Vintage Ties Handmade like 100 years ago
With the most authentic, unique, hand printed vintage fabrics
Bespoke / Sartorial / Tailor-made / Custom
100% Handmade in Robbio (Italy)
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Who is Gianni and why he created Passaggio Cravatte?
Hello, I am Gianni Cerutti, founder of Passaggio Cravatte and I welcome you to my site.
From a young age, I’ve always been a fan of “retro male elegance”, in particular the one depicted by the legendary Apparel Arts magazine drawings of the early 1900s.
Why that specific magazine?
Because Apparel Arts was the opposite of mass uniformity. Instead, it was the exaltation of the Singularity and Uniqueness of the individual.
And I didn’t want – and don’t want – to look like anyone else.
I didn’t want to feel almost like I was living inside a print shop, where all the products are serial and identical to each other.
Our aesthetic should NOT be serial, BUT unique.
And the fruit of one’s own life path and experiences.
We must essentially be "art in motion", evolving and improving as the years go by.
We often live in the “dictatorship” of gray and blue – and this fact is even more pronounced when it comes to a man’s most important accessory: the Tie!
But here’s the big problem that was hindering my “mission” to find authentic old-fashioned male elegance:
Finding vintage clothing items was extremely difficult, frustrating and time consuming.
The search for the right fabric and accessories was sometimes so complex and exhausting that I felt like half detective and half archeologist.
I challenge anyone to easily find fabrics that had ALL of these characteristics:
- Hand Printed
- With unique colors and designs typical of the period
- Dating back more than half a century
I assure you it’s not easy at all… even for a collector.
To make matters worse, when I thought I had found the right piece for my collection, I was often disappointed
- Sometimes because the fabrics were not truly vintage, but just modern reproductions or pale imitations
- Other times because they were obviously industrially manufactured - with those unmistakable stitching all identical and annoyingly perfect - and in fact they had very little of “handmade” (not to say almost nothing).
But I don’t compromise on uniqueness and quality, especially when it comes to retro elegance, style, and wearables.
"And since I couldn't find a time machine to go back to the 1930s to do some shopping, I had to find another solution."
I have to admit that the credit for making me take this decision goes to my wife Marta, who told me at the time, “if you don’t like what you find out there, make it yourself from scratch…I’ll help you.”
That day, back in 2010, Passaggio Cravatte was born.
Why are we Truly Unique?
If I had to describe what I do in as few words as possible, I would say:
"I'm an Antiquarian who saves from extinction *endangered species* of cloth and fabrics that are literally older than me."
In short, this is what makes the brand Passaggio Cravatte really unique and different from any other brand “vintage wannabe” that you can find online.
In fact, we do NOT have seasonal collections like many others do.
That's because, just like antique dealers, we're always looking for the best vintage fabric to offer.
This is how we create all our garments and accessories:
1
AUTHENTIC VINTAGE AND UNIQUE PIECES
Having reached this point, it should be clear by now.
When I say that a good portion of the fabrics we use are literally older than I am, I’m not kidding.
In fact, many of these were produced between the 1950s and 1990s. The rarest pieces even date back to the 1930s.
Almost all of the vintage brands (or allegedly so) that are found online use reproductions of vintage fabrics, but they are nothing more than laser prints made a few days ago in countries where labor is really cheap.
Certainly not in Italy.
The Reason? Simple... REAL vintage fabrics are:
Very difficult
to find
Very scarce
in quantity
Much more expensive than modern reproductions
For a large company that needs to sell hundreds of pieces a day, this would not be feasible.
Instead, I chose NOT to trade authenticity and uniqueness for money.
In the video below I show you why the ties we make are true antiques that are extremely rare and in many cases unique pieces.
2
HOMEMADE - NOT JUST HANDMADE
Passaggio Cravatte is not a big mainstream brand, but a small “brick and mortar” reality.
The processing of the fabrics is 100% handmade as it was 100 years ago by me and my wife Marta, in our tailor's house in Robbio, 50 km from Milan.
We are NOT a company with dozens of employees…
If you call or write to Passaggio Cravatte, you will speak directly with Gianni or Marta, that is, the person who physically makes the product you will wear (after discussing your specific needs, of course).
I cut one fabric at a time by hand, with wooden templates, tape measure, chalk and the ever-present scissors that you often see on Instagram;
after which I pass everything to Marta for hemming, ironing and embroidery.
It often happens that some of our customers (who may live on the other side of the world) come to visit us at our home to see for themselves the processing phases of the product they will buy.
The photos of processing or of the finished product that I post on social media are really what is produced that day; a sort of daily diary with nothing to hide.
Who can still guarantee this today, in Italy?
Very few.
In fact, if you try to contact any well-known brand asking to visit their tailor shop they will tell you that it is not possible.
The reason?
They do not have their own in-house production.
The latter, in fact, is entrusted to external laboratories not owned by them that produce thousands of pieces every day.
If you also use Social Media to follow your favorite brands, I'll ask you 2 questions:
- How many of these brands post photos or videos every day showing the stages of working on a "work in progress" product?
- How many of these brands show their frontman doing the “dirty work” in actually making what he sells firsthand?
If the answer to both questions is “few” or “none”, then that means that brand, even though it says to be “handcrafted,” is most likely not at all.
#NOFILTER
Another essential point of our philosophy is to “show yourself for what you are”: without makeup and without filters.
In over 10 years we have never used the magic of post production to make our products more photographically beautiful.
All the images you see on this site or on our social media are taken by me in natural light at my lab with just an Iphone.
What you see is what you really get.
Have you seen a product you are interested in but would like a picture maybe from adifferent perspective or closer?
No problem, just ask me and I’ll send it to you in chat after a few minutes.
#NOLABEL
You may not believe it, but you won’t even find a “handmade” label on our ties.
With us, the product must speak, in every single part and in strict silence at the same time.
Let’s start with a basic concept: one of our products must be recognizable even without a “handmade label”.
We are not obsessed with “industrial perfection.” Hands never work the same way all the time as machines.
You only have to look at two of our ties to realize this: they will never be absolutely identical.
Here: these tiny differences and imperfections are the true essence of a “handmade”, far from large numbers or standardization imposed by strict business plans.
In fact, we usually deliver in 30 days, because doing it by hand (and doing it right) takes time.
We only produce a few pieces per day.
Did you know that in each of our antique 7 folds there are almost six feet of all handmade hems and almost three feet for the 3 folds?
3
BESPOKE SERVICE & EMBROIDERY
Do you like the idea of buying a tie and realizing that several thousand men around the world are wearing the exact same tie you just purchased?
I don’t.
Yet this is exactly what happens when you go shopping in the stores of some very famous and “luxury” brand. Uniqueness totally disappears.
Having a bespoke tie is not a fad, but a practical natural requirement dictated by our height.
A man who is six feet tall cannot wear the same tie worn by someone who is five feet tall and vice versa.
And to make your tie or scarf even more unique, we can embroider your initials or family crest, or an unforgettable date, Or even an item you're particularly fond of.
In short, relying on our hands everything is possible, even online.
If you find the appropriate measures or initials on our online shop proceed on your own, otherwise do not hesitate to contact us for any other measure or embroidery.
We are at your disposal!
Gianni
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