Sartoria Cucino
This is not my first rodeo.
My first venture into the bespoke world started a few years back, although only for trousers until now, the merits revealed themselves as soon as one would expect.
For my first full bespoke suit the choice came to Sartoria Cucino, located in Kyoto.
It is quite remarkable that it has taken me this long not just to go this route, but also to start investigating the bespoke tailors of Japan, or even more locally, in Kansai.
I reckon, or rather I know, first of all I have been quite satisfied with my made to measure suits from Ring Jacket so for a long time I didn’t really feel the need to change things up.
The why came about for a couple of reasons, but the first calling came as I was introduced to Sartoria Cucino through a friend and seeing his first fitting from first row.
Sartoria Cucino
Kuchino-san, who trained under the legendary Gennaro Solito in Napoli, opened his own sartoria in Kyoto in 2022.
The sartoria is located near Kennin-ji in, in fact you can see the garden from the terrace, in Gion, the heart of Kyoto.
The surroundings definitely sharpens and inspires your aesthetic sense on your way there.
Summertime
For this first bespoke acquisition there were a couple of considerations to make, but as far as fabric goes since I already had planned both navy and brown suits to be made bespoke (I already had the fabric) something slightly bolder was a possible option here. And it’s no secret I don’t shy away from less “conventional” colors.
A pink suit has been on my wishlist for quite some time and the main reason for not acquiring one, aside from that wishlist being long, has been that I was uncertain about the longevