Three-Legged Luxury: Part I - Full Canvas Forever

I spend a lot of time on a blog called English Cut.  The host, Thomas Mahon, is a Savile Row bespoke tailor whose clients include Prince Charles and John Vizzone (Ralph Lauren's chief designer).  Reading and contributing to his blog, along the way Thomas taught me the basics of what sets luxury apparel apart.  (By the way, we're now working with a bespoke tailor in Manhattan on development of a fully hand-made line of custom suits and shirts.  Without a bona-fide expert on board to consult, you can't make a credible claim to serving up luxury.  I think that line will be ready by Q3.)

If you're interested in this stuff, check out this explanation on Thomas' blog.  He explained to me that the most important variable in suit construction that determines quality and cost is the inner lining, also called the canvas.  The canvas gives the jacket its shape and body.  There are broadly three options.  The first is fused.  The fused lining for a jacket is a synthetic material cut to the appropriate size, placed between the jacket layers and heated to a high temperature, where it melts or fuses the layers of fabric together.  At the other end of the spectrum is floating canvas, where actual canvas cloth is cut to the required pattern and then stitched into the fabric layers.  

The difference between floating and fused is huge.  The time required to sew in a floating canvas can double construction time.  Floating canvas breathes better and gives a more natural movement, because sewn layers can move independently of one another.  Floating canvas also wears better over time.  When a fused canvas jacket gets wet or is dry-cleaned, the synthetic material tends to deteriorate over time, whereas the floating canvas is a hardy woven fabric with a wearable life that exceeds the outer jacket wool. 

That noted, virtually every suit offered for sale inside big brand menswear stores today, even Zegna and Boss, is made with a fused canvas.  It takes several days more manual work to make a suit with a floating canvas instead of a fused one, so most mass-produced, off-the-peg suits are likely to be fused.

There is an intermediate step between these two: half-canvas.  Our plan will be to only manufacture full-floating canvas jackets.  (With the exception that some summer suits may be half-canvas, because the end result is lighter.)