٭٭٭ No Man Walks Alone - Official Affiliate Thread ٭٭٭ (a.k.a. I shouldn't have slept on it)

[gdl203]

Can you go into more detail about the Tuscan style?

For lack of a better explanation, it follows Florence's geographical position and is somewhere between Neapolitan/southern Italian style and Milanese style. There are differences between Tuscan/Florentine tailors but it is typically a soft structure with light canvassing, no or very light shoulder padding, classic height gorge and a wide, straight lapel towards a lower buttoning point. Some use a side dart, some don't. Some veer towards a shorter jacket, some don't.

All of this varies based on customer preferences, of course. If you look at Kotaro (Corcos), he wears what I described earlier. But I've seen some of his customers with jackets with a much higher gorge.

 

[sebastian mcfox]

Visit to Sartoria Carrara
Like many of you, I was curious about NMWA’s new tailoring venture, designed - from what I understand - to replace Eidos as a mid-range, fully canvassed tailoring option. I took advantage of being near the Massa and Carrara region in central Italy to visit Sartoria Carrara’s workshop, try on the new NMWA cut, take some photos and get measured for MTM.

I believe those are NMWA jackets on the left

You may recognize the name Sartoria Carrara - it’s a joint venture with Patrick Johnson Tailors and one of the largest workshops in central Italy (I believe Cucinelli owns the largest). I won’t go into the business side of the NMWA venture - Greg can speak more to that - my focus during the visit was on production and the fit/styling of the new NMWA cut.

Before trying on the jacket I was very kindly given a tour of the workshop by Angela, a member of the Sartoria Carrara management team. Carrara was originally called Sartoria Toscana (you may notice some of the staff wearing jackets with the legacy ‘ST’ logo on them) and began life as a purely bespoke workshop. It now produces a mix of bespoke and made-to-measure with the latter accounting for most of the workshop’s current production.

All the pattern and cloth cutting is done by hand, as is most of the stitching, save for attaching the chest canvas which is usually done by machine. All jackets are fully canvassed.

Although the workshop isn’t small (over 10,000 square metres), Angela emphasised the artisanal nature of the process and it was clear from my conversation with her and owner Sergio that they are both genuinely proud of the talent they have attracted. I’m certainly no expert in the production process, but I was impressed with the quality of the hand stitching and the level of skill displayed.

Then onto the fitting. Sergio produced one of the new NMWA jackets in a beautiful brown with navy overcheck (from the Drapers summer jacketing bunch).

I was really impressed with the construction and cut. The former soft, very light, with clean hand stitching and button holes. The lower buttoning point worked well and helped to balance the softer shoulder construction and preserve the inverse triangle silhouette I prefer in a jacket. The open quarters, generous lapels and lower gorge further added to the balance and proportions, but thankfully aren’t too aggressively styled. I also found the higher armhole more comfortable than most RTW.

It helped that the jacket fit me really well - with just a few adjustments needed to increase the overall length (about a cm); increase the sleeve length (again, by about a cm) and clean up the back a bit (a pretty common problem for me with OTR jackets due to my posture). And even though it may not look like it in these pictures, the sleeve pitch was almost perfect.

Apologies for the cheesy grin...

I tried some of the trousers on, too, but no photos of those. My posture and proportions mean OTR trousers rarely fit me well (the seat, upper thighs and back rise generally usually need tidying up), so photos of the trousers wouldn’t have been much use.

I hope that provides a few insights into what we can expect from NMWA x Sartoria Carrara - I’m happy to answer any questions. I’ll leave Greg to talk about price, production time, MTM etc.

Disclaimer: this is not a sponsored post, the views above are entirely my own and I received nothing from either NMWA or Sartoria Carrara for the write up.

 

[DFWWingnut]

Visit to Sartoria Carrara
Like many of you, I was curious about NMWA’s new tailoring venture, designed - from what I understand - to replace Eidos as a mid-range, fully canvassed tailoring option. I took advantage of being near the Massa and Carrara region in central Italy to visit Sartoria Carrara’s workshop, try on the new NMWA cut, take some photos and get measured for MTM.

View attachment 1203753
I believe those are NMWA jackets on the left

You may recognize the name Sartoria Carrara - it’s a joint venture with Patrick Johnson Tailors and one of the largest workshops in central Italy (I believe Cucinelli owns the largest). I won’t go into the business side of the NMWA venture - Greg can speak more to that - my focus during the visit was on production and the fit/styling of the new NMWA cut.

View attachment 1203759

Before trying on the jacket I was very kindly given a tour of the workshop by Angela, a member of the Sartoria Carrara management team. Carrara was originally called Sartoria Toscana (you may notice some of the staff wearing jackets with the legacy ‘ST’ logo on them) and began life as a purely bespoke workshop. It now produces a mix of bespoke and made-to-measure with the latter accounting for most of the workshop’s current production.

All the pattern and cloth cutting is done by hand, as is most of the stitching, save for attaching the chest canvas which is usually done by machine. All jackets are fully canvassed.

