For some people, the costume is sometimes a source of paradoxes: we like its elegance, but after a while, we get tired of the overwhelming majority of austere and common colors.
So we start to want a suit with a stronger and/or more exclusive material. This is what we wanted to explore with our new suit.
The goal in my head was ambitious: to make those who don't like suits want to wear this costume.
And suddenly, a costume like no other appears around a cliff...
My mission will be accomplished if, during a casual weekend, between wearing a regular outfit and this suit, you will choose our suit. Not to go to work, but for a dinner with friends for example. With your sneakers, or a pair of brogues.
And there, only there, will I be able to consider that we have succeeded in relaxing the costume!
Last thing: I wanted a suit that could be easily mismatched , so that I could wear the jacket and pants separately in a wide variety of outfits.
If you want to wear this costume just (and especially) to have a drink with good friends, I have succeeded in my mission!
For once, I like this costume so much that I wanted to have a little fun with it, and show you its potential when worn "normally" (shirt, tie, shoes):
It made me want to wear the suit again! Howard's shirt, Husbands tie, and Barker shoes.
I was already a big fan of the green tie, now I'm even more so! It's a color that blends beautifully with this Prince of Wales. Howard's shirt and Husbands tie.
These pants are a bit unusual, but we'll talk about them at the end of the article 🙂 Barker shoes and Mes Chaussettes Rouges socks.
With these specifications geared towards relaxation, it was not possible to take a completely flat combed wool. It needed relief, pattern, nuance , and if there is one manufacturer who could satisfy us on all these points, it is the Italian Ferla.
But what is this strange material? Where does it come from? Answer in a moment! Oh, and the pockets are patched to add casualness and use the blazer mismatched.
Ferla, a luxurious Italian clothier… a century old!
I'll be blunt: I love Ferla.
And that's where... the first problem comes in!
Usually Italian suppliers have a very "explanatory" communication. Look at all the contents of Vitale Barberis Canonico, Albini or Candiani.
They quickly understood that the market was in demand for explanations, workshop images, pedagogy. And the biggest ones invested heavily in this direction. .
The only aerial view photo of the workshop! I mainly deduce that Ferla is located in a haven of greenery… #inspectorcolombo (photo credit: Ferla)
On the other hand, at Ferla, there is not much to get your teeth into.
This is all the more surprising for such an old company, with world-famous archives, which must have a ton of stuff to tell, and whose creativity is unrivaled (I'll come back to this point in a moment).
A glimmer of hope remains: they told us that they would agree to open their doors to our cameras if our collaboration were to become established over time... We very much hope to come back with a great video report for next year!
Regardless, let's investigate and see what relevant information we can glean...
A small family business with a century of existence
Ferla employs 40 people, which is very few for an Italian clothier! In fact, when I talk about Ferla to other Italian suppliers to say that I like its creativity, I am always told " yes, but you know, Ferla are artisans, that's why they are so expensive" .
One of the very few interior photos of the factory, with this curious parquet floor. (photo credit: Ferla)
While Italian clothiers are trying to push prices down to remain competitive, Ferla has made the opposite choice, namely to remain very clearly in the high end, with a unique and creative offering.
This is how this tiny company has managed to make a place for itself among all the luxury brands. .
Here again, a photo without explanation, where the fabric is clearly being washed, and where the machine seems to be very modern. (photo credit: Ferla)
For the record, they only have two French clients: a very large luxury house and… us! Finally, something surprising for an Italian manufacturer: because of their unique know-how, they are quite secretive, and little information circulates about them. .
In my opinion, there are three points that make Ferla's positioning unique:
The Ferla touch #1: characteristic creativity 
An inimitable touch! (photo credit: Ferla)They are creative, but it always remains very tasteful and elegant, it does not go in all directions with WTF and unwearable things. In short, they have really specific fabrics, very easily recognizable.
This color mix is beautiful. (photo credit: Ferla)
The Ferla Touch #2: An Unparalleled Sense of Texture
They are all about loop and texture, which gives their fabric a "signature" feel that is very hard to find elsewhere. And believe me, having searched for similar textured and creative equivalents for a long time, I know what I'm talking about!
Ferla, given its small size, offers a surprising variety of textures. (photo credit: Ferla)
To achieve this, they do not hesitate to try numerous blends with wool, silk, linen, mohair, alpaca, and when necessary, polyamide to provide strength.
The Ferla touch #3: baby alpaca specialists… but not only
Tell yourself that these three fabrics are among the most sober that you can find at Ferla. I'll let you imagine the rest! (photo credit: Ferla)
They are specialists in baby alpaca, they have entire fabric collections on this theme. It is a material that is not easy to work with creatively and they always offer super cool designs. Besides, very very few Italian drapers venture into it.
