Florence Diaries: Fashion Field Trip
On Friday, my Fashion Industry class took a field trip up towards Milan to visit first Canali, where they produce high end menswear, then to Canepa, a leading textile manufacturer in the Como region. We saw the different stages that go into the production of a suit: first the design, of course, then the cutting of the pieces of fabric, then those pieces are sent to a separate factory where they are sewn together over a long assembly line and finally are recognizable as a finely tailored suit. Canali is a leading manufacturer of the highest quality suits, where the inner lining is sewn together by hand rather than glued in sections, a more efficient but far less refined method used by many companies.
Canepa was incredibly interesting to explore -- here, they produce silk and jacquard and various knit fabrics, as well as many of the accessory products that go along with this (ties, bow ties, pocket squares, etc.) They have decades of archives of fabrics showing a vast array of technique and pattern over the last century. Their designers often look at these past influences when creating new fabrics. We saw the huge looms that work 24 hours a day producing millions of square centimeters of fabric per week for companies like Brooks Brothers, JCrew, Ralph Lauren, and more. When you see the tag "Made in Italy" on your silk products think of the brilliant minds over here in Italy working at Canapa.
t was such an interesting experience to see where these seemingly common fashion items come from. When you see a shirt, there is a huge process of hundreds of jobs behind it; as Miranda Presley explains in the Devil Wears Prada, the cerulean blue sweater had an entire industry behind its making.
Sorry for the crappy iPhone pictures, I didn't bring my camera.....