We don't do a lot of collaborations, but this one is special. Original Madras Trading Company is a third-generation family business that’s been handweaving since the 1970s on traditional hand looms in — where else? — Madras, India. That's the birthplace of traditional Madras cloth (pronounced mud-ROSS,) defined as a plainweave fabric made from 100% Indian cotton and woven by hand with a minimum of two colors... but usually more. We love it for its breeziness and its light weight, but most of all for the unique, not-totally-perfect character of the hand weave. The irregularity is exactly what makes it so cool. While it takes a single weaver 4–6 hours to do what a machine loom could knock out in under 10 minutes... we think the end result is worth it. Slow and steady and wonderfully special.
Material matters
SM x Original Madras Trading Company
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Material matters
Polyester
We often hear a little trepidation in the shops around polyester, but let us set the record straight: not all synthetics are created equal. Fast-fashion polyester does not go through the same careful refinement process...
Material matters
Escorial Wool
Escorial wool, a cut-above alternative to cashmere, comes from a super-rare type of sheep originally kept by Spanish royalty. Soft and supple, with springy coiled fibers that naturally resist wrinkling, Escorial is remarkable for its longevity — in other...
Material matters
Tana Lawn® Liberty Fabric
Liberty Fabrics has been producing some of our favorite prints since 1875. Their signature Tana Lawn® quality is fine, cool, and especially soft. While it's woven from ultra-fine, long-staple Egyptian cotton, it almost behaves like silk, with a lightweight...
Material matters
Piccadilly Liberty
Liberty Fabrics has been producing some of our favorite prints since 1875. The Piccadilly poplin quality is heavier and more opaque than their signature Tana Lawn® quality — though still quite soft — and especially suited...
Material matters
High Twist Wool
We used this English high-twist wool for the very first suit we ever made. It’s fine and smooth and a little bit crunchy, with a slightly open (read: breathable) weave because the yarns are twisted...