The London Lounge

andy57 wrote:Escorial is intriguing. Can we make an escorial cloth?

The 100% Escorial wool suitings that I've seen in the Reid & Taylor books are superb. This was one of the cloths that were not included in the usual price of a bespoke suit at my tailor's. The fabric is nothing short of the best quality pure cashmere cloths. Almost as soft, but with the advantage of a seriously resilient gut which allows its use also for trousers without a doubt.
But the Escorial wool cloths currently used in RTW Brooks Brothers IMO are underwhelming. Maybe they are blends because the prices are not exorbitant. The Escorial from RTW Paul Stuart is better. As is the one used in RTW Brioni. For the latter, the prices are ridiculous.
So I guess that with a magnificent raw material as Escorial you can make pretty much anything.

According to their website:

http://joshuaellis.com/escorial/

Joshua Ellis is the worldwide exclusive source for Escorial fabric, so I assume that Lovat would be unable to make true Escorial cloth for us. Perhaps Joshua Ellis would do a custom run for us, though. I could envision one of more refined patterns (maybe Agnelli check, maybe the LLFT02 pattern, or LLTW12). Might be an interesting new direction for us.

andy57 wrote:According to their website: Joshua Ellis is the worldwide exclusive source for Escorial fabric.

Escorial is just a registered name for the rare Saxon Merino wool, following a similar marketing model as Champagne or Harris Tweed. I'm not sure what's going on with the Escorial brand at the moment or the current limits of the trademark, but it seems that exclusivity claim by this Yorkshire weaver is excessive. For instance, Reid & Taylor are in Scotland and they have been weaving their magnificent Escorial cloths for a few years now. Also, the Escorial cloths used by RTW Brooks Brothers are woven in Chilean mills.

I read somewhere that the suppliers of Saxon Merino wool from Australia and New Zealand -associated in the Escorial Company- had created an Escorial Weavers Guild of a few UK mills as part of their exclusive branding. So I guess that there are several sources for the cloth, but only one for the wool.

aristoi wrote:Isn't Escorial just a type of yarn which comes from the Saxon merino sheep?

I found this article about the Saxon merino. It´s bit old regarding the current status of Escorial availability but it has good basic information.
http://idealog.co.nz/venture/2006/06/the-baron-of-saxon

The finest wool in the world still needs to be milled with a sturdy hand. The finest wool in the world is waisted in the weak fluffed up milling processes of today.

old henry wrote:The finest wool in the world still needs to be milled with a sturdy hand. The finest wool in the world is waisted in the weak fluffed up milling processes of today.

Very true. I'm tired of seeing mostly mediocre alpaca and angora. And worse mohair and cashmere. What a waste. If one is to believe what my tailor use to say, that is mainly due to what is required nowadays by the machinery employed in the automated RTW garment industry.

hectorm wrote:If one is to believe what my tailor use to say, that is mainly due to what is required nowadays by the machinery employed in the automated RTW garment industry.

Dear Hector,

the machinery is a factor, but let's not forget what fast fashion manufacturers want to pay for cloth and other raw material.

Cheers, David

Leonard Logsdail has spoken well of Escorial. I wonder where he gets his from.

davidhuh wrote:..let's not forget what fast fashion manufacturers want to pay for cloth and other raw material.

You are right. A pure Escorial wool suit has around 450-500 dollars just in cloth if you buy your own length, maybe a bit less if your tailor buys it from his usual merchant. It makes sense on a bespoke suit. On RTW makes the equation much more difficult for both ends. Brooks Brothers or Paul Stuart Escorial suits, for instance, retail in the range of the 3K (BB less, PS more) which does not make much sense, at least to me, for RTW.