Reda

Fine merino worsted from Valle Mosso, since 1865

Reda has woven merino at Valle Mosso, in the hills above Biella, since 1865, when Carlo Reda turned an old mill into a wool mill. In 1919 the brothers Albino and Francesco Botto Poala bought it, and their family runs it still, four cousins now sharing the work.

The name survived the sale by contract. The 1919 agreement required the new owners to go on trading as Reda, and by the time the clause lapsed the name was too well known to drop. So they added one word, Successori, meaning successors, and the house is Successori Reda to this day. When the Biella flood of 1968 nearly destroyed the mill, the family rebuilt in the same valley rather than move.

Reda sits at the serious end of the Italian trade, without the showmanship. The heart of the book is fine, pure merino worsted, clean and smooth, in the Super 110s to 120s qualities that make the best everyday suits. There is a stretch wool too, Reda Flexo, made for tailoring, which moves with the body without looking technical.

The family also goes to the source. Since the early 1990s it has owned three merino stations in the high country of New Zealand, Otamatapaio, Rugged Ridges and Glenrock, close to 30,000 hectares between them.

We like the cloth for its manners. Reda worsted is smooth and dry. It takes a press and keeps it, and the colour stays true from one bolt to the next. It is what lets a casual jacket go to lunch with a client.

Five jackets in our Everyday Archive are cut from Reda: the Coffee Check Reda Wool Casual Jacket, the Green Check Wool Casual Jacket, the Green Check Wool Jacket, the White Wool Jacket and the White Linen Casual Jacket, which takes a linen and wool cloth for summer. Each is made to measure, and the Reda bunches repay an unhurried look at your fitting.