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Join us for a special NYC event on October 27 from 6pm to 7pm in Union Square. This is an informal opportunity to discover Sicilian bespoke tailoring in person.

In particular, you will:

• Learn why Sicilian tailoring is the best kept secret in bespoke
• Meet the talented tailor behind Sicilian Reserve
• Enter to win a copy of Sleevehead’s Guide to Sicilian Tailors

I’ll give a quick 5 minute talk/presentation on why Sicily is the “black swan” of bespoke tailoring. The rest of the hour will be Q&A and informal conversation with one of the most skilled tailors I know from Sicily. He also happens to be the tailor for Sicilian Reserve…

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Black swans are the rare exceptions to the norm and defy conventional wisdom.

So why do I consider Sicily the “black swan” of bespoke tailoring, the last secret left for sartorialists?

To learn why, watch my new video below:

The post Sicily is the “black swan” of bespoke tailoring appeared first on Sleevehead.

Just one more week left before Sicilian Reserve says arrivederci to launch pricing of bespoke tailoring.

This is pretty incredible value for heritage tailoring on par with Savile Row and Naples.

You can read more about it here.

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In our digital age, we are fed a constant diet of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and WeChat updates by friends, colleagues and digital influencers with millions of followers.

People share anything and everything online. These days very little in terms of fashion and style is truly new or a secret. Women decide on the next handbag or #ootd by swiping on Instagram. Likewise, men get inspired by what other guys are wearing by browsing #wiwt. Most of this is “free” and easy. Everything is see, click or buy.

Against that backdrop, writing a full-length book could be construed as either retro or out of step with the times.

I chose to write a book on Sicilian tailoring. Why? Because only a long-form narrative can do justice to the topic. My view is this: the deeper the secret, the more that needs to be told.

Sleevehead’s Guide to Sicilian Tailors is the first and only guide to unlocking the last secret left in men’s bespoke tailoring.

That’s quite a statement but I truly believe it. This is a sartorial story that cannot be told in a single tweet or Instagram, or even a hundred of them.

Based on years of travel, research and personally commissioning bespoke clothes in Sicily, I sum up in #SGST what I know and love about Sicilian tailors and their unique approach to cutting and making superbly tailored clothes.

If you are truly serious about masculine style, this is a secret you cannot miss out on.

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Join us for a special NYC event on October 27 from 6pm to 7pm in Union Square. This is an informal opportunity to discover Sicilian bespoke tailoring in person.

In particular, you will:

• Learn why Sicilian tailoring is the best kept secret in bespoke
• Meet the talented tailor behind Sicilian Reserve
• Enter to win a copy of Sleevehead’s Guide to Sicilian Tailors

I’ll give a quick 5 minute talk/presentation on why Sicily is the “black swan” of bespoke tailoring. The rest of the hour will be Q&A and informal conversation with one of the most skilled tailors I know from Sicily. He also happens to be the tailor for Sicilian Reserve…

We look forward to seeing you there!

Black swans are the rare exceptions to the norm and defy conventional wisdom.

So why do I consider Sicily the “black swan” of bespoke tailoring, the last secret left for sartorialists?

To learn why, watch my new video below:

Just one more week left before Sicilian Reserve says arrivederci to launch pricing of bespoke tailoring.

This is pretty incredible value for heritage tailoring on par with Savile Row and Naples.

You can read more about it here.

This week’s Economist highlights the EU’s plan to build a “Malmo-Palermo express” linking the north and south. The funding of a “Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor” is quite substantial. The reason for this investment is that the southern reaches of Europe around the Mediterranean have lagged on most economic measures behind the rest of western Europe for decades.

Southern Italy and especially Sicily have developed separately and at different speeds, reflected and perpetuated by its poor road, rail and air connectivity. Likewise, this has contributed to the invisibility of Sicily as a modern cultural phenomenon despite an astounding 3,000 year history.

I contend that a key part of Sicilian culture is its distinctive tailoring tradition, poorly understood and recognized for what it really is. Ironically though, this lack of awareness about Sicilian tailors has only solidified my argument that Sicily is home to the rarest of the three heritage tailoring traditions of the West.

Savile Row initiated the habits and practices of masculine tailoring while Naples modernized them.

But Sicily may very well express the most balanced sartorial tradition by virtue of its hybridity. By being outside this binary sartorial canon, Sicilian tailoring has mastered the blending of the two standard bearers into a compelling synthesis of its own.

