Ways a piece is made
Ready-to-wear: how to buy well off the rack
Two jackets at the same price, one built and one glued: nothing on the label says which, and the difference shows after two years of wear. Serious ready-to-wear exists; it is simply hard to tell apart from the rest. Here are the few gestures that are enough to recognise it.
Canvassed, half-canvassed, and what looks like it
Half-canvassing means a canvas sewn into the top of the garment (chest and lapel) with a fused panel below. A neighbouring construction is not the same thing: the whole front is fused, and a loose piece of canvas is laid over the chest alone. By hand, the two feel much alike. Opening the lining is therefore not enough to tell them apart.
The lapel test, and an honest caveat
Roll the lapel between two fingers: if it holds its curve once released, there is canvas stitched inside. The caveat you rarely read: a genuine half-canvas can bubble too, since its base is still fused. And bubbling usually comes from the steam and heat of repeated cleaning, which tires the glue over years, rather than from a fault at the factory.
See also
Weight makes the drape
The weight of a cloth tells you more than the fineness of its yarn. A wool of 340 to 400 grams hangs straight, hides irregularities and drops its creases hanging overnight. Very fine cloths, Super 150s and beyond, are soft under the hand and mark at the smallest movement. For a jacket meant to last ten years, weight per metre is the first question to ask.
The same constraints as the workshops
A house that truly builds its garments often has neither the high-street window nor the advertising budget, and a label does not say how a jacket is put together. Sartorium puts it on the same map as the large houses, with its addresses, its crafts and its links. The search runs by city, construction and garment, so it is found for what it makes.
See who is out there
Sartorium maps the houses worth knowing, wherever they are. An account is free, and it is what opens the map.