A customer told us last week that he had seen "Italian" suiting in the market at about ₹3,000 a metre, and asked why we quote more for ours. It is a fair question, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a shrug. So here it is — what the word Italian actually means on a bolt of cloth, which two imported names on our own shelf we will put our name behind, and how to tell in one minute whether the cloth in front of you is what its selvedge says it is.
You are asking two questions, not one
Where was it made? and what is it made of? These are different questions, and only the second one decides how your suit hangs, breathes and ages. A selvedge carries whatever the weaver chooses to print along it. It is a name — not an audited certificate of origin — and it tells you nothing at all about the fibre inside. Meanwhile a cloth with no romance on its edge can be superb wool.
The Italian cloth we stock: Loro Piana
When a customer asks us for Italian, this is what we bring down. Loro Piana is an Italian house, and the cloth on our shelf is what the name promises: pure wool, in Super 130s and Super 150s, in self-stripes, glen checks, a windowpane and a Prince of Wales. It falls like water, breathes in a Delhi October, and forgives a crease faster than anything else we cut. It is priced on request, because a length of this is a conversation, not a rate card — but we will tell you the figure the moment you ask, and we will write "100% wool" on the bill without blinking. That is the test. The real thing has nothing to hide.
The imported cloth we stock, and call imported: Roger La Viale
The second name on our shelf is Roger La Viale. It is an imported brand — a sister company of Huddersfield Fine Worsteds, the English worsted house — and it is cut in designer and tailoring houses across India. We do not call it Italian, because it is not, and its selvedge does not say so either. What its selvedge does say is "Australian Merino Worsted Fusion": a fine worsted blend built on Australian merino, in Super 120s and Super 150s, with a real drape, a lean smooth hand and honest wool recovery from creasing. Our Winter 26 lot runs from ₹6,290 to ₹7,510 a metre, and the earlier Classic qualities from ₹5,220. We sell it as exactly what it is — an imported fine worsted blend from a serious, named house — and at that price it is one of the best-value cloths we own.
| The cloth | What it actually is | What we write on the bill |
|---|---|---|
| Loro Piana | Italian house · pure wool · Super 130s / 150s | Loro Piana, 100% wool, price on request |
| Roger La Viale | Imported · sister company of Huddersfield Fine Worsteds · Australian merino worsted blend · Super 120s / 150s | Roger La Viale, imported worsted blend, ₹5,220–7,510 a metre |
| "Italian" at ₹3,000 | An Italian-sounding name on the selvedge, no mill anyone can name, and a composition nobody will write down — usually a polyester-wool or poly-viscose blend | Ask for it. Watch what happens. |
The cloth that only sounds Italian
We are not going to name names, because the names change every season and that is rather the point. You will know the pattern when you see it. The brand sounds like a street in Milan. The selvedge says "Italian" or "Italy" in a script font, but never "Made in Italy" in plain letters. Nobody in the shop can tell you which mill wove it. The composition is not on the ticket, and when you ask for it on the bill the answer is "pure wool, sir" and a change of subject. The price is ₹2,500 to ₹3,500 a metre. And the cloth itself behaves like the polyester blend it usually is — it holds a crease like a razor, wears warm, and goes shiny at the seat and the elbows inside a year.
There is nothing wrong with a poly-wool blend. We stock plenty, from Raymond, at ₹1,080 to ₹1,810 a metre, and we call it what it is. What is wrong is paying ₹3,000 for a ₹1,500 cloth because of the word on the edge. How will you get a Mercedes at the price of a Maruti? Both are good cars. Only one of them is a Mercedes — and the badge on the boot is not what makes it so.
Three questions that settle it in a minute
- Ask for the composition in writing, on the bill. If a cloth is 100% wool, no seller hesitates to write it down. Hesitation is itself the answer.
- Ask for the mill's name, not the country. Serious cloth comes from a named house with a reputation to protect — Loro Piana, Roger La Viale, Dormeuil, Raymond. "Imported" is a shipping fact; a name is an accountable one.
- Do the price arithmetic. Fine merino is an expensive raw material before anyone weaves it. We have been buying cloth since 1977 and we have never seen a pure-wool Super 130s at ₹3,000 a metre. If the price says otherwise, the cloth is telling you something the selvedge is not.
Our own shelf, said plainly
We stock Raymond, and we stock imported suiting. Where a cloth is Italian, we say Italian and we name the house. Where it is imported and not Italian, we say imported and we name the house. Where it is a blend, we say blend. We will tell you the mill and the composition before you ask, and we will put both on your bill. Ask any shop for the same two facts. A shop that answers straight is worth more to you than any word on a selvedge.
Questions we are asked every week
Is Roger La Viale Italian? No, and we never say it is. It is an imported worsted blend from the Huddersfield Fine Worsteds group, and a very good one. We sell it on what it is, not on where it sounds like it is from.
Is Loro Piana worth the difference over a Super 120s blend? For a suit you will wear fifty times a year, yes — the drape and the crease recovery are in a different class, and the cloth outlasts the fashion. For a suit you will wear five times, the Roger La Viale Super 120s is the smarter money.
Can I see the selvedge before I buy? Always. Bring this article on your phone, and we will unroll the bolt and read the edge with you.