Craft · The make
What is inside the jacket is the jacket.
Cloth gets the credit, but construction decides how a suit moves, drapes and ages. Every Linea di Biella jacket is built the slow way — a floating canvas, a hand-padded lapel, a basted assembly checked by hand at every stage.
The four disciplines
Built stitch by stitch, not pressed into shape.
The floating canvas
A layer of wool-and-hair canvas hangs free between cloth and lining, anchored by stitches rather than glue. It carries the chest, lets the cloth fall in a clean line, and slowly takes the print of the wearer’s body — the reason a good jacket fits better in year two than on day one.
The hand-padded lapel
Hundreds of pad stitches roll the lapel over the canvas so it springs back against the chest instead of lying flat. A pressed, fused lapel keeps its shape for a season; a padded one keeps it for the life of the garment.
The basted assembly
Panels are first joined with temporary basting stitches so balance, drape and pattern can be judged — and corrected — before the final seams are sewn. It is the stage most factories skip, and the stage where a remake is prevented rather than repaired.
The hand-set sleevehead
The sleeve is eased into the armhole by hand, fullness distributed stitch by stitch, so the shoulder line stays clean while the arm moves freely. It is the detail behind a fitting that ends with the client forgetting he is wearing a jacket.
This make, applied 50,000 times a year by 160 tailors, is what holds our remake rate under 1% — against a 6–9% category average. Partners receive a construction sample with the partner pack, because the inside of the jacket is the argument.
Construction FAQ
Canvas, answered.
What is the difference between full-canvas and fused construction?
A full-canvas jacket carries a floating layer of wool-and-hair canvas between cloth and lining, stitched — not glued — to the shell. It moulds to the wearer’s chest over time and lets the cloth drape naturally. A fused jacket glues an interlining to the cloth: cheaper and faster, but stiffer, prone to bubbling with age, and it never takes the wearer’s shape. Every Linea di Biella jacket is cut on a floating canvas.
Why are lapels pad-stitched by hand?
Hundreds of small hand stitches through lapel and canvas build a permanent roll and spring that a machine-pressed lapel loses within months. It is slower — and it is the single detail tailors check first when judging a jacket’s make.
Does canvas construction matter for made-to-measure specifically?
More than anywhere else. Made-to-measure exists to fit one body; a floating canvas is what lets the jacket keep moulding to that body after delivery. Fusing a made-to-measure garment defeats half the point of measuring.
How can a shop owner verify a manufacturer’s construction claims?
Pinch the cloth and lining apart just below the chest pocket: in a canvassed jacket you will feel a third, independent layer move. Ask for a cutaway sample or an unlined jacket — an atelier proud of its make will show you the inside. We send construction samples with every partner pack.