Tony The Tailor
Setting the Standard... Naturally
The Making of a Southwick Suit
Beloved by Presidents, captains of industry, Hollywood royalty and countless gentlemen
clients with an eye for detail and appreciation of quality choose suits that come from the
Southwick plant in Massachusetts and takes shape under the expert hands of artisans whose
skills descend directly from two Italian brothers who founded the factory in 1929.
A Southwick suit starts as a roll of fabric from which a pattern is cut, and while much of
today’s pattern cutting is mechanically executed, there’s always a client whose
uncompromising attitude toward fit, unusual fitting requirements, or both, demand doing
things the old fashioned way. Thus, at the Southwick factory, the increasing rare breed of
men who can chalk a tailor’s pattern onto fabric, and cut it with an eagle’s eye and surgeon’s
hand, can still be found. Under their hands a suit begins to take shape; an expertly cut
pattern is the foundation without which all the witchcraft of stitching and shaping is impossible.
But that's just the beginning. Constructing a jacket means shaping fabric to mold perfectly to the
subtle but complex curves of the chest, shoulder and neck.  If the cutting is the foundation, the
canvas-that unseen but indispensable interlining that defines a jackets shape and drape- is the
scaffolding. The canvas is a multi-layered wonder of textile engineering, whose four layers include
a critical horsehair and cotton weave in which the natural spring of the horsehair gives the lapel
and the front of the jacket a permanent resistance to wrinkling, a jaunty spring to the roll of the
lapel, and most importantly, the ability to mold itself over time to the wearer’s body. The canvas
must be sewn together with just the right amount of tension in the thread to allow the layers both
freedom of movement and structural integration-and then in one of the most amazing stations,
it’s baste-stitched into the jacket front, freehand, by an artesian working without a template or
guideline, whose vision of the torso in the mind’s eye guides the hands with skill. Once the baste-
stitching has set the critical relationship between the outershell and canvas, heat and pressure
work their magic. The jacket front is placed on a form and steam ironed, to permanently set the
curvature of the canvas to the subtle fullness that both accommodates the wearer’s chest and
gives the garment , and wearer, a subtle, but unmistakable sense of poise and stature.
The jacket must now be readied for one of the most crucial steps in its genesis:  the
joining of the sleeve to the jacket. Thirteen rows of pad stitching in the lapels, whose
deliberate looseness lends the jacket its signature freedom of movement, lie adjacent
to this critical intersection of limb and torso. The shoulder joint, the most mobile of
the human body, shifts the entire structure of the upper chest and back when the arm
moves and the jacket must have the same two seemingly incompatible properties that
the shoulder itself possesses: superb structural integrity and acrobatic flexibility.
Once trimmed to accept the sleeve, the process of creating the Southwick
natural shoulder can begin. At a small station set apart from the rest of the of
long practice carefully cuts the sleeve seam at certain exact locations-again with
no template to guide him, he works by hand and eye alone-to help create the a
flatness and shape necessary to create the elegantly subtle transition between
shoulder and arm so appreciated by the Southwick connoisseur.
The finishing touch is just as critical-hand sewing the armhole of the jacket. As with the padding stitches that give the canvas its four
layers of canvas, sleevehead, lining and outer layer of material can move. The alchemy of merging these multiple elements into an
organic whole falls to some of Southwick’s most experienced artisans, some who have been performing this artistry for over 33 years.
Though these are some of the most critical operations, the integration of so many separate elements into a
garment that moves with all the singular elegance of the body it ornaments, is the work of not a few, but of dozens
of skilled hands. And every seam, every stitch, every square millimeter of fabric, right down to the proud placement
of the Southwick label, must pass under many a watchful eyes as well- eyes that embody the old saying that
“intolerance is the handmaiden of perfection”.  At Southwick though, it is not a proverb- they are words to live by.
Anthony's knowledge of how fine hand-tailored clothing is made, understanding its start to finish
assembly process, his fitting skills, fabric expertise, taste level and dedication to every client is
why Southwick Clothes is represented exclusively at Tony The Tailor.
Charleston, West Virginia
304-982-6090
Jacksonville, Florida
904-674-1463
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