They also use mohair extensively, as they are very fond of these luxurious and fluffy wools.
And here we have much stronger fabrics! (photo credit: Ferla)
Ferla is a bit of a treat for me when I'm at a trade show. I absolutely have to go to their stand (far too small and discreet compared to their added value, you don't stumble upon it by chance) because you'll be amazed by their new fabrics.
A Prince of Wales with a baby alpaca, cotton, polyamide blend
A Ferla fabric with an unusual composition!
Basically, this fabric is a Prince of Wales. But all of Ferla's expertise has been to relax it thanks to the curly texture of which it holds the secret and the use of baby alpaca.
Here is the exact composition:
- 38% baby alpaca
- 33% cotton
- 29% polyamide
You are probably wondering why there is almost 30% polyamide in this material. For once, it is very useful: it allows you to obtain the bouclette effect that gives all the charm of this fabric. If there were none, the material would disintegrate too easily, because it is the polyamide that gives structure and robustness.
Can you feel the polyamide when you wear it? Short answer: no.
During my personal tests, where I wore the jacket in several temperatures, I did not notice anything special compared to a 100% wool: no excessive sweating in particular. I think it is due to the cotton which provides lightness.
The famous Ferla label on their fabrics including baby alpaca.
This bouclette effect obtained thanks to the polyamide quickly becomes hypnotic. There is a slight "blur" on the pattern, and above all it is an incredibly rich material in nuances. It is therefore a Prince of Wales really like no other, much more modern than the "first degree" Prince of Wales that we see everywhere.
For the more technical among you, the weight of the material is 290g per linear meter or, in square meters, 190 g/m2 , which makes a suit perfectly suited for autumn, winter, and spring.
The star element of this material is obviously Baby Alpaca , it is what gives this roughness so difficult to find elsewhere, difficult to describe in writing.
It is both soft, but with grain, and the touch, the fall, have a "velvety" side.
It definitely looks best in daylight. Also note that gray and burgundy are two colors that complement each other wonderfully.
What is baby alpaca?
It is a species of camelid from South America, which also includes llamas and vicuñas. Since they live at high altitudes in the Andes, they have a fleece to protect them from the cold, and that is precisely what interests us!
Their special feature? They have a smiling face when you look at them from the front:
Yes, it's an animal that has a huge swag. In scientific jargon, they say that I'm anthropomorphizing.
How do you measure Baby Alpaca?
There are still some myths surrounding the baby alpaca: some claim that it is the first shearing of the little alpaca aged one or two years, etc.
Yes, it can be, but the term "baby alpaca" simply refers to the fineness of the fiber. An adult with a very fine fleece will be able to produce fibers of "baby alpaca" grade.
Obviously, we are much more likely to find this finesse on alpacas aged 1 or 2 years at the first shearing than on an adult! Hence the name "baby alpaca".
Please note that depending on the country, the classification of the "baby alpaca" grade does not necessarily represent the same thickness of fiber. But we can say without being mistaken that between all the classifications, this represents a thickness between 18 and 23 microns.
In the case of the alpaca used in this material, Ferla told us that it is a 19 micron fiber .
In the American classification system, this is the highest grade: the name "royal baby alpaca" , which corresponds to alpaca fibers whose fineness is equal to or less than 19 microns.
In Europe , you need to have fibers less than or equal to 18 microns to be considered Royal Baby Alpaca. That's why on the Ferla composition label, it says "Baby Alpaca" and not "Royal Baby Alpaca" .
Among its advantages:
- It is hypoallergenic since it does not contain lanolin unlike sheep
- its thermal properties, due to the fineness of the fiber, are very close to those of cashmere
- and of course, it is a very soft and resistant fiber!
Finally, it is a rare material, since according to Ferla, it represents 1.5% of alpaca wool production . Needless to say, you will be touching this material for the first time, so you will be very attentive!
A color just for us
Please note that this is a color that was created specifically for us. . Basically, this design already existed in much stronger colors. But given the mix of materials, the pattern, and the texture, we thought that we needed a more sober color, in this case, gray, to have a less contrasting rendering.
And with a manufacturer who has such good taste in colors, it really wasn't complicated to get the "right" gray.
A pattern full of nuances! And yet, I find that no photo does justice to the "real" effect of this fabric.
Quantities revised upwards… thanks to the enthusiasm of the BonneGueule team
Moreover, given the price of the material, we had planned to produce 180 costumes.
But there was such enthusiasm in the team for this costume, that we decided to plan an automatic restocking directly for the end of January…
Regarding the price, I'll be honest, since it's one of the most expensive materials we've used (in the top 3 with the wool/linen/silk and wool/silk/cashmere blazers), it's a suit that couldn't be below €600, the usual price of our suits. Yes, the material costs twice as much as a very good 100% wool fabric.
