By Jean Claude Alpha
The first step to great clothing is to custom-make every article. The second is to recognize the finest materials from which to craft them. Below, I have helped you perfect your wardrobe with exquisite fabrics for shirts, suits and coats.
Shirts made from Sea Island cotton
Sea Island cotton or Gossypium barbadense is an extra long staple cotton similar to Egyptian cotton but originating from a specie indigenous to the Caribbean – requiring a lot of sunlight, humidity and plenty of rainfall to flourish. Sea Island cotton is comparable to silk in its softness while its rarity adds to its exquisite luxury. Indeed, it is now universally recognised as the finest cotton in the world. Fashion connoisseurs ever since the Victorian times have enthusiastically embraced it and the exclusive cotton received an unsolicited endorsement from Ian Fleming whose fictional character, James Bond, wore nothing but Sea Island cotton shirts. Next time you’re looking to buy or tailor a shirt make Sea Island your cotton of choice and feel the difference.
Suits made from Escorial wool
The story of Escorial wool is fascinating and rich in Arabian history, when in around 1,000 BC the Phoenicians introduced sheep from Asia Minor to North Africa. Arab Moors brought the sheep to Spain in the twelfth century, just as the European country was extending its textile monopoly. But the pure ‘Maghreb’ breed still ruled the flock and was safeguarded by the Spanish royals in the monastery of El Escorial – hence the name. Today, there are only three flocks directly descended from the original Escorials and they reside in New Zealand and Australia. Nurtured on natural pastures, these sheep and their Escorial fibre are still closely guarded. Escorial is a rare and unique fibre because, unlike cashmere, it traps air while remaining light and naturally elastic, easily allowing your suit to remain in perfect nick regardless of the punishments it has to endure. Its superior quality is furthered by its matt surface, banishing any shininess that can be common in other premium wools.
Coats made from Vicuña wool
Vicuña is the world's most expensive fabric and not without reason. It is softer, lighter and warmer than any other wool on earth. Measuring just 12 microns in diameter, in contrast to merino wool’s 16 to 18 microns, vicuña wool is also the finest fibre capable of being spun about eight times thinner than human hair. It may look like very fine wool but it feels like a luxurious blend of mohair and silk. The vicuña is a relative of the llama and a member of the camelid family. It lives on the grasslands and plains of Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina at an altitude of 4,000 to 5,500 meters. Each animal produces only about 450g of wool a year. After almost becoming extinct in the 1970s, trade in this fabric has once again been permitted but the animals remain unsuitable for farming and the wool yield is low – making it a rare luxury. One overcoat alone requires the sheering of 30 animals. It’s no surprise, then, that it was named “the fabric of the gods” by the Incas.
