Even though undeniably modern, the roots of today’s Neapolitan tailoring stretch back to almost 700 years, since the founding in the 14th century of Italy’s oldest
tailoring association, Confraternita dell’arte dei Giubbonai e Cositori (the Brotherhood of the Jacket Makers and of the Tailors). Its members were among the first to
create ready-to-wear men’s garments, made in Naples and transported to royals, noblemen and wealthy personalities across the continent.
Neapolitan tailoring style followed the Anglo-Saxon model; but it was in 1930 that Naples matured its identity, which, in the course of the century, will lead it to
the achievement of an unimaginable worldwide success. The Neapolitan sartorial dress is elegant, but never too plaster: the jacket is characterized by the shorter
sleeve, that reveals the cuff of the shirt, as well as for the less padding on the shoulders and back, allowing greater mobility these innovations definitively
eclipsed both the French pompous style and the authoritarian British one.
Neapolitan jacket become a cult object for the gracefulness, his cut follow the wearer’s movements like as a second skin.
Neapolitan tailoring is distinguished by many characteristics concerning the manufacturing process of the suit.
The cut, shoulder seams, the way the sleeves were attached to the tapering at the waist, indeed, hand-ironing is needed to sculp the material giving shape to trousers
and jackets, unobtainable with industrial process.
The Neapolitan jacket features a high, snug armhole, essential in order to maintain freedom of movement while ensuring the suit front stays undisturbed — into which a
significantly larger sleeve head is carefully fed and handstitched (the process is impossible to execute using a machine). Attaching a larger sleeve to a smaller scye
inevitably results in shirring known as ‘grinze’ — a puckered rippling, which the tailoring dilettante( leviamo.dilettante )usiemo inexperienced tailor may view as imperfection, but the customer appreciates for its magnificent craftsmanship and simply beauty.
An other important point of success for a perfect suit is the quality of the material and the design.
During the centuries the Neapolitan tailors have trasformed the measurements of their customers in to geometrical lines drawn with plasters.
Observing a tailor at work it’s a wonderful experience, a centuries-old tradition that has made the city of Naples famous throughout the world.