We carry roughly two hundred fabric bunches across the wall — Italian wool, English worsted, Egyptian and Sea Island cotton, Indian linen, raw silk, and a small section of brocades for bandhgalas. People assume mills are interchangeable. They are not.

The Italians

Vitale Barberis Canonico is the workhorse — a 350-year-old mill that produces consistent, beautifully-finished cloth at a price point that lets us recommend it for a daily-driver suit without flinching. Loro Piana is for the wedding-occasion piece you intend to keep in a cedar bag. Drago is the most "fashion-forward" of the three; they take risks with weaves the others don't.

The English

Holland & Sherry, Dormeuil, Scabal. Heavier-handed than the Italians, which suits English-style construction (more chest, more shoulder structure). We mostly recommend them for the customer who wants a "country-house" suit — tweeds, flannels, gun-club checks.

A great mill produces consistent cloth. A bad mill produces something you can't reorder when the customer comes back next year.

The cotton wall

For shirts: two-ply Egyptian poplin is the default. 100/2 yarns at a 140-thread weave is the sweet spot — soft enough to feel right against skin, durable enough to take 200 launderings. We carry Thomas Mason and Soktas in this bracket. Sea Island cotton (West Indian) is reserved for very-special shirts; the fibre is the longest you can buy, the hand is silk-like, and the price reflects it.

The one we steer you away from

There's an Indian mill that pitches a "100% wool" suiting at half the price of the Italian equivalents. The hand looks fine on the swatch but the yarn count is mixed and the cloth pills inside six months of regular wear. We've had to make three replacement jackets for customers who insisted. We don't carry that bunch any more.