I was introduced to Gladson fabrics 5 years ago and instantly fell in love with their designs, colors, textures, details, and qualities. Their fabric designs are classic yet modern, timeless and can make a statement. I love showing clients their range of qualities and designs and help select the right look for a sport coat, suit or pair of pants. Every time I meet with Brad, their top Merchandizer, I get to select the right patterns, fabric and looks from their new collections. I sat down with Brad and wanted to have him explain about Gladson and what sets them apart. You’ve seen their fabrics in more places and on more people than you know. Enjoy!
Gladson is the largest provider of tailoring fabric in North America. We work with Italy’s finest weavers to create and distribute cloth that is both founded on heritage and at the forefront of luxury and innovation. Additionally, we own the famous Hardy Minnis mill in England, most noted for its classic tailoring cloth and Queen Elizabeth II’s patronage of the mill.
Our 70+ years of weaving with the finest and most specialized mills globally ensures that every cloth we produce is ideally suited for its intended purpose.
It’s amazing how much newness can still be discovered in a centuries-old craft. Our goal is to create cloth that stands the test of time, so some of our fabrics have been practically unchanged for hundreds of years – particularly in classic, hard-wearing suiting. Others are meant to speak to the current moment – be it a trend for color or for knits or for more casual hopsacks; perhaps the world starts crying for comfortable stretch as we adjust to hybrid work-from-home lifestyles. Our seasonal collections cover the gambit, so you can dress with the traditional power of Winston Churchill or the fresh “nowness” of a Grammys red carpet.
Current Highlights:
The uniform of the 2020s. These fabrics include suitings, jacketings, and trouserings, all woven with innovative stretch materials to maximize comfort and movement while maintaining a crisp, tailored look. This collection has recently gained attention as it has become a favorite gameday option for Patrick Mahomes.
Italian luxury with modern sensibilities. Our 100% Bamboo jacketing is exceptionally soft and allows for lustrous depth of color not typically afforded in traditional jacketing.
Our most elevated offering of Italian fabrics, these wool and luxury blend cloths feature nuanced color and pattern that grow in interest the closer you get. Carlo Barbera is owned by the famed Kiton fashion house, and we are lucky to be their sole partner globally in distributing cloth for custom clothing.
For a long time, a quality stretch suit was a bit of an enigma; a “stretch” fabric that would maintain its tailored look would have barely any give, and a cloth with lots of comfort could end up looking baggy in the seat or knee after not much wear. Our challenge was to find a solution that would allow for comfortable movement and still look professional at day’s end, all while maintaining the standards of quality and reliability for which Gladson is known. The solution was Flex Sport, woven in Italy with a touch of Roica, a premium stretch fiber ideal for the application.
Bold jewel tones aren’t going anywhere in fashion-minded sport jackets, but be on the lookout for more subtle earth tones entering the mix. Coming out of the Italian shows the last few seasons have been mixtures of tans, browns, olives, and deeper tones of red or rust. As suits have progressively become less seen as corporate uniforms and more as personal expressions, don’t be surprised to see deep burgundies or dark forest greens in what was once a sea of navies or charcoals.
The most common request I get is about warm weather suiting, often for tropical weddings or for everyday suiting in regions with oppressively warm summers. The second most common inquiry is about avoiding wrinkles – particularly in regard to travel.
Fortunately, both questions lead to the same answer: Fresco™. Patented by our English mill in 1906, Fresco has since become our most recognizable (and imitated) fabric globally. Often seen used by the likes of Louis Vuitton, Prada, or Paul Smith, Fresco is a tropical-weave fabric with very tightly-twisted yarns. This method maximizes airflow, making it a remarkably breathable fabric. Additionally, the high-twist yarns function as springs, bouncing away wrinkles as they recoil to their intended position; I won’t travel without Fresco trousers to prevent creasing behind the knee. As an added bonus, those little springs give a slight stretch to the fabric, despite being 100% wool.
While most of our Italian cloth is intended to feel soft and sleek, Fresco is designed for crispness and durability. It feels and breathes like linen but without the wrinkling. This versatility has made it our best-selling cloth on Savile Row for many years and has firmly established it as my favorite collection in the Gladson library.
