Recently, I spoke with Nino Corvato about preparing cloth.


He soaks everything wool/linen/cotton/silk etc for 24 hours in cold water and then lets it drip dry. He doesn't just dump it in a bucket, he does it in a way that the goods don't get unduly wrinkled. Although he said that the natural propensity for goods is to find a smoothing point while they dry.

Further, he said that this prevents the cloth from reacting to moisture and rain; if  not soaked the fabric can unravel or pull apart from its seams. After his treatment, Corvato's garments can stand up to the rain and moisture.

This soaking process also reveals what a cloth looks like without its resin finish. The cleaned cloth can look very different and if it is quality that look will be superior. Also, any imperfections or quality/weaving issues will manifest themselves in the cloth which will potentially save you the money of having something you bought at a less than reputable source (bargain bin) made up; good money after bad, and all that.

He said that most tailors skip this step, relying on the wool merchants/mills to have already washed the cloth. However he maintains that the "Already Sponged" "Ready for the needle" label used by wool merchants and mills is both misleading and inaccurate because the fabric is just run once over some steam and this achieves nothing.

Many tailors dont know they have to soak and/or sponge goods but they all should.

Now, I posted something like this on style forum and a few of my fans called Gladston and Holland and Sherry to ask Nino, who is an internationally respected master tailor, if what they were doing was in fact inadequate. They are now rethinking their processes and labeling. So, rather than getting naked and starting the revolution we need to spread the word more and continue the cloth revolution before we end up naked!