Roy
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2004
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I was making this post for a Dutch Style forum where we have been discussing the differences between hand and machinemade brands as well as the differences between several handmade brands. After BjornH saw some of the pictures he thought it was a nice idea to post these on this board (and AAF) as well. DISCLAIMER: The colors in the pictures can be pretty different from real life, there is one purple linen Borrelli that almost seems like a grey shirt on the photo. Ermenegildo Zegna: This is a shirt from Ermenegildo Zegna, somebody on AAF told me they were made in the same factory in Turkey as most Boss shirts which is pretty easy to believe. The buttons are made from plastic, no handwork at all but I like the fabric. It has a soft touch and it doesn't wrinkle very much. All in all a decent shirt but I wouldn't buy EZ again, I think it's to expensive for machinemade RTW shirts.
Brioni: This was my first shirt of the 'better' Italian brands. It turned out to be a huge disappointment, the fabric has a cardboard feel to it, it wrinkles easily it isn't any better than any other (waaay cheaper) shirt I owned before and well, it is kind of boring.
The thing that made me buy it, on sale luckily.
Barba di Napoli 1: Barba is one of my favourite brands of shirts, this particular one is a pink egyption cotton with pink MoP buttons. What I like about these Barba shirts is the handwork, it does make a shirt feel softer and more comfortable around the collar and the armholes. The shirt is 'shirring' (thank you AK) which is one of the trademarks of Italian shirts. I got the idea of the photo Alexander Kabbaz posted of the pink shirt with pink/red buttons featured in Departures. So once again, thanks to AK.
Barba di Napoli 2: Another pink Barba, this time with the standard MoP buttons but contrast collar and white french cuffs. Again, lots of handwork and shirring.
Barba di Napoli 3: After seeing Wallstreet I wanted a contrast collar on a striped shirt, but not exactly like the ones I have seen in the film. All in all I am very satisfied with the overall look and feel of this particular shirt. It is pretty obvious to me, after ordering a few shirts made by Barba that the quality of construction depends for the most part on the seamstress. This one is by far the best constructed Barba I have. I especially like the M or Bond cuffs, although I can imagine that others would not even think about those.
Borrelli 1 Even though it is a bit unfair to compair RTW Borrelli's to MTM Barba's I do it anyway. Since I don't have any MTM Borrelli's. The fit of my Barba's of course is better, all in all I think Barba makes a nicer shirt for a (bit) nicer price. The only thing I prefer on my Borrelli shirts are the buttonholes, I have the feeling they are far stronger and more durable than on my Barba's. But it might have to do with the fact that the fabric of my Barba's is thinner as well, I only have Borrelli shirts of quite thick fabric, no egyption cotton Borrelli's up to this point.
Borrelli 2: What can I say, i'm a sucker for linen soft collars, especially if they are nicely made and the colors are bold. So this one was right up my alley. It's a shame that the colors look different from real lfe.
On this picture the color seems to resemble the real shirt a bit more.
Oger Napoli (Finamore): This is the house brand of a menswear store in Amsterdam (Oger), their shirts are made by Finamore althought there is obviously less handwork in them.
Cesare Attolini: This is not my own shirt, but on the Dutch forum people are adding detailed pictures of some of their own shirts so others can compare more easily.
Brioni: This was my first shirt of the 'better' Italian brands. It turned out to be a huge disappointment, the fabric has a cardboard feel to it, it wrinkles easily it isn't any better than any other (waaay cheaper) shirt I owned before and well, it is kind of boring.
The thing that made me buy it, on sale luckily.
Barba di Napoli 1: Barba is one of my favourite brands of shirts, this particular one is a pink egyption cotton with pink MoP buttons. What I like about these Barba shirts is the handwork, it does make a shirt feel softer and more comfortable around the collar and the armholes. The shirt is 'shirring' (thank you AK) which is one of the trademarks of Italian shirts. I got the idea of the photo Alexander Kabbaz posted of the pink shirt with pink/red buttons featured in Departures. So once again, thanks to AK.
Barba di Napoli 2: Another pink Barba, this time with the standard MoP buttons but contrast collar and white french cuffs. Again, lots of handwork and shirring.
Barba di Napoli 3: After seeing Wallstreet I wanted a contrast collar on a striped shirt, but not exactly like the ones I have seen in the film. All in all I am very satisfied with the overall look and feel of this particular shirt. It is pretty obvious to me, after ordering a few shirts made by Barba that the quality of construction depends for the most part on the seamstress. This one is by far the best constructed Barba I have. I especially like the M or Bond cuffs, although I can imagine that others would not even think about those.
Borrelli 1 Even though it is a bit unfair to compair RTW Borrelli's to MTM Barba's I do it anyway. Since I don't have any MTM Borrelli's. The fit of my Barba's of course is better, all in all I think Barba makes a nicer shirt for a (bit) nicer price. The only thing I prefer on my Borrelli shirts are the buttonholes, I have the feeling they are far stronger and more durable than on my Barba's. But it might have to do with the fact that the fabric of my Barba's is thinner as well, I only have Borrelli shirts of quite thick fabric, no egyption cotton Borrelli's up to this point.
Borrelli 2: What can I say, i'm a sucker for linen soft collars, especially if they are nicely made and the colors are bold. So this one was right up my alley. It's a shame that the colors look different from real lfe.
On this picture the color seems to resemble the real shirt a bit more.
Oger Napoli (Finamore): This is the house brand of a menswear store in Amsterdam (Oger), their shirts are made by Finamore althought there is obviously less handwork in them.
Cesare Attolini: This is not my own shirt, but on the Dutch forum people are adding detailed pictures of some of their own shirts so others can compare more easily.
