After more than 20 years Bernhard Roetzel has ordered trousers with belt-loops again, made by Salon Hartl in Prague. A look back over three decades of trouser cuts, from narrow flat-fronts in Hanover to pleated styles on the Pitti Uomo.
Bernhard Roetzel orders his first pair of bespoke shoes from Maftei in Vienna, meeting Lucian Maftei at Ladage & Oelke in Hamburg. The Maftei family came from Romania in the 1980s, the workshop is still there, the trunk shows have toured Germany for over twenty years.
Founded in Hamburg in 2012 by Marc Anthony and Max Meyer-Abich, Anton Meyer sits stylistically between late-eighties Hackett and SuitSupply. Italian cut, German figure, suits sewn in Portugal, an „Ingmar BF“ at 485 euros and the „Helmut Blau“ shirt at 95.
Ed.Meier Munich was founded in 1596 and is now run in the 13th generation by Peter Eduard and Brigitte Meier. The old shoe shop has become a complete outfitter, with exclusive Scottish tweeds and the house's own Peduform last range.
Maximilian Mogg has run his Berlin bespoke atelier at Bleibtreustraße 27 in Charlottenburg since 2018. A portrait of a German tailor who would blend in on Savile Row and stands out in Berlin as the country's most talked-about bespoke designer.
Tailoring was never an English invention. Bernhard Roetzel introduces the German bespoke scene, why its decline began earlier than elsewhere, and which tailors and shoemakers in Germany still deserve discovery abroad.
James Whitfield, trained in Savile Row at Anderson & Sheppard, runs his own bespoke business in Berlin-Moabit since 2019. Part 1 of the series: a Londoner with dry humour, a Brisbane Moss cloth and the start of a sportscoat commission.
Over years of fittings, customer and tailor often grow close. Sometimes the relationship turns into friendship. Bernhard Roetzel weighs whether that is good for the work or quietly gets in its way.
Mircea Cioponea, the man behind the shoe blog Claymoorslist, has joined forces with shoemaker Petru Coca to open a bespoke atelier in Bucharest. An interview about Romania's Austro-Hungarian shoemaking heritage and the road to their own workshop.
Founded in early 2020 by Lothar Eckstein and Ingo Brinkmeier, Manheimer Berlin sits in a former industrial yard on Uferstraße in Wedding. Modern ready-to-wear with an Italian-leaning fit for men who like the idea of a suit but not the dress code.
Francesco Barberis Canonico is the 13th generation in charge of the Vitale Barberis Canonico mill. In conversation about an English upbringing, fabrics built for tailors and a family business that thinks ahead while honouring its past.
Two fittings are the rule in bespoke tailoring. What tailors look for at the first fitting, with sleeves or without, and where made-to-measure differs.