Based on my experience, Sicilian tailors tend to convey much less of their impressive heritage than their sartorial cousins further north in Italy and on the continent. As I wrote in SGST, Sicilian tailoring heritage and hospitality are often materially expressed in far humbler terms – “The tailor will likely suggest going out for a simple cup of gelato or espresso instead of ushering you into a private, wood-paneled drawing room and offering a single malt Scotch and a seat on a Chesterfield sofa.”

I imagine this plainness of circumstance has lulled many casual and even seasoned observers to believe that Sicilian tailoring offers nothing special or distinctive. When you see a humble workshop that truly looks like a humble workshop, the mind naturally wanders in search of grander settings in London, Paris and Rome. A common tendency perhaps but an oversight. Whether a sartoria is Instagrammable has little to do with its skill and significance.

There are however a few exceptions to the generally humbler landscape of sartoria in Sicily. Sartoria Crimi is one of them. They offer perhaps the fullest, most intact expression of a Sicilian “tailoring house” today.

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I was not able to see Signor Zacco on my most recent trip to Palermo this month. But he was among the the first Sicilian tailors I visited and profiled in my book back in 2011.

Zacco is the rare solo bench tailor is first and last one to touch each jacket that leaves his workshop. What’s interesting about him is that is his ability to make a slightly different shape from the Sicilian and Palermitan style. The difference is subtle and perhaps difficult to discern for the average person. But you can see the difference in the chapter “A Note on Sicilian Tailors in my book where I compare my Zacco jacket with an Arrigo jacket. Moreover, it’s a wonderful option to have if you wish for something different in your wardrobe.

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Before completing the second edition of SGST, I visited Palermo a couple of times last year to meet tailors. On one of these trips, I stumbled upon this sliver of a necktie shop just off of Via Roma between the main train station and Teatro Massimo.

Roberta’s shop may be compact but speaks volumes on what is possible with today’s generation in a new Sicily. She and her peers are working to change what needs to be changed and build for the future.

I’m very happy I was able to include a profile of this shop in the new version of SGST. Their neckties are made by an artisan in Palermo. The wonderful little discovery for me is that Antica Cravatteria offers bespoke ties made to your specifications on a CMT basis.

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After a very good walking tour of the Garment District led by Mike Kaback, I spent some time at Mood Fabrics on 37th St earlier this week. The store was actually the last stop of the walking tour which is very convenient.

I last visited Mood about a year ago and picked up two tie silks that were made into bespoke ties by Uno Antica Cravatteria in Palermo. The ties turned out beautifully. Out of curiosity, I revisited Mood’s tie silks rack on level 3 and discovered a refreshed inventory of woven and print silks.

I ended up getting several one yard lengths (widths vary but are usually about 28 inches) which you can see here. Not surprisingly, my plan is to give these to Antica Cravatteria and let their in-house tie maker work her magic.

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It is heartening to see Sicily being covered as an “emerging destination” for tourists, designers, photographers and cultural connoisseurs.  Earlier this year Vogue Italia offered up a photo essay of the burgeoning arts scene in Palermo. In April 2018, Travel + Leisure wrote about Palermo and Trapani. In May 2018, The New York Times Frugal Traveler featured a piece on Catania, Sicily’s second city. In an interview published this month, women’s shoe designer Manolo Blahnik talks about being inspired by Sicily for one of his recent shoe designs.

But let’s be clear – the mainstream media represent lagging, not leading, indicators when it comes to uncovering and unveiling the “hidden” cultural wealth of Sicily.

In the second edition of SGST written and published a year ago, I wrote: “Culturally, the timing is right for a newfound appreciation of Sicily by tourists and certainly the traveling cognoscenti.” But in fact the media coverage should have started much earlier. Keep in mind that I wrote the first edition of my Sicilian tailoring guidebook back in 2011.

Even then, it was clear to me that Sicily was completely underappreciated and ignored on multiple fronts. My astonishment was initially focused on the tailoring heritage of the island. I was astonished because of the virtual radio silence on Sicilian tailoring by men’s fashion magazines, blogs, forums, writers and journalists.

In effect, the menswear establishment had overlooked Sicilian tailoring for the last 50 years. I can only speculate on the reasons for this oversight but they are most likely due to lack of curiosity, stereotypes, a bit of groupthink and possibly even fear.

But beyond the tailoring, it’s almost impossible to ignore Sicily’s culinary and cultural riches. They made quite an impression on me on the very first day I spent on the island.

Have you traveled to Sicily and its vicinity? If so, add your thoughts and experiences in the Sleevehead Forum or comment below.

