Summer fabrics - Solbiati
We always like to have a good selection of casual cloths for our customers and in this heat our thoughts have been turning from football football and tennis towards stylish linens and cottons. Following up on a lead from Geoff at Dugdale we got in touch with Michele Solbiati Sasil Spa and have been extremely pleased with the results!
Solbiati is a family owned Italian business founded in 1874 which now specialises in high quality linens and cottons. The company is responsible for a number of innovations, including fibre-dyed and crepe linen. One of the most noticeable things when you look at their bunches is the use of colour and pattern. There is a distinctive feeling to the collection; the colours are nearly always earthy and natural yet characterful, individual and wearable.
In the bottom left corner of the picture above is a small selection of three cotton solaros in some slightly unusual colours. It is this type of creativity and innovation which draws us to Solbiati’s style. The crepe linen too is very exciting – it is made by twisting flax fibres together before weaving and this imparts spring and resilience to the cloth, similar to a worsted twist in fact. But flax is a woody fibre and must be softened first by being thoroughly soaked and then carefully twisted to ensure that the fibres don’t break. Therefore the linen feels a bit coarser (because it is 2-ply) but it doesn’t crease so much at all and retains that very summery look – it is a great example of improving a natural fibre’s performance with a little thought and effort. Of course, the extra preparation costs and time means that the crepe linen is more expensive that regular linen, but if it combats one of the main problems with regular linen then we think that this is a worthwhile trade-off!
