I recently came across a menswear line I was previously unfamiliar with called Loro Piana. I purchased a semi-smart sportcoat/blazer from this design house but was puzzled but one unusual quirk of the garment: The sleeves appear to be unfinished (two ends of the cuff are loosely held together by a big unusual thread), and stitched in an evidently temporary manner. My salesperson suggested i request ‘surgeons cuffs’ from the store’s tailor (are there other cuff options?) which he further explained will be different to most typical jackets that have ‘fake cuffs’ (buttons on the sleeve that don’t actually hold anything together).
I would note that no measurements were required for the alteration (though presumably if i had the arms shortened it would have impacted the sleeves differently?) Thus I am puzzled why if the special ‘functional sleeves’ couldn’t be added back in Italy.
So aside from looking for general information on the fascinating subject of sleeve variety in men’s apparel, I am specifically interested to find out what the advantages of having one’s sleeves made for you upon purchasing a garment are, and why most blazers do not have working buttons on the sleeves?
Oh and for anyone curious, here are some links about the ‘designer’:
Maybe it’s a stock issue. It might be more economical for the shop to order the jackets unfinished and rather than keep a number of jackets finished with cuff styles in stock.
I found unfinished suits in the 70’s in a number of establishments. It’s not a new phenomena. You had to have them tailored to wear them. I can’t vouch for the years after that as I have avoided suits for a few decades.
While your suggestion is logical, I don’t believe this is correct for two reasons. Firstly, we have yet to establish that there are multiple cuff styles for a given suit jacket or blazer, aside from the number of buttons, and whether the buttons can be undone. My other thought is that the first time I’ve encountered an unfinished jacket has been when I purchased an ‘ultra-luxury’ (one level above Armani) brand. The stores I typically see these brands are all very large (think: Neimen Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman) and they have literally hundreds of blazers with ‘normal pre-made fake cuffs’ and very few of these unfinished pieces which i think contradicts the stock suggestion.
A local place here (mens wearhouse) has all of its suits “unfinished”. You come in pick the stuff you like and they do a bunch of pinning and measuring. You come pick up your suit hemmed to your measurements in a day or two.
The fact that the salesperson suggested a style of cuff seems an adequate enough answer, to me. If not everyone wants the same style, it would stand to reason that the jacket come with the sleeves unfinished. Similarly, in the clothing stores I shop in, pant legs are all uniformly ridiculously long, since they are going to be tailored for each customer.
They do that because of guys like me…38" inseam. Works out well for dressy stuff, but casual clothing is a bitch. Just one of the reasons I wear shorts whenever practical.
Loro Piana is primarily a fabric maker and sells fabric to high end tailors and designers all over the world. In the last hundred years they have launched different attempts to manufacture their own line of clothes. Always well done but then they seem to lose heart and back off for a while. They have a very nice line of raingear called Storm System. Great cashmere overcoats. Top notch stuff. I have jackets made by them and jackets made by other designers from their fabric.
There are different styles of cuffs. A surgeons cuff came from them literally having to unbutton the cuff and roll it back when they went wrist deep into a body. Its use today is so those in the know can see that this is a serious jacket. Tailored that is.
Basically the alteration should come from the top of the sleeve so the distance from the bottom button to the end of the cuff does not change. But if there are no buttons or holes put in at the factory they can more quickly and easily alter the bottom of the sleeve.
As far as no measurements being needed that’s bullshit. Get the guy who actually has the needle and thread out from the back and get properly measured. He will take about 8000 measurements and make the jacket fit. You owe it to yourself and the jacket. Does it break right over your butt? How do you want it vented? How does it button in the front, we can break apart the back and adjust it. Lapel break? On and on. This guy has done every seam on this line of jackets and can do them fast. It shouldn’t cost more than about $75 to do everything and have a custom tailored jacket as opposed to off the rack. When they do the buttons tell them you want a knot behind the button so it stands away from the fabric, unbuttoned, the same distance as it would buttoned. Cuff buttons are so close together it will cause bunching if the buttons are too tight to the fabric.
Their biggest bitch about adjusting every seam is that the jacket is already lined.
Some designers and tailors don’t even line a jacket until after it’s bought so adjustments are easy and so you can see that the tailoring inside the jacket is done as well as outside. Also you can pick the lining you like. It was rumored that Oxxford jackets were tailored like this inside the lining so I bought one and ripped the lining out to see. No lie, it was perfect. You could turn the jacket inside out and wear it and most people wouldn’t notice.
Here is a message board frequented by insufferable jerks who know and share a lot of information about these things and they can tell you the latest. Your spending good money so get the most for it.