Here’s a random memory linked to this post: I remember working the sales floor at a Toronto Holt Renfrew years ago, and on one weekend some lasagna boy entourage from Woodbridge came into my department. I figure they had nothing better to do. They were like kids looking the part for some Backstreet Boys dance rehearsal. During that ill fated conversation they strike-up with me, their blatant ignorance on menswear became obvious in a matter of seconds. One of the guys wanted to know if I could make him a suit with Super 200’s fabric. Overhearing their inquiry and aloof request, and showing his utter repugnance for the chavs (they were obviously out of their element) a dear irreverant colleague of mine abruptly ends my consultation by yelling across the sales floor: “Super 200’s?! You want Super 200’s?! That’ll melt on you!” As it usually happens with the unexpected, keeping up appearances becomes quite the challenge. I couldn’t maintain composure as I burst into laughter. Within a few seconds the chavs left as soon as they had come in…

At Holt’s we carried Holland & Sherry cloths among a selection of other luxurious mills like Scabal, Dormeuil, Barberis, Loro Piana, Zegna; all classics in menswear custom tailoring. My leafing through the swatch books  and cards at the start of every season was ritualistic, and we never saw anything like this. Now, Holland & Sherry weave a fabric made solely from vicuna. The luxurious fabric up until now was only blended with other wools (lambswool, cashmere, angora)  adding to the touch of the garment. The vicuna, a cousin of the llama lives high up in the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes. The wool yields small amounts and the animal can only be shorn every three years. Apparently, Holland & Sherry had been collecting the wool for five years and spent two years developing the fabric. There’s only 60 metres of this bolt of fabric at $4000 a yard, and for $50,000 some 18 people will be priviledged enough to wear a vicuna suit one day. The English textile manufacturers have a retail operation on Saville Row in London. Who needs Super 200’s when you can have 100% vicuna?

pic and info: Luxist

Tags: Holland & Sherry, vicuna, wool