Four clothing geeks visited San Francisco's Borrelli store last week after lunch. As we entered the store I heard each of my companions greeted by their first name - and that was a first in my experience, particularly surprising since one of them was from Los Angeles.
The friendliness of the staff was complemented by the seasonal look of the merchandise. Pastel shirts, jackets and trousers were all around us.
Borrelli is relatively new to San Francisco but the staff has been around the City's clothing scene for years (that's probably why they knew everyone by name). Sales Manager Horace Mack joined the store from Nieman Marcus. He explained that odd jackets and made to measure shirts are central to the store's business, which makes sense to me. A lot of suits are sold by San Francisco retailers but you'd be hard pressed to find a lot of men wearing them.
I particularly liked the light gray suit in the photo above, though I couldn't wear it. The design was perfect for a thirty something man to wear without a necktie on the weekend. It's a very light summer weight plain weave worsted with patch pockets and a $2,000 price tag. The jacket is quarter lined and constructed like a shirt, with just a bit of fusing in the front for structure instead of canvas. The middle two sleeve button holes are cut through, but the other two are closed so they can be relocated if the sleeves need altering. The trousers are low rise, with belt loops.
To my surprise, none of my companions bought anything before we went back out into the sunshine.
0 comments:
Post a Comment