These slight irregularities, these variations in gray, are clearly a material that must first be seen "in real life."
To wear mismatched
With such a casual fabric, it's a perfect suit to wear mismatched, that is, to have an outfit with the jacket, but without the pants. And vice versa.
On the jacket side, you can consider it a full-fledged blazer that will easily be worn with jeans, chinos or wool flannel pants. The cut is the same as our usual blazers, so you will be on familiar ground.
It's a blazer that can be worn very easily with jeans.
FOR THIS BLAZER, OUR USUAL HIGH-END FINISHES
HORN BUTTONS
As on all our blazers and coats, you will find beautiful horn buttons.
THE "KISSING BUTTONS"
It’s a blazer with “kissing buttons”: the buttons overlap slightly, and it’s another nod to the world of tailoring.
THE EDGE SEAMS
Since this blazer is unlined, all seams are visible.
It is therefore necessary to carefully braid each seam. It takes longer, but is so much more beautiful! 
AN AMERICAN FACING
Although it may not be obvious at first glance, the photo below shows the inside of the jacket, at the left front panel. You can see that there is no real lining, but that the outer fabric comes back inside the jacket.
It's called an American facing.
It's more expensive to make because it requires using more high-end fabric, but the effect when you open your jacket is incomparable.
A semi-lined blazer
Pants with a slight carrot cut
For this suit, it was not a question of a banal cut of pants. So the cut is very close to the jogging pants that we released in January.
Why? With an original material like this, we had to explore a different silhouette!
Important: on the shoot, the pants are intentionally worn short, because it is in the spirit of this costume as we imagined it, but at launch, they will have a normal length, including the lapels. The photos are therefore not representative of the current length.
It was clear that with such material, a slightly more original cut of pants than usual was needed...
I insist on the fact that it is a slight carrot cut and certainly not a jogging. Thus, compared to normal pants, we added 1.5 cm at the hips (but the measurement at the waist remains strictly the same, so continue to take your usual size). As for the thighs, we added 0.5 cm on each of them compared to our normal pants.
However, there is a clip on each leg, just like the jogpants, to provide ease.
At the ankle, however, these are fitted pants, since the leg opening is between 16 and 16.5 cm (due to industrial tolerances) for a size 48.
To give you an idea of the actual length of the pants, I switched to the other side of the camera to show you:
This is the correct length of the pants when you receive them . They are a little longer than in the photos of Renaud in Iceland.
The benefit of having a fitted ankle opening is that your shoes will really show off!
An optional trouser cuff
These pants end with a beautiful cuff!
What if you don't like setbacks?
Don't panic, with two snips of the scissors, any seamstress will "free" the cuff and make you a classic trouser bottom. But if you want my personal opinion, I think it's a shame to do it. Indeed, with this costume we want to encourage you to bring some roughness into your outfit, to try new things... And keeping the trouser cuff as is is part of it!
Its cut, its lapels and its design will allow it to be relevant in an outfit with sneakers, or a nice pair of English shoes (which is what I did when I wore it).
Really, don't hesitate to mismatch these pants, especially with your sweaters, it will bring a very appreciable twist to your outfits. Here, we also had fun with colorful socks (Archiduchesse), but you can be more sober about it.
By the way, the gray of the fabric calms the atypical color of the sock (Archduchess) without any problem. And again, this is not the representative length of the pants , it will normally be long on the day of the launch!
The high-end finishes of these pants
The V of ease at the back of the belt
It's a very tailored finish, which legend has it gives more mobility to the belt... In fact, visually, I find that it gives soul to the pants.
Yes, yes, you can see a small slit in the middle of the photo!
Side tightening tabs for optimum adjustment
These are our first pants that inaugurate this nod to the world of tailoring:
Horn buttons, also on the pants!
As usual, they are there, and bring nice nuances compared to a plain plastic button.
My favorite finish: the three-button closure
This is probably the most high-end finish of these pants. Usually, it's one or two buttons, here, there are three. This allows to distribute the support well and add comfort.
This is the inside of the pants…
And here is the view from the outside. Note that when the pants are fully buttoned, the button just above the zip is no longer visible, unlike the button on the far left.
One last warning…
I would like to warn you though: if you want to be as discreet as possible and blend in as much as possible, or if you are looking for the most basic costume possible, this may not be the costume for you.
On the other hand, if you like to have a more unique piece, this costume is for you!
See you soon on the other side,
Benoit
Have you noticed one of our clothes?
To get our new pieces, visit our boutiques in Paris , Lyon and Bordeaux or our e-shop .
