We have a wide range of high quality fabric samples from established mills around the world, ranging from renowned to lesser known brands. All fabrics come with certificates of origin. The most common fabric for suits is wool, and for shirts is cotton.

Fabrics in general are classified into different types, broadly speaking, natural and synthetic. Natural fabrics come from either animals, plants or the cocoon. Wools such as cashmere, merino wool, mohair, alpacas, vicuna, camel and rabbit are all from animals. Cotton and linen are from plants; and silk, cocoon of silkworm.

Wool fabrics are also classified into worsted, which has a smooth feel and are mainly applied in suits; and woolen, which is furry, has much wider applications. Some other wool fabrics are called Flannel, Heather Mixture, Tweed, Garbadine, Herringbone and Harris tweed, by the way they are weaved.

Another classification is by weight, number of grams per meter run (European standard) or ounce per yard (U.S. or Asian standard). Heavy weighted fabrics are normally used for the cold season, and light weighted fabrics for the warm.

The quality of wool fabrics is based on the fineness of the fleece that goes into the making of the fabric, measured in microns. Top quality fabrics come from fleece measured in the low teens of the micron. As a benchmark for comparison, the human hair is about 60 microns; superfine wools are far finer.

The finest fleeces are sold to fabric makers every year in auctions held in places which produce them. They are limited in quantity and fetch top prices, which mean fabrics made from these fleeces are very expensive. The most expensive fabrics are the top superfine fabrics made of fleece of vicuna, cashmere and the merino sheep. 

The word "Superfine" is the standard industry term used to describe and differentiate the quality of fabrics.

Definition of Superfine Wool

The International Wool Textile Organization has codified fabric quality definitions relating to the use of Super "X" and "X" descriptions, stating:

Fabric Labelling Code of Practice

Pure wool fabrics. The word Super (as in SUPER 100's, for example) can only be used to describe fabrics made from pure new wool, and the "X" value is determined by, and must comply with the Maximum Fibre Diameter values in the table on the following table:

"X" Value	Max. Fibre Diameter	X" Value	Max. Fibre Diameter
SUPER 80's	19.75 m	SUPER 170's	15.25 m
SUPER 90's	19.25 m	SUPER 180's	14.75 m
SUPER 100's	18.75 m	SUPER 190's	14.25 m
SUPER 110's	18.25 m	SUPER 200's	13.75 m
SUPER 120's	17.75 m	SUPER 210's	13.25 m
SUPER 130's	17.25 m	SUPER 220's *	12.75 m
SUPER 140's	16.75 m	SUPER 230's *	12.25 m
SUPER 150's	16.25 m	SUPER 240's *	11.75 m
SUPER 160's	15.75 m	SUPER 250's *	11.25 m

* Proposed description of 220's, 230's, 240's and 250's.

SUPER "X" descriptions can also be used for fabrics made from wool blended with rare fibres (such as mohair, cashmere and alpaca), and also with silk. The inclusion of elasthane to give the fabric a stretch effect is permitted, as also is the inclusion of up to 5% non-wool yarn for decorative effects.

What's Prize Winning Merino Wool

We offer most brands of high quality fabrics. The better known brands are Ermenegildo Zegna, Loro Piana, Cerruti, Laniere Mills, Scabal, Holland and Sherry and many others. Please visit our shop to find out more.

The wonderful animals that give us the most precious fabrics.

Vicuna, a rare and protected South American Camel

Kashmir Goat, Cashmere

Merino Sheep, Wool

Angora Goats, Mohair

Alpacas, another South American Camel