Drago

High-twist superfine merino

Drago is one of Biella's younger houses. Umberto and Laura Drago started the business in 1973 as a spinning operation, and it remains a family company today, working out of Lessona in the Biella wool district.

Starting with yarn shaped the mill. Drago still combs and spins its own, then weaves and finishes across two plants at Lessona and Verrone, more than 1.7 million metres of high-end cloth produced entirely in-house. A mill that spins for itself can chase a particular hand rather than accept what the yarn market offers, and the cloth now sells into Japan, Korea and the United States as well as at home.

What we buy from Drago is high-twist superfine merino. The twist puts spring into the cloth, so trousers recover their crease and a jacket shrugs off a long day of sitting.

That makes it our standing answer for the client who travels. If the diary involves aeroplanes and back-to-back days, ask to see the Drago bunches at a fitting: this is cloth built to be packed, worn hard and still look pressed.