View attachment 1203771

View attachment 1203762

View attachment 1203767

Although the workshop isn’t small (over 10,000 square metres), Angela emphasised the artisanal nature of the process and it was clear from my conversation with her and owner Sergio that they are both genuinely proud of the talent they have attracted. I’m certainly no expert in the production process, but I was impressed with the quality of the hand stitching and the level of skill displayed.

View attachment 1203765

View attachment 1203763

View attachment 1203770


Then onto the fitting. Sergio produced one of the new NMWA jackets in a beautiful brown with navy overcheck (from the Drapers summer jacketing bunch).

I was really impressed with the construction and cut. The former soft, very light, with clean hand stitching and button holes. The lower buttoning point worked well and helped to balance the softer shoulder construction and preserve the inverse triangle silhouette I prefer in a jacket. The open quarters, generous lapels and lower gorge further added to the balance and proportions, but thankfully aren’t too aggressively styled. I also found the higher armhole more comfortable than most RTW.

It helped that the jacket fit me really well - with just a few adjustments needed to increase the overall length (about a cm); increase the sleeve length (again, by about a cm) and clean up the back a bit (a pretty common problem for me with OTR jackets due to my posture). And even though it may not look like it in these pictures, the sleeve pitch was almost perfect.

View attachment 1203761
Apologies for the cheesy grin...

View attachment 1203758

View attachment 1203754

View attachment 1203756

View attachment 1203760

I tried some of the trousers on, too, but no photos of those. My posture and proportions mean OTR trousers rarely fit me well (the seat, upper thighs and back rise generally usually need tidying up), so photos of the trousers wouldn’t have been much use.

I hope that provides a few insights into what we can expect from NMWA x Sartoria Carrara - I’m happy to answer any questions. I’ll leave Greg to talk about price, production time, MTM etc.

View attachment 1203769

View attachment 1203772

Great write up. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Newcomer]

Awesome @sebastian mcfox

Really enjoyed the write up.

 

[edinatlanta]

For lack of a better explanation, it follows Florence's geographical position and is somewhere between Neapolitan/southern Italian style and Milanese style. There are differences between Tuscan/Florentine tailors but it is typically a soft structure with light canvassing, no or very light shoulder padding, classic height gorge and a wide, straight lapel towards a lower buttoning point. Some use a side dart, some don't. Some veer towards a shorter jacket, some don't.

All of this varies based on customer preferences, of course. If you look at Kotaro (Corcos), he wears what I described earlier. But I've seen some of his customers with jackets with a much higher gorge.

Thanks, boss. I'm excited to see what you whip out.

 

[Michigan Planner]

Thanks for sharing the photos and write-up @sebastian mcfox. It worked well to make me even more anxious to see the NMWA line of suiting!

 

[hookem12387]

Definitely excited for this line. It'll be interesting to compare it to p johnson stuff out of carrara

 

[cyc wid it]

Thanks, boss. I'm excited to see what you whip out.

By gawd that’s @unbelragazzo ‘s music

 

[WhyUEarly]

Greg was nice enough to let me try on a sample of the NMWA suit when I was at the warehouse sale. Standard traditional gorges and very light shoulder padding, both pluses in my mind. Sleeves were noticeably shorter than Eidos in the same size.

All in all, I felt the quality was absolutely on par with Eidos. Great option for the price range, esp with MTM.

 

[taxgenius]

Greg was nice enough to let me try on a sample of the NMWA suit when I was at the warehouse sale. Standard traditional gorges and very light shoulder padding, both pluses in my mind. Sleeves were noticeably shorter than Eidos in the same size.

All in all, I felt the quality was absolutely on par with Eidos. Great option for the price range, esp with MTM.

Not sure if you have experience with Ring Jacket, but if you do, how do they compare quality wise?

 

[WhyUEarly]

Not sure if you have experience with Ring Jacket, but if you do, how do they compare quality wise?

Unfortunately, I don't have experience with Ring Jacket.

 

[vespertiliovir]

How do you create a poll? I want to crowdsource whether I should hate @sebastian mcfox most for (1) his good looks, (2) his photography skills, (3) his effortless sense of style, or (4) how well that jacket fits him OTR. Please advise.

 

[budapest12]

(5) that LOOK he gives, that says he knows about (1) - (4)

 

[emptym]

SC does look like a great option. Styling is perfect and I'm glad the armholes are high. Thanks for your report, SM.

In sadder news, I think I lost a pair of Lesca sunglasses. Last time I remember having them was in a restaurant. They were in my breast pocket and irritating me. The idea came to me to put them on the table, but another idea said I'd probably forget them if I did that. I think I put them in a hip pocket. But I couldn't find them the next day and haven't been able to in subsequent days. I went back to the restaurant the next day and when I mentioned it to the people sitting at the table where I'd been, they were all so nice as to get up, unasked, and look around. But no luck. So far, St. Anthony hasn't delivered either.

 

[kjb]

sorry emptym, that sucks. hopefully they pop up somewhere.

somewhat related question, when are we getting NMWA-branded fannypa....i mean "cross body bags?"

and will they be coming with an exclusive insulated compartment to keep deli meats cold.