Pocket square quality - Page 3

David, if you came up with something like the Drakes unicorn PS,I'll be your first customer

While I can't imagine that I need another pocket square, I'd take one in each color.

Hermes ties are my favorite.  The quality is amazing.  

RSS,

At a certain point it becomes something like collecting postage stamps...

Were you thinking of the Unicorn design?

Id be intrigued as well in some awesome patterns.

Indeed I was ... and still am.

Like some others on this thread, the only time I've ever crossed the $100 mark is for an Hermes hanky.

The silk, and patterns on them are beautiful and like art to me, making me a sucker for them.

Not sure who posted something about them being about 120, the ones that are "mini scarves" are $175 a piece now:embar:

In regards to linen I believe from personal experience that Simonnot-Godard are head and shoulders above the rest.

Although for some it's a drawback, they give much more material adding heft to your pocket.

Unicorns are fascinating and i like them also but the Moghul prints are even more interesting to me as I lived in Hyderabad in India for two years as a boy.

My mothers house in Arizona is filled with hand painted Moghul paintings.

One thing that has held me back from tapestry/painting type pocket squares is sizing. We are a bespoke maker and I like the option of providing different sizes for our clients.

I suppose that in the interest of art (and collecting) we could do a set size of say 15 or 16 inches.

Maybe we could do a solid border that would allow some flexibility in sizing?

All thoughts, comments and suggestions are welcome.

If this works out smoothly we would likely do a series of art pocket squares.

Surely no-one could be so anal as to require a certain particular non-standard size of a piece of fabric that they just stuff into their pocket anyway..?...

...oh wait, this is Styleforum

Tobiasj,

I know that you are joking but some jacket pockets are bigger or smaller than others, and some gentlemen like the understated look of a pocket square just barely showing, while others like a waterfall effect; and then most of course like something in the middle.

Then there is the weight of the fabric to be considered as in the heavier fabrics should be a smaller square than a lighter fabric to fit roughly the same in a pocket.

Earlier in this thread someone mentioned the beauty of SG fabrics and how they sometimes are too big - this is a perfect example of how a simple size adjustment would have improved the pocket square.

yes yes and yes!

Would you do them in all silk, or a wool/silk blend?

There are some beautiful unicorn tapestries at The Cloisters that would make as good prints.

Patrick Booth,

Yes, there is an amazing tapestry set with an origin that is a mystery.

From the New Yorker:

"...An expert medieval weaver might need an hour to complete one square inch of a tapestry, which meant that in a good week he might finish a patch maybe eight inches on a side. The weavers were generally young men, and each Unicorn tapestry likely had a team of between four and six working on it..."

So it sounds like 2 days work for the weaving of a pocket square, plus more time for the reeling and dyeing of the silk and rolling/sewing the edges lets say a week of skilled labor in total. So $1,000+ for a handwoven pocket square that is a collectable work of art.

Of course if silk screened costs would drop to under $100. Costa would vary quite a bit based on how many were made and sold.


SpooPoker,

"yes yes and yes! Would you do them in all silk, or a wool/silk blend?"

I would lean toward 100% silk as you would get more detail and color which is important to me.

Perhaps we could use a madder finish to provide some more texture.

I am still uncertain about silk weight and size as with a lighter silk we could go with a 16 or 16.5 inch size but a heavy twill silk with a madder finish is a great look but we would need to drop down to roughly 14.5 to 15 inches.

If I really love the pattern, I can overlook the premium should there be one, but I think the sweet spot is really $40-60 for good fabric, rolled edges and a nice design. I've paid anywhere from $6 to the low triple digits, but mostly between the 2 extremes.

Worth it.