Sartorial suit jacket details

As much as we love crafting the perfect fit, we love the hours of handwork that can shape the character of a suit. It is these small details give your suit its distinct personality and charm. Details for the connoisseurs, but once you’ve come to know and love these finishes; you can’t quite appreciate a suit without them anymore. Below you will find some of the highlighted sartorial details available in our collection.

Handmade

Handmade buttonholes are made using a chain of knotted loops called purl stitches that make them strong and visually distinctive. It takes about five seconds to sew a regular buttonhole with a machine – a single handmade buttonhole takes about 10 minutes to sew.

Neapolitan

The buttonhole preferred by tailors in Naples, Italy. The Neapolitan is a slightly shorter and thicker style of handmade buttonhole. It has a distinct opening at the end, which opens wider than any other buttonhole.

Milanese

Also known as an ‘Asola Lucida’ buttonhole, the Milanese is made using a piece of thread called a ‘gimp’, which is tightly wound around it by a whipstitch to give the style its characteristic threadshowcasing look. Achieving Milanese perfection is a delicate 15-minute process and something only a quality tailor can provide - no machine can imitate it.

Long Milanese

The elegant, longer brother of the Milanese. With its thin and extra long gimp cord inside, this is one of the most challenging buttonholes to make by hand. Even a highly skilled tailor will take about 20 minutes to finish it. The result is a very subtle and refined Milanese buttonhole.

Double knot (HMIT only)

A rougher style, only made by our HMIT atelier in Italy. Similar to the Handmade buttonhole, except the single knotted purl stitches are doubled to create a thicker and smoother look. The style is somewhere between the Handmade and the Milanese.

Camicia shoulder

A ‘spalla manica a camicia’, often simply referred to as the camicia shoulder, is a style popularised by Neapolitan tailors. Roughly translating to ‘shirt sleeve’, it was coined for the distinct pleats at the sleeve’s head that are made by inserting a larger sleeve into a smaller armhole circumference. Rather than having the seams of the sleeve turned back, the seams are turned inside towards the shoulder to create a distinct shoulder where the fabric falls down. This structure also allows for a greater range of arm motion. This is available as an unconstructed shoulder, or with padding as a soft shoulder.

Pick stitching: Doppio impuntura

When you think of a Neapolitan style suit, you probably think of doppio impuntura or ‘double pick stitching’. It is made as a backstitch, which is a highly time consuming process that looks like a little dot on the surface of the fabric. The doppio impuntura runs throughout the sides of the lapel, collar, pockets and shoulder seam. As a visible detail of handwork, it can be seen as the ultimate touch of elegance.

Chest pocket: Rounded welt pocket

Also known as ‘barchetta’ Italian for ‘little boat’, it is so named because this pocket floats on the chest gently angled upward, just like the bow of a sailboat. These pockets echo the lively roll of a lapel that carries the spring of canvas and natural wool, unlike machine-made chest pockets that have a more stamped-out, rectangular shape and less life.

Closure & lapel: 2.5 buttons

The ‘tre bottoni stirato a due’, also known as the three rolling on two lapel style, is perhaps the most infamous characteristic of the Neapolitan style jacket. The top button and buttonhole are ornamental, so are left unbuttoned. As the lapel rolls down it elegantly folds over the top button and stops just 4 cm above the second button creating the distinct roll of the lapel the style is known for. As it is intended to remain unbuttoned, the top buttonhole is actually made inside out so the beautiful side will still be visible.