the text is cut out of text that will be destined for other uses, so forgive if some of it speaks below the readership here.
The Borrelli suit factory is just a little over 5 years old, but the master tailor who keeps eye over the operations is a Napoli veteran and former Kiton master tailor.
Luigi Borrelli started his shirt shop in Naples making 30 shirts per day and he and his son Fabio have grown the company to become the corner stone of Napoli shirt makers, the largest, with an daily out put of 700 shirts.
Since Fabio has taken the helm of the company, they have expanded to three buildings in the industrial suburbs of Naples, one houses a suit shop, another the tie shop, and the main operations of the shirt and single unit pant shop are in the third unit, none of which bear the family name or crest on the door, but rather small discreet signs identifying the shops only to those who know what they have come looking for.
Mr. Gennaro Cuocolo explains the importance of the home workers that Borrelli continues to use to finish many of the hand worked details. Each of the 3 shops are run with the same philosophy, use a machine where it suits the task best making the garment better, and using hand sewing where the client feels and notices the difference.
In typical Napolian style, the shoulders feature the “waterfall” look, a soft shoulder sewn by hand by the best tailors on the shop floor.
When asked for an estimated number of man hours put in to each suit, Borrelli stays away from a definitive answer explaining that if a tailor does not like how the sleeve head feels, he will remove the sleeve and start again. Each fine fabric poses unique problems, and heavy flannels and woolens allow hand work quicker than ultra fine fabrics such as the 14 microns. No man hour stats are given (wisely).
Borrelli tries to maintain a production level of 40 suits or jackets per day in the small shop that houses 35 tailors and 15 support staff. One third of that production is Made to Measure. Unlike some shops that provide bespoke and made to measure clients with extra features or additional hand work when opting for a custom made garment, Borrelli uses the same production techniques on all their suits, only the individual’s measurements and small tweaks change.
Cuocolo says some loyal clients organize a bespoke vacation and get several friends together, fly to Naples in a private jet, Borrelli books a quiet restaurant for a dinner to discuss fabrics, styles, and personal tweaks, then individual measurements are taken and fittings arranged, either in Naples, or the tailor flies to the client’s home market for the second fitting. They also do the traveling MTM show, 2 to 3 times a year depending on the market area.
As Mr. Gennaro Cuocolo shows the rack of special orders being finished, hangers bearing the name of a regular MTM client and bold red sheets outlining the deviations stand out from stock issue. But MTM comes with an added burden to Borrelli. The tailors that travel to serve these clients are more artist than production workers and sometimes, the tailor will make adjustments on the fly, knowing the body and form of the client and what will work best for him. Failing to make proper notes in the clients profile sometimes leads to second orders that do not reflect the tailors wishes, they clients demands, a bug that Mr. Gennaro Cuocolo admits must be worked out as the young suit shop evolves and grows.
The Suit shop
Fabric is laid out and cut by hand using paper templates in the traditional manner, two cutters work full time preparing the fabric sections for the tailors. With a quick glance, a tailor on the shop floor knows if the patterns are meant to vary from stock patterns, different colored chalks are used to high light variations from stock patterns on MTM orders.
Home workers continue to put their touch on Borrelli suits and jackets as done in the shirt production, but to a lesser degree, all button holes are hand sewn and with only two staff tailors sewing button holes exclusively, many jackets are sent to the home workers for this step.
Borrelli uses the same sleeve liner on all suits and jackets, a Borrelli trademark that Fabio feels reflects the shirtings heritage of the company. Regardless of the jacket lining, the sleeve lining is as seen in the pictures below.
The collar seemed to a hybrid the likes of which I had not seen before. It is machine sewn in the center 1/3 with stitching flowing 90 degrees opposite to what most shops do, with hand sewing on the outside 1/3 ( 1/3 on each side for 2/3 hand sewn).
The collar is then hand basted and hand sewn to the jacket.
Like Kiton and Oxxford, thought has been given on what can be done by hand and what should be done machine. Borrelli has focused on the shoulder, the collar, the button holes and buttons, the breast pocket as the major areas of hand work. Sections of the liner are hand basted and sewn, the wide open areas, are machine basted. Oxxford uses the same principal, leaving the small seams, corners and delicate areas to hand sewers.
Battle lines have been drawn between us, the makers and the sellers of these high end goods over what defines hand made. Each group has a different idea of what is hand made and some sales men just have no idea ( or regard) at all. Borrelli do not use automated seam stitchers like those found in shops like Victor and Peerless, but they do use standard sewing machines and basting machines for some steps. They feel there garment is hand made. They never said is entirely hand sewn (they call it hand made) and did not hide any of the machinery used to make their wears.
