You may recall this stunning Rag&Bone jacket (officially titled the Peak Lapel Razor) from when it first arrived in store a few months back. We could tell there was something special about this jacket from when we first unpacked it, the way it feels, the way it fits... it was a little more expensive than usual ($1535 at regular price). The inside label says Hand Tailored, the finishing details on the inside are incredible... essentially, this jacket makes my mouth water, it's so amazing.
But, delivery season was crazy, and we wanted to find out more, but until now, we didn't.
This garment was made in Brooklyn, USA, at a garment manufacturing plant owned by a man named by the New York Times as "a tailor's tailor": Martin Greenfield. Very famous by those in the know, and for good reason. This factory produces the highest quality (mostly mens) suiting produced in the United States today by all accounts. Band of Outsiders and Rag&Bone both have him produce items for them, and the odd U.S. President (seriously). And no wonder, he has been in the business his entire life. A holocaust survivor, he moved to New York all alone at 16, and started working for GGG Manufacturers. He worked his way up, and eventually bought the company in the 70's.
My friend who works at Rag&Bone said it best herself after taking a tour of his factory:
"His two sons gave us a tour of the 3-floor factory in Bushwick, from design, to cutting, to pockets, to sleeves, to pressing, to button holes, etc, etc. They said that one suit goes through 108 steps and people, for a total of 18 hours of work. The sleeve itself goes through something like 20 steps. They steam after every single step, creating the shape and the "memory" of the suit."
Hearing that, to me, always reminds me why quality clothing, while more expensive, is totally worth every single penny. So, my heart is breaking that we have it on sale, 40% off to $921.
One of my top three favourite blogs is the one written by Todd Selby, and I was thrilled to see that he had been to the factory and documented what he saw for all of us! Check out his post here:
http://www.theselby.com/8_20_09_martin_greenfield/index.html
Also, the New York Times article I referred to earlier can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/fashion/30FACTORY.html?_r=2&ref=fashion
Long Live Great Quality!!
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