I’m sorry I can’t host you in our tailor’s shop, just because you’re reading me from the other side of the world. But if you happen to be in Italy, know that the doors of our tailor’s shop are always open; we are only an hour away from Milan.
So here I am trying to explain in this email how long it takes us to make one of our ties.
The first step is to place the wooden model on the fabric, to center it first and then mark it with chalk.
After this phase there is the cut. If you make a mistake in marking the fabric, the design of the tie will be off-center, so it will have a flaw!
For these three stages of processing takes about fifteen minutes.
Then the cut tie passes into the hands of my wife who hems it all by hand; and if it is an antique 7-folds tie there are almost two meters of handmade hem to be done.
This is the longest phase of processing because it takes about 50 minutes. Then it also depends on the fabric, because there are fabrics that slip more and others less
After this phase of hemming we continue with the union of the three pieces of fabric, the length required by the customer. Then we create the interlining, strictly natural wool, always as long as the tie.
And then my wife begins the folding, ironing and sewing along the entire length of the tie
The last two steps are the back colored joist, the back loop label and the labeling.
Time frame for all these other processing steps? Another half hour!
What if you want hand embroidered initials? Add an hour and a half for two letters.
Of course, we can be much faster; we could make a tie in 10 minutes, but I would never wear a low-quality tie, so I could never make any of my clients wear it.
I like quality, and you can only achieve quality by being slow. In fact, we are happy to only be able to make a few pieces a day.
Long live slow quality craftsmanship!