Vitale Barberis Canonico

Worsted and flannel from Pratrivero, 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, and the family has worked wool in Pratrivero, in the Biella Alps, ever since. The first mechanical looms arrived in 1868. In 1910 Giuseppe Barberis Canonico built a full-cycle mill, and in 1936 the house took the name it carries today. The thirteenth generation of the family runs it still.

Tailors know VBC for its dependable workhorse cloths. 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 house also weaves flannel and mohair, and buys its mohair at auction in Cape Town. It has gone to the source as well: in 1982 it bought its first Australian farm, Greenhills.

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 onwards. Designers come to study them, and Berluti's design team once spent two days among them.

We turn to 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 Double-Pleat Wool Trousers a clean drape through three seasons and makes the Navy Striped Wool Trench Coat a light coat for spring. All four are made to measure, and the VBC books will be waiting at your fitting.