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Signore Palmisciano in April 2018. Despite numerous informal chats over the years, this was actually the first time I sat down and recorded a video interview with a Sicilian tailor. In SGST, I make it pretty clear that all the Sicilian tailors in my book deserve serious consideration but I also point out a handful of artisans for special recommendation. Palmisciano is one of them. Although I see him every time I visit Sicily, I still learned something new about his training and background in our most recent conversation.

Unlike many of his peers, Palmisciano is not a disciple of a single, well-known Sicilian tailor or other sartoria in Rome, Milan or Florence. Instead, he is an unusual example of a sartorial autodidact. This means, like fellow Sicilian and Catanese tailor Scavone, he is essentially self-taught. Rather than following a single cutting system or “master tailor”, Palmisciano embodies sartorial adaptiveness and hybridity – even a kind of restlessness in his formative years.

Practically speaking, this means observing and working with a multiplicity of teachers as he explains below in my ten minute interview with him.

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This past April I spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon with Claudio Italiano, his father Luigi, their new apprentice Gloria and friend Christina who helped translate our conversation. Becoming a tailor is difficult enough. But I would argue that becoming a Sicilian tailor (let alone a Sicilian tailoring house) is unusually demanding. After a few hours of uninterrupted conversation, those challenges became crystal clear to me – ongoing political and economic sluggishness, lack of artisanal support locally and regionally, and continued economic underdevelopment of southern Italy relative to the wealthier north.

Against this backdrop, I came away deeply impressed with amazing individuals like Gloria who are becoming apprentice tailors against all odds. As I described in the Instagram post of my visit: “There is passion. Then there is Sicilian passion. The new generation has a profound dedication to craft. Palermo tailor Claudio Italiano, his father and their apprentice Gloria are reshaping what it means to be an Italian and Sicilian sartoria of the future.”

How does one become a Sicilian apprentice tailor? Not easily but it helps when the tailor is well connected in the tailoring community. This is precisely how Gloria eventually came into contact with the Italianos. For this reason, I would categorize Sartoria Italiano as a true Sicilian tailoring house. In a previous blog post, I wrote about the rarity of Sicilian tailoring houses. That still holds true, which makes the exceptions always more interesting.

The most obvious feature of a tailoring house is its continuity over time. Case in point: Claudio and his father took over the atelier of Giuseppe Ferina whom I profiled in the first edition of SGST. It was through this mutual connection that Gloria became an apprentice at Sartoria Italiano. Before their partnership, Luigi worked with one of the most well-known Sicilian tailors of the “golden age” – Giovanni La Parola.

Even rarer, this is a Sicilian tailoring house with two young tailors – Claudio and Gloria – which bodes very well for the future.

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Confession: I am not actually a believer in “best of” lists and rankings whether they are applied to universities, wines or films. Nor do I put much stock in them mainly because they inhibit any hint of nuance and promote confirmation bias. Yet these very drawbacks also explain I why have decided to concoct my own list of the best cities for bespoke tailoring. Fight fire with fire I suppose.

My underlying motivation is countering the accumulation and accretion of conventional wisdom about bespoke tailoring. This has led to a kind of implicit ranking and reputation of tailors and tailoring traditions built up over the last few decades. In my view, this received wisdom has led to a few unfortunate side effects. One result has been a kind of assumptive complacency about what counts as heritage bespoke tailoring and who fits in the tailoring pantheon. The other is repetitive, almost mechanical coverage of well-known tailors* as opposed to exploratory, insightful coverage of other players on the field.

With this “revisionist” ranking, my hope is that you begin to entertain the possibility of a counter-narrative when it comes to Western bespoke tailoring.

It is perhaps unfair to use a straw man list as a point of departure but it does illustrate both a certain futility and utility in making such lists.

Every year Travel + Leisure publishes a list of the best cities for shopping as voted by readers. Keep in mind this is a “best cities for shopping in general” as opposed to best cities for bespoke tailoring. T+L’s 2018 shopping list looks like the following:

1. New York
2. Tokyo
3. Dubai
4. Paris
5. Hong Kong
6. Singapore
7. Florence
8. Milan
9. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
10. London

Judged on its own merits the list looks a bit puzzling to me. Dubai’s shopping malls are second to none but is the shopping really better than in Paris? If we narrow our scope further to menswear or bespoke tailoring, the list looks even stranger. Actually, it seems wildly off. In particular, the last place ranking of London needs to be fixed, as well as the complete absence of Naples.

If done with greater focus, what would such a list look like for men’s bespoke tailoring?

