Finally, through a process that felt like childbirth, I present to you: a special run of tobacco brown Fresco. I wrote about the project seven months ago with the intention of having the cloth ready for summer commissions. Well, it’s summer now, so it’s too late for this year’s heat, but as my friend Voxsartoria would say, summer will come again.
Fresco, for those unfamiliar, is a type of high-twist, open-weave worsted wool from J&J Minnis of Huddersfield. It’s resistant to wrinkling, which makes it a wonderful travel cloth, and highly breathable, which makes it ideal for summer. It’s been a longtime favorite of bespoke customers, but sadly, hasn’t been made available in a true dark brown for a long time. Indeed, what Huddersfield currently calls their dark brown is really closer to black.
So, I’ve been working with Huddersfield for the last seven months to get something close to the tobacco brown my friend David organized a while ago. After a lot of work, a sample has finally been produced, and my version is just a touch different (you can see the swatch above). It still has the mixture of yarns to give it some depth (so dark brown yarns mixed with mid-browns), but it has a slightly less reddish cast. To my eye, cooler colors are easier to wear, as they’re often less harsh against the skin and go better with the kind of cool grays and blues that fill most men’s closets. This particular brown would look wonderful next to some tropical wool trousers in a mid-gray, linens in cream or navy, and chinos in khaki or olive.
The cost of the run will be $70 per meter, with a delivery fee of $47 from the UK. You should enquire with your tailor regarding how much cloth you need, but for the average sized man, 1.5 meters is generally recommended for pants, 2.5 for a jacket, and 3.5 for a suit. I’d add a little extra cloth in there just in case (so, say 4 meters for a suit). As a general rule, you never want to leave your tailor with too little room for error.
This will likely be the last tobacco brown Fresco for a long, long time. David’s commission soaked up a good amount of orders, and this will likely take up the last bit of interest. After this, you will have to rely on the good wisdom of Huddersfield to one day come up with their own version again. I’ll collect orders until July 11th, and then submit our group order to Huddersfield. If you’re interested, you can email me here.
(Photos below are of Voxsartoria in two different runs of brown Fresco)
