BRIONI
Brioni is an Italian fashion house founded in 1945. It specialises in the sale of hand-made suits. Master tailor Nazareno Fonticoli and his business partner Gaetano Savini opened their first suit shop in Rome’s Via Barberini at the end of World War II. In order to meet the demand of such a large clientele, Brioni opened a factory in Abruzzo, Italy, where expert tailors hand-sew jackets and trousers before adding the finishing touches by machine. Brioni also owns a shirt factory, a leather fashion house and a line of women’s clothing. Brioni’s 900 tailors create 200 models in different styles and sizes every year. A quarter of the production consists of made-to-measure tailored suits for an elite of 25,000 customers. Each garment requires at least 30–35 hours of work, and there are more than 5,000 different fabrics to choose from. An off the peg suit costs about $5,000 at the entry-level and most custom-tailored suits range from $6,000 to $46,000. Tailors must go through a four year apprenticeship and it is speculated that they must be able to create a suit blindfolded, although no reference from Brioni supports the statement.