A view on Neapolitan shirtmakers and hand finishes - Page 5

Originally Posted by Manton 

I have yet to have a single Geneva shirt give out or fray in any way and the oldest date back to 2005. I do have a lot of them so I have no idea how often each gets worn, at most once every 2 weeks. It also helps a lot that they are always hand pressed.
Oh, and those CEGO OCBDs will NEVER wear out. Carl sent me an email the other day saying "Hey come down I have this great new cloth" and I replied "unfortunately for you, the dozen or so you made me look like they are going to last the rest of my life, sorry."

Originally Posted by Quarantanove 

But how would you compare the collar to Matuozzo (interlining as well as shape), which I assume is similar to Merolla to an extent?  Did you have Geneva make a collar without collar stays as the Neopolitans do?

Originally Posted by mafoofan 

All my shirts are laundered at home in lingerie bags, hung dry, and hand ironed. The Riva stuff has begun to disintegrate after three to four years of wear similar in frequency to what Manton describes.

Originally Posted by patrickBOOTH 

You mean bras?

Originally Posted by mafoofan 

The mesh bag for lingerie, not limited to bras. Your wife doesn't wear boxers does she?

Originally Posted by mafoofan 


Well, the one Geneva shirt I have is an evening shirt with a pique-faced collar, so it is difficult to compare. That said, they put in the thinnest, lightest interlining they had, did not fuse, and did not install collar stays. The resulting collar shape is exactly as I like it. It keeps a nice, natural-looking concave curvature without rumpling. I imagine that a normal, non-faced collar constructed in a similar fashion would be very, very similar in feel to the Matuozzo collars I have. I think the main difference is the fabric. Riva is supernaturally soft and ethereal from new.

Originally Posted by Ataturk 

I feel I should add that hand stitching is weaker, and unravels when it breaks, unlike a lockstitch. The whole point of insisting on a "single needle tailored" shirt is the lockstitch. A cheapo chainstitch will unravel but it's at least stronger than a lockstitch, whereas the hand blindstitch breaks much easier.
Also handstitching (even "good" handstitching) isn't difficult. It's rare because making lots of neat, tight stitches takes time. It's not actually hard to do, especially if the shirt is actually held together by machine stitches (which is usually the case).