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Sharkskin fabric

LSeca

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Can someone explain what exactly "sharkskin" is, as in a cloth description. I hear of this term frequently and Soph has described his outfit in the waywt thread as such. Does this describe texture? Thanks.
 

Soph

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A smooth, somewhat shiny surface.

There's good sharkskin and very bad sharkskin
laugh.gif
 

Get Smart

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It's the way the wool is woven, usually with 2 alternating color threads so the end result you get a sheen and depending on light and angle it can appear to have patches of one color or the other. "Tonik" (Dormeuil is known for toniks) is another term thrown around that is similar
 

itsstillmatt

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Sharkskin is probably my favorite suit fabric. It is generally a black and white or black and grey plain weave in a sort of stair step pattern. IMO, the best ones are the more rustic ones like Harrison does, but Smith's is probably the classic. Here is a picture.
0630.jpg
 

Faded501s

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Thank you much for the picture sir, it clears things up quite nicely.
smile.gif
 

a tailor

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sharkskin is a closely woven worsted. it has a smooth hard finish and is hard wearing. it keeps its jacket shape and trouser crease very well. it is made in all weights and qualities. it is made mostly in solids but can be had in all sorts of patterns.
 

Tarmac

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I always wanted to ask this but I was afraid I would get N00B M0BBED
boxing[1].gif
 

LSeca

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Originally Posted by Faded501s
Thank you much for the picture sir, it clears things up quite nicely.
smile.gif


I agree. Thanks for the pic, I wouldn't have understood had you not posted the example.


Off topic, who are Harrison an Smith? Cloth makers?
 

jml90

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Originally Posted by iammatt
Sharkskin is probably my favorite suit fabric. It is generally a black and white or black and grey plain weave in a sort of stair step pattern. IMO, the best ones are the more rustic ones like Harrison does, but Smith's is probably the classic. Here is a picture.
0630.jpg


So it's like an end on end?
 

crazyquik

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173K.jpg


Brooks has been offering a few sharkskins lately.

When I think of sharkskin, I think of the Rat Pack.

To quote a review I read online:
"This was sharkskin suits cool. Martini cool. Grown-up cool, with Francis Albert Sinatra as its pope and his boozing buddies as its priests. "
 

Sator

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The best blurb on what a pick-and-pick (sharkskin in the US) is comes from Villarosa and Angeli:

pickandpickvs3.jpg


There has been some controversy here before as to whether sharkskin is just American English for pick-and-pick but I have seen it described as such so many times now that I am pretty sure they are the same. So, if you are looking through an English book look for the term 'pick-and-pick'.
 

Manton

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Matt is right. It's a very specific worsted weave. The step pattern is the defining characteristic. Use two vastly contrasting yarns, and you get a striking cloth. Use yarns that are very close in color, and you get a more subtle cloth more defined by surface interest than color.

Because of the tight weave and finishing, sharkskin is often a bit shiney. It doesn't have to be. I have some that are, some that aren't. Mohair, on the other hand, is always at least a little shiney. Keep in mind that mohair is a different fiber (different animal), not a different weave.

"Tonik" is just Dormeuil's name for it's mohair book. There are no sharkskin weaves in that book, as I recall.

Smith Woolens and Harrisons of Edinburgh are cloth merchants. They commission weavers to make cloths to their specifications, and then they sell those cloths through tailors.
 

Get Smart

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Originally Posted by Manton
"Tonik" is just Dormeuil's name for it's mohair book. There are no sharkskin weaves in that book, as I recall.

right. Tonik isn't sharkskin but the sheen the mohair gives makes it sharkskin-esque, at least imo
 

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