Cloth makers and merchants

Scabal is a Brussels cloth merchant founded in 1938 whose fabrics are stocked by tailors worldwide, and it weaves some of its own in Huddersfield.

Dormeuil is a Paris cloth merchant founded in 1842 to sell English cloth in France, now known for rare-fibre fabrics and very expensive limited ranges.

Vitale Barberis Canonico is Italy's largest fine-wool mill, and if you own a mid- or upper-market Italian suit, its cloth may well be in it.

Loro Piana began as a Biella wool mill and is now a big luxury clothing house, famous for rare fibres like vicuña and baby cashmere.

A Biellese weaver known for fine, light cloths and a very large seasonal range.

Carlo Barbera was a small Biella mill whose fine wool and cashmere-blend cloths won over custom tailors, and Kiton now owns it and uses its cloth.

Caccioppoli is a Naples cloth merchant whose light, soft fabrics are standard in Neapolitan tailoring workshops and have spread abroad along with that style.

Harris Tweed is not a company but a legally protected cloth, pure wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides and hand-woven in islanders' homes.

Fox Brothers is a Somerset mill that has woven since the eighteenth century and is the go-to name for English flannel, a heavy cloth that tailors beautifully.

A London cloth merchant of long standing, now with a mill of its own and a very large book.

Huddersfield Fine Worsteds is a Yorkshire cloth merchant offering several old English ranges of sturdy, well-behaved smooth wool suiting.

Hardy Minnis is a London cloth merchant best known for Fresco, an open, airy wool suiting that people who wear suits in heat reorder for decades.

J & FJ Baker is England's last oak-bark tannery, slowly tanning sole leather in Devon over about a year for custom and high-end shoes.

Horween is a Chicago tannery, working since 1905, famous for shell cordovan and Chromexcel leathers, and rare in being named on other brands' shoes.