In Biella, Italy, there is a textile mill, which first opened in 1663, where three generations of workers still strive to make the best fabrics in the world. It’s fitting (tailoring pun!) then that J. Crew sources material for its Ludlow suits from this mill, Vitale Barberis Cononico, where seven million meters of hand-inspected fabric are produced each year.
Charming Italian men gesturing romantically with their hands make up the cast here, and all wax philosophical about what suits mean to men these days. We meet a tailor who pooh-poohs modern folks who buy garments only to get rid of them mere months later. We see suit-making porn: spinning looms, bolts of patterned fabrics, tailor’s chalk, weathered measuring tape. We agree with assertions like “a man in suits is not the same man without suits”. It’s a short about the passion of the people behind their exquisite suiting, which makes us want to pick one up and wear it for decades.