this: people arrive because of a jacket they saw, a word they did not know, or a bill they did not expect. So the site is organised four ways at once, and this page is the map of them.

1. Start here: the ordered path

Open the path →

Nine pages, in sequence, assuming nothing. By the end you will know why two jackets that look alike can differ tenfold in price, and be able to say what you are looking at.

  1. Why expensive clothes cost moreA £4,000 suit costs more than a £200 one mostly because of hours of skilled handwork and fittings, more than the cloth, though brand plays a part.
  2. Bespoke, made-to-measure and ready-to-wearReady-to-wear comes in standard sizes, made-to-measure adjusts a standard pattern, and bespoke draws a new pattern just for you, refined through fittings.
  3. How a great suit is actually madeA good tailored jacket has a horsehair and wool inner layer shaped with hand stitching, cloth shaped with an iron, and repeated fittings on the body.
  4. How a suit should fitWhen buying a suit, get the shoulders right first because they cannot be altered, while the collar, chest, sleeves, length and waist can be adjusted.
  5. Understanding fabricFabric is described by its fibre, weight, weave and fin
  6. What full canvas meansThere is a hand-shaped skeleton inside a good jacket. You can feel it in ten seconds.
  7. Choosing your first serious suitNavy or mid-grey, plain, eleven ounces, half canvas at least, and spend the difference on alterations.
  8. Understanding shoesA shoe's construction decides whether it can be resoled, which is what makes an expensive pair an investment rather than an extravagance.
  9. Caring for fine clothingWool mostly cleans itself with airing and brushing, so rest, brushing and good hangers keep clothes going longer than dry cleaning, which strips the fibre's oils.

2. How things are made

All techniques →

One technique per page: what it is, what it costs in hours, whether you can see the difference, and which houses are known for it.

A jacket front showing its full canvas 01

Full canvas construction

A hand-shaped skeleton of horsehair and wool, sewn (never glued) between cloth and lining.

 A jacket front showing a half canvas 02

Half canvas construction

Canvas through the chest and lapel, fusible below: the compromise most good ready-to-wear makes.

 Fusible interlining pressed onto cloth 03

Fused construction

An interlining bonded to the cloth with heat and adhesive. Fast, cheap, and the reason most suits feel like boards.

 Rows of pad stitches on a lapel canvas 04

Pad stitching

Thousands of small diagonal stitches that curl flat cloth into a permanent three-dimensional shape.

 An unlined jacket turned inside out 05

Unstructured construction

Shape from cutting and ironwork alone, with nothing inside the coat to help.

 A shoulder with the sleeve head gathered like a shirt 06

Spalla camicia (the shirt shoulder)

A sleeve set into a jacket the way a sleeve is set into a shirt: inside out, with the fullness gathered.
  1. A roped shoulder with a raised sleeve head The roped shoulder

    The sleeve head lifted slightly proud of the shoulder line: the opposite decision to the Neapolitan one.
  2. A paper pattern drawn on brown paper Pattern drafting

    Turning a set of measurements and a look at a body into flat paper shapes. The part that decides everything.
  3. Shears cutting chalk-marked cloth Hand cutting

    One person, one pair of shears, one layer of cloth at a time.
  4. A basted jacket marked in chalk The basted fitting

    A garment loosely tacked together, tried on, marked in chalk, and then taken apart again.
  5. A sleeve being set into an armhole by hand The hand-set sleeve

    The one seam that most rewards a person doing it, because it is the one seam that has to be eased.
  6. Pick stitches along a lapel edge Pick stitching

    The small visible stitches along a lapel edge: sometimes a hand finish, more often a machine imitating one.

3. What things are made of

All materials →
Navy worsted wool suiting, close up 01

Wool

The default fibre of tailoring, for reasons that are structural rather than traditional.

 Fine merino yarn and a square of merino worsted 02

Merino wool

One breed of sheep, bred for fineness over five centuries, supplying almost all fine suiting.

 A folded cashmere sweater with a tuft of raw fibre 03

Cashmere

The undercoat of a goat that lives somewhere very cold, combed out by hand each spring.

 Fine pale cashmere knit on a wooden hanger 04

Baby cashmere

The first combing from a young goat: finer, scarcer, softer, and not more durable.

 A length of vicuña cloth in its natural golden colour 05

Vicuña

The finest animal fibre in commercial use, from a wild Andean camelid that was nearly hunted to extinction and is now shorn alive under licence.

 A guanaco scarf in warm honey-brown 06

Guanaco

Vicuña's larger cousin, and the fibre people reach for when vicuña is out of the question.
  1. Dark alpaca coating with a long lustrous nap Alpaca

    Warm, lustrous, silky in drape and much less prone to itch than its reputation suggests.
  2. Camel-hair coating in natural tan Camel hair

    The undercoat of a Bactrian camel, collected as it falls off, and the colour of half the polo coats ever made.
  3. Midnight-blue mohair suiting with a dry sheen Mohair

    Angora goat hair: glossy, wiry, cool, and almost impossible to crease.
  4. Silk tie cloths in oxblood, green and navy Silk

    Silk is a fibre reeled from the silkworm's cocoon as one long thread, so it is smooth, strong and shiny, and used in ties and linings.
  5. Crumpled ivory linen in window light Linen

    Linen is made from the flax plant and is the coolest cloth to wear, though it creases instantly and stays creased.
  6. White oxford cotton with raw cotton bolls Cotton

    Cotton is the fibre around the cotton plant's seeds, and the longer its fibres, the smoother, stronger and less likely to pill the cloth.

4. Direct answers

All guides →
Bespoke tailoring in Naples: the houses and how to chooseWhere the value actually isBespoke tailoring in London: Savile Row house by houseHow to choose clothBespoke vs made-to-measureWhere to have shoes madeHow much does a bespoke suit cost?Dressing well in heatBuilding a wardrobe, in orderWhat to ask a tailor before you commissionHow to tell a well-made jacket in ninety secondsWhat “Made in Italy” actually means

Where it all came from

History →
A modern suit beside a frock coat 01

How the suit happened

The modern suit grew from the coat, waistcoat and breeches of the 1660s English court, simplified by country and riding clothes over two centuries.

 A chalk-stripe jacket in a bright cutting room 02

How Savile Row happened

Savile Row filled with tailors around 1800 to be near aristocratic clients, and it is now a small trade with a famous name and too few makers.

 A linen jacket in Mediterranean sun 03

How Naples took the weight out of the jacket

Neapolitan tailoring began in 1930s Naples, where workshops like Rubinacci removed the padding, stiffening and lining from English jackets so they felt light in the heat.

 A grosgrain shawl lapel with a bow tie 04

How the dinner jacket happened

The dinner jacket started as a blue silk coat Henry Poole made for the Prince of Wales in 1865, and Americans named it after Tuxedo Park.

 New welted oxfords beside a last 05

How men's shoes reached their present form

Ordinary dress shoes owe a lot to the 1870s Goodyear welting machine, which let machines build shoes that could still be repaired.

 A silk tie knotted beside a linen cravat 06

How the necktie happened

Croatian mercenaries, a French court, and a nineteenth-century knot that never went away.
  1. A long rail of identical suits in a showroom The rise of ready-to-wear

    Ready-made clothing took off in the nineteenth century when making uniforms, especially for the American Civil War, showed how body sizes vary.
  2. A navy blazer with brass buttons The blazer, and two stories about it

    The blazer, a navy jacket often with metal buttons, is said to come from a Cambridge rowing club or HMS Blazer, though neither story is proven.

The vocabulary

Full glossary →
LapelDrape cutBespokeButton-down collarCanvasMade-to-measureCoatmakerRiseBalanceCemented constructionCollar rollDrag linesSingle-needle stitchingSuppressionVampWeltWorstedBreak
Picture credits 32
  1. A jacket front showing its full canvas: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  2. A jacket front showing a half canvas: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  3. Fusible interlining pressed onto cloth: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  4. Rows of pad stitches on a lapel canvas: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  5. An unlined jacket turned inside out: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  6. A shoulder with the sleeve head gathered like a shirt: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  7. A roped shoulder with a raised sleeve head: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  8. A paper pattern drawn on brown paper: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  9. Shears cutting chalk-marked cloth: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  10. A basted jacket marked in chalk: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  11. A sleeve being set into an armhole by hand: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  12. Pick stitches along a lapel edge: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  13. Navy worsted wool suiting, close up: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  14. Fine merino yarn and a square of merino worsted: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  15. A folded cashmere sweater with a tuft of raw fibre: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  16. Fine pale cashmere knit on a wooden hanger: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  17. A length of vicuña cloth in its natural golden colour: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  18. A guanaco scarf in warm honey-brown: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  19. Dark alpaca coating with a long lustrous nap: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  20. Camel-hair coating in natural tan: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  21. Midnight-blue mohair suiting with a dry sheen: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  22. Silk tie cloths in oxblood, green and navy: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  23. Crumpled ivory linen in window light: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  24. White oxford cotton with raw cotton bolls: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  25. A modern suit beside a frock coat: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  26. A chalk-stripe jacket in a bright cutting room: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  27. A linen jacket in Mediterranean sun: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  28. A grosgrain shawl lapel with a bow tie: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  29. New welted oxfords beside a last: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  30. A silk tie knotted beside a linen cravat: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  31. A long rail of identical suits in a showroom: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  32. A navy blazer with brass buttons: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art

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