Having now visited Kiton, Oxxford, Borrelli, Samuelsohn, Jack Victor, S Cohen, Empire and Peerless, I would say that Oxxford was the most in depth and most open visit, followed by Samuelsohn who only asked for one step, that they feel is unique step and a trade secret not to be photographed or explained outside the shop.
The education has been very interesting and I still enjoy wearing the same things I did before visiting. I will continue to buy, wear, enjoy and appreciate each for their strong points, Kiton, Borrelli, Oxxford and Samuelsohn. I think Samuelsohn represents the best value to dollar and a bit of unknown little jewel when compared to Zegna and Canali etc.
Next stop.....Attolini and then I may pack it in and turn my attention elsewhere.
The Pant shop
Borrelli has its eyes on growing its single unit pant shop in the same style as the world leader, Incotex using the same philosophy as the shirt shop, a machine made pant that is hand finished.
Borrelli has opted to color the sports wear cotton pants in house and has built a die house, securing a unique selection of brightly colored offerings.
The Shirt Shop:
Borrelli does not claim to make a completely hand made shirt, but produces a machine made shirt that features 8 hand sewn steps and refers to the shirts as machine made and hand finished. Borrelli continues to rely heavily on home workers, who sew these 8 steps using an elaborate distribution set up. Once staff employes have assembled the basis of the shirt and all the components, marked the button holes, matched the collar points and notched the collar attachment points, the shirt parts are placed in colored bags, each color represents a day of the week and its production and each day a “foreman” will drop the days work and pick up the following days work. Each shirt is then inspected by four tailors who look at every aspect and make small repairs or adjustments if required, if a shirt has more than one small repair, it is returned to the home worker for repair. Once accepted, the shirt is pressed, boxed and shipped.
The eight steps that are hand sewn on a Borrelli shirt are:
Shoulder
Attaching the sleeve
Placket
Attaching the Collar, the Yoke
Button Holes / Buttons
Gusset
I asked about the cuffs and the way Borrelli and some makers have a small stitch that dissects the cuff. I have several bespoke shirts made here in montreal that do not feature this. The seamstress on the floor explained (via a translator) that the stitch allows for a stiff cuff without the use of fusing and also allows for the cuff to be attached worth a smaller stitch since the fabric is less pliable having been attached to the cuff lining.
Each collar is placed on a rather ancient machine ( I am sorry but the image of that machine was shot quickly and is blurry and not useable) to be sure the points and fabrics match properly and then sent along the line. One machine, one operator, 700 collars a day, I really would not want to do that task, but some collars were sent back after not lining up as well as possible.
Borrelli Factory Tour pictures:
Cloth is marked and cut by hand, one suit at a time using hand shears, no electric cutting tools were present and no power connections available for them:
Collars:
The collars are hand basted and then sewn to the jacket;
The collar seams to feature machine sewn section in the very center, and hand stitching on the outer 1/3 of each side. In all the factories I have visited, I have never seem this approach to date.
Basting the lining:
Some is by hand, other parts with a basting machine. This is similar to Oxxford’s approach, the fine work and small seams by hand, the long seams and big sections can be done by machine. There are no automated full length seam sewing machines in the suit shop at Borrelli, only conventional sewing machines and basters.
Borrelli leaves the lining un-sewn along the bottom seams of some jackets, Borrelli says some stores request this seam be sealed, but the house’s preference is to leave the seam open so you can open the joint and look up in to the chest work of the jacket. All of my jackets are sewn closed along this seam.
Shoulder work:
Sleeve Linings reflect shirtings heritage:
Pockets:
A team of three work on nothing but pockets, the largest single time consumer, the breast pocket:
The boat shaped breast pocket:
(Not the best fabric to demonstrate this..sorry)
The lining has “flex” points sewn in to allow a stretch that does not exist in the fabric used for linings but does exist in wool.
The underside of all Borrelli lapels feature a small feature to make wearing Boutonniere a little easier:
Pattern matching is perfect.
Button Holes:
All button holes are hand sewn, some by the two full time staff, what they can handle is sent to home sewers for finishing.
All buttons are hand sewn on to the jacket:
Shirts:
Seams do not line up, by design.
Tailors on the factory floor mark the shirt with notches, for the home sewers to quickly see exactly where each piece should line up.
In this case, the buttons are marked for the home sewers.
Firming up the cuffs, a single line of stitches hold the cuff to the liner about 2/3 the way up.
Final inspection, pressing, collar stay insertion and packing.
Borrelli Tie Shop:
400 ties per day, only 1/3 are 7 fold.
Self tipping is done only on request by the retailer.
Borrelli consumes 4000 sq meters of fabric per year to produce sample books!
