Vitale Barberis Canonico

Worsted and flannel; weaving since 1663

Vitale Barberis Canonico can put a date on its first known sale. In 1663 a local register recorded that Ajmo Barbero had sold a length of grey twill, a saia grisa, to the Duke of Savoy. The family has worked wool in Pratrivero, in the Biella Alps, ever since. The first mechanical looms arrived in 1868, Giuseppe Barberis Canonico built a full-cycle mill in 1910, and the company took its present name in 1936. The thirteenth generation runs it today, with Alessandro Barberis Canonico as chief executive.

VBC works at a scale few mills match. It weaves about 6.5 million metres of cloth a year, uses more than four million kilos of raw wool and exports 84 per cent of it to over 90 countries. The Rake has named Brioni, Kiton, Canali and Zegna among its customers, and Permanent Style has reported that around half of what VBC weaves is sold under other names. Plenty of cloth wearing other labels began in Pratrivero.

Tailors know VBC for dependable workhorses. Perennial, a Super 110s at 260 grams, is the house's idea of the perfect cloth for a working suit. Revenge is a Super 150s in double-twisted yarn for more polish, and 21 Micron uses sturdier South American wool for a dry hand and quick recovery. The mill also weaves flannels and mohair, buying its mohair at auction in Cape Town.

VBC has put real work into where its wool comes from. It bought its first Australian farm, Greenhills, in 1982. In 2005 it helped set up a system for Australian growers to declare their wool mulesing-free, and it now buys at auction through its own buying arm, VBC Wool. It holds the Responsible Wool Standard, the Responsible Mohair Standard and ISO 14001. Since 2019 the mill has run on certified renewable electricity from hydropower, and it has treated its waste water biologically since 1987.

The best story is in the archive. VBC keeps more than 2,000 volumes of historic fabrics, gathered from Italy, France, Britain, Germany and America from the nineteenth century on. Designers come to study them, and Berluti's design team once spent two days inside.

We use VBC when a garment has to come out right every time. The cloth cuts true, which matters on the Glen Green Sports Jacket and the Michigan Avenue Check Navy Suit, where a crooked check shows the moment the pieces meet. In the Everyday Archive it gives the Brown Wool Trousers a clean three-season drape and turns the Navy Striped Wool Trench Coat into a light spring coat. All are made to measure in Sydney. Ask to see the VBC books at your fitting.