100% handmade shirt - too good to be true?

[Skyhigh]

I stumbled across a website, http://www.baybarb.it, where they claim to make their shirts completely by hand (Tutta fatta a mano) in Italy. They estimate 12 hrs work on a shirt and the price is only € 151,00 !! They use " Only the finest woven Italian fabrics from the following manufacturers: Sictess, Testa, Monti, Ferno, Albini, Valle Brembana". Where is the catch??? The images seemes quite nice and I desperatly want to try one. Any comments?

 

[mateja]

Well you could be our guinea pig and try it out and let us all know

 

[A Y]

You can see machine sewing on the collar of that shirt. The topstitching looks almost cosmetic. It's probably too good to be true. I think Alex K's said that he spends more than twice that much time on his shirts and they're almost entirely machine sewn.

--Andre

 

[Connemara]

No manufacturer in the world makes a shirt entirely by hand. They're lying.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by Connemara

No manufacturer in the world makes a shirt entirely by hand. They're lying.
You guys are a bunch of artisan haters.

 

[Will]

Kabbaz says his shirts require ten hours apiece and they are machine sewn.

 

[DocHolliday]

Originally Posted by Connemara

No manufacturer in the world makes a shirt entirely by hand. They're lying.

Mine does. And she uses a thread made from a rare Amazonian reed that she first must harvest, then gum into the proper form. And it can only be gummed after passing through the intestinal tract of a nearly extinct species of alligator.

Too bad the collars are so prone to falling off.

 

[Shirtmaven]

I have seen a shirt made entirely by hand. It was made just at the turn of the century by someone who did not own a sewing machine. It was pretty amazing.
Of course it did not have a fused collar or cuff. In fact it was a night shirt with pleating and embroidery work. Must have taken weeks to make.


Do the math on this shirt.

12 hours of work at $10 per hour. In Italy by the time you are done with taxes and vacation pay, it is even more.

High count fabric an buttons and trimming. at least $30 or more.

Does not compute.

Carl

 

[Lucky Strike]

Some things are done better by machines than humans. That's one of the most important reasons for having machines. I would think a lot of the work necessary in a quality shirt is achieved better by machine-work. (Didn't Alex Kabbaz have a fairly convincing argument along these lines?)

 

[A Y]

Originally Posted by RJman

You guys are a bunch of artisan haters.

I hear it takes a whole year to make a Rolex.

--Andre

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by Andre Yew

I hear it takes a whole year to make a Rolex.

--Andre
It takes a nation of artisans to keep us down.

 

[zjpj83]

artisanal artisanship

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by RJman

It takes a nation of artisans to keep us down.

it takes a village to raise an artisan

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by iammatt

it takes a village to raise an artisan
Hillary Clinton is an artisan in a pantsuit. --PJ O'Rolex

 

[Lucky Strike]

Originally Posted by Skyhigh

I stumbled across a website, http://www.baybarb.it, where they claim to make their shirts completely by hand (Tutta fatta a mano) in Italy. They estimate 12 hrs work on a shirt and the price is only € 151,00 !! They use " Only the finest woven Italian fabrics from the following manufacturers: Sictess, Testa, Monti, Ferno, Albini, Valle Brembana". Where is the catch??? The images seemes quite nice and I desperatly want to try one. Any comments?
I had a look around the site, and the shirts do seem worth a try, though. As you're in Oslo, I've heard good things about the custom shirt programme at Lacrosse (in Bygdøy allÃ

, close to Frogner kirke). Around NOK 1.000 per shirt.