Below is my ranking of best cities for bespoke tailoring. This is based primarily on a city’s range and availability of tailors across the full masculine tailoring spectrum as described in SGST. Unlike a ranking based on purely personal preference for certain tailors over others, my ranking is based on a systematic framework and empirical assessment of what I call “tailoring strategies” described in SGST. This is the first assessment of its kind as far as I know.

1. Sicily (Palermo, Catania, Messina)**
2. London
3. Naples
4. New York
5. Milan
6. Florence & Rome (tied)
7. Paris
8. Tokyo
9. Hong Kong
10. Seoul

In my book, I make the case for Sicily for being in the top three of heritage bespoke tailoring along with Savile Row and Naples. Ultimately, I would posit that Sicily takes the top spot because of its native ability to offer the most diversity across tailoring strategies. London and Naples occupy the next two spots because of their unique heritage and depth in the tailoring strategy they specialize in.

New York is next for its unrivaled (though mostly non-native) access to tailors from around the world including London, Naples, Paris and Sicily (thanks to Sicilian Reserve).

So who are the “best tailors in the world”? Perhaps the better question would be: What are the best cities for bespoke tailoring and bespoke tailors? This more narrow (but still less than nuanced) question is more amenable to ranking because there is a correlation between diversity and choice in tailoring strategies and certain cities with specific tailoring traditions.

In the end, I hope this list spurs you to draw your own informed, thoughtful conclusions based on your experiences. It may even reframe the cardinal question for you. Instead of seeking the “best tailor” or even the best cities for tailors, the more relevant question might be: Which tailoring strategy is the right one for me?

For more detail on the full spectrum of masculine tailoring strategies, below is a video providing a brief overview:

* I would caveat this by saying that any media coverage of artisans, whether established or not, is certainly welcome and beneficial. However, I think the balance has been largely in favor of the known quantities as opposed to the unknown ones in the world of bespoke tailoring. I think it is fair to say that this does a disservice to the artisans who fly under the radar.

** Of course, Sicily is an island not a single city. However, given the much smaller size of Palermo, Catania and Messina compared to their peers, I have taken the liberty of aggregating them to create a more meaningful comparison to mega-cities like London and New York.

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“Italians work a lot on product and in France, you work a lot on the marketing of product. If you integrate the two, I think you can have a great story and that’s what I was doing [at menswear brand Berluti] and what I’m doing [at Zegna].” – Alessandro Sartori, Artistic Director, Zegna (WWD, April 2, 2018)

Tactically, Sartori is right of course that both marketing and product development are essential to premium or luxury menswear brands. This assumes that brands are ultimately reducible to brand and product management. But the question remains, how relevant is this traditional view? In the long run, what do knowledgeable, digitally native consumers really want? Digital connoisseurs, I argue, are increasingly the pivotal customers of tomorrow. For them, nearly every aspect of a menswear brand (brand values, products, quality, fit, customer satisfaction and popularity) has become transparent, searchable, clickable or scrollable on a screen. Although logo-driven consumers will never disappear, it is now far easier than ever to become a connoisseur and explorer in search of truly distinct experiences and objects.

I think Sartori actually hints at deeper challenges facing menswear brands. For starters, it is extremely difficult, perhaps even impossible, for a single menswear brand to remain extraordinarily compelling across all aspects of the customer experience even in just a handful of product categories. Let’s compare two examples. Leather goods and apparel are completely different categories. They use separate design and production methods and skill sets for leather and garment production. For premium and luxury brands, doing both well means two different workforces often located in two different countries. These design and production cultures are not scalable and not easily transferrable. It gets even more difficult when you add another dimension, say, customization or a third dimension such as design.

So now we have product category, customization and design. What is the likelihood of excelling across all these silos in this combinatorial matrix? It is much more likely that a brand will miss the mark in at least one of these silos.

For many consumers, these nuances may not register, at least initially. Instead, early on, brands tend to play a primary role in building your wardrobe and sense of style. At the beginning, consumers lack the knowledge or appetite to dive into a decision matrix with multiple dimensions. Instead, men use brands as a decision shortcut to help cut through the clutter of decisions, large and small, in the pursuit of personal style and sartorial well-being. But this changes over time.

The most striking thing about my sartorial journey has been the declining importance of brands over time. I must confess that I have rarely found any menswear brand that remained compelling over a sustained period of time. Actually, the problem is even larger. I have yet to find a brand that I felt spoke to me in a 360 degree way – encompassing a wide product range, craftsmanship, design, customer service and history. A few have come close for specific product categories but even here the list is vanishingly short.

In my case, I find it easy to compare and find gaps in relative value and desirability for each brand. The more I know about brands, the more difficult it has become to find a truly compelling one. So the search goes on.

Eventually, I think the following happens: as a consumer you change strategies.

The more knowledgeable you are, the more likely you discriminate value more granularly as well as holistically. In other words, you drill down to the cultural, product, component or even material level as a way to compare brands. Over time the direct influence of brands declines as (a) you develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of what you are wearing, their value and why and (b) makers and creators are increasingly able to connect directly to consumers (and vice versa).

At some point, given enough time, resources and experience, you let go of the guide rails provided by brands to more freely discover your preferences and more directly engage with their sources. I’m afraid this logic applies to retailers, even the most savvy ones in menswear such as Mr. Porter or The Armoury. Even the best curator or algorithm cannot read your own mind as well as you can. This assumes, of course, you know what you want.

If you find yourself at this stage, then the next logical step is going outside any given brand’s echo chamber. For instance, this may include using “category-first” aggregators like Massdrop that elevates choice, price and convenience across product categories. This is a platform that reduces a brand’s ability to shape and package its product and story via influencers, advertising messages or sponsorships. After all, these add unnecessary marketing expense to the final product or service.

Going even further, what is the end game for the consumer seeking something deeper than the business-as-usual brand management prevalent in menswear today? I think a critical part is having a more genuine, meaningful relationship with the maker (or makers) of what you wear. Arguably, the maker or creator is the only truly indispensable person in the value chain from order to delivery (apart from the customer of course).

This implies you desire and prefer more direct engagement and investment in artisans, makers and creators. At least that has been my own experience. Ultimately, if you can source what you want fairly easily, why go through a middle man?

For such a customer, a brand needs to be more than just marketing or product management. Powerful brands offer deep, meaningful relationships with people who create moments of distinction in some form or shape. What makes people, objects and moments interesting? It often arises from a specific place with a distinctive heritage and culture. Practically speaking, this suggests the following rule of thumb – you should be no more than one degree removed from the maker, artisan or creator. Ideally, you should have a direct relationship with him or her.

This is the rule I try to follow with Sicilian Reserve and the reason why I bring the tailor(s) to the US. This is more costly in time and expense but far more rewarding for everyone involved. The more engaged customers want to learn more about the makers behind their clothes and accessories. And the more forward-looking makers will want to forge a relationship with their end customers.

This is also why I am so optimistic about the future of Sicilian makers and artisans. Not only are their history and skills utterly unique, but you still have to personally travel to Sicily to fully experience what they offer. This enables true discovery as opposed to the packaged messaging and retail experiences commonly employed by brands today.

I believe that concentrated authenticity is the preferred model for tomorrow’s tastemakers. Their target will be “alt-luxury” menswear brands committed to forging a genuine, memorable connection with the right customers. This means less messaging, more voice. Better, more tuned conversation, less unnecessary product (and hence less advertising). The more tightly you can harmonize place, product, maker and audience, the clearer and more compelling your brand will be.

This is especially true for the most discerning customers, digital connoisseurs, and those who are hungry for true distinction.

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Let’s talk bespoke knit ties (or knitted ties). To clarify, these are different from woven neckties made from silk, cotton or other woven yarns. Although bespoke woven ties are a bit of a specialty item, they can be found at any number of English, Italian and even Polish tiemakers and brands.

But bespoke or made-to-measure knit ties are different. Actually, I do not know of anyone who offers them or they are extremely hard to find. I have been looking for bespoke or made-to-measure (MTM) knit ties for quite some time and have not been able to find a source. Until recently! As far as I know, this is the first bespoke or made-to-measure knit tie offered on the market.

Even better, as a way of sharing this happy discovery, we are offering a limited time giveaway to win a free bespoke knit tie. Up to three knit ties will be given away to qualified entries made between Friday, June 15 and Saturday, June 23, 2018 midnight EST.

To enter and qualify for the giveaway, please (1) follow our Sleevehead Instagram account and (2) sign up for our newsletter by direct messaging us your email address in Instagram. If you are already following us, you can enter by sending us a DM in Instagram. Please note: we respect your time and inbox and will only send a limited number of newsletter emails every year.

Now the fun part. Your bespoke knit tie will be made from the highest quality Italian spun and dyed yarns in a range of 30+ colors. Ties come in solids or stripes. You can choose any combination of colors for the stripe knit tie. Equally important, you can finally specify the overall length of your knit tie. The width is currently set to 2 1/8 inches at the widest part of the blade.

Delivery will be made within 6 weeks after the winners are announced. Good luck and please share with your friends and family!

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