De Fursac kindly invited us to Biella, Italy last week to visit the Lanificio Fratelli Cerruti with whom they have a close relationship since the meeting of two industry stars : Edmond Cohen and Nino Cerruti. As we presented you yesterday a factory tour of the Lanificio Fratelli Cerruti, we want to share with you our personal impressions through a look at the Lanificio Cerruti archives and explain how to buy a fine quality suit with the example of De Fursac.

As part of their partnership with De Fursac, the Cerruti textile mills have for the first time developed fabrics of exceptional quality (Super 130, Super 150 and Turbo 180) exclusively for one brand, providing De Fursac with some of the most exquisite fabrics in the world. Just to give you an idea, Lanificio Cerruti has been creating fabrics for the likes of Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior… so you’d guess it’s a good point for De Fursac to source there.

The three Cerruti brothers founded Lanificio Fratelli Cerruti in 1881, a spinning and weaving factory based in Biella, Italy. Using the exceptionally pure water to wash and dye the wool, the company quickly became famous for the quality of its fabrics. The wool, from Australia, was used to produce exceptional fabrics, including twill, canvas, flannel, tweed and cashmere, all of which had an impeccable drape and remarkable softness.

Now, let’s go in the details. What does the numbering system used to describe the new breed of super-lightweight, high-twist wools mean ? Pioneered by Italian mills about ten years ago, these wonderful fabrics are made using high-tech machines that spin wool lighter and finer than it’s ever been spun before. The various grades of cloth are referred to as Super 100s, Super 120s, Super 150s and so on all the way to Super 200s.

The “super” numbers is a code used to determine the micron of the wool fiber used in the yarn. The higher the number the finer the micron. The weird thing though is that the number has no direct correlation to the micron width, rather a super 180′s wool was more of an arbitrary number chosen for no apparent reason. A common misconception is that the higher these numbers get, the better the fabric is. This is not always the case.

Hereabove, a De Fursac suit with a Lanificio Cerruti fabric. Perfect transformation of a wonderful fabric.

From left : Alix, Eve and Edmond of De Fursac, Nino Cerruti

Super 100s and Super 120s are durable, resilient, and today’s fabrics are superb. Treat the Super 150s and Super 180s as caviar. De Fursac has been demanding the finest wools but made sure that those fabrics are perfectly crease-resistant, long-lasting, strech… Suits with that level of quality are very rare nowadays. Super 180 wool is smooth, creamy and definitely makes the difference. Add to this quality the elegant De Fursac tailoring and you’re good to go !

The Lanificio Fratelli Cerruti archives date back to 1901 and gather the social and style evolution of our society. Sheer moment of emotion for everyone in the room when Nino Cerruti himself opened some of the books and litterally transcribed wool caracteristics into historical moments. The weight, thiness, look, colors of the wool are really a marker of a period and it was highly impressive to discover, touch and enjoy the fabrics by ourselves !

Deconstruction of a De Fursac suit by Edmond Cohen (head of De Fursac for more than 20 years) : padding, buttons, shoulder, lapel, buttons, lining… Everything is of best quality !

Many thanks to Nino Cerruti and his team to have opened the doors of the factory and treated us so kindly. Many thanks to the whole De Fursac crew too for their invitation, their commitment and the very pleasant trip they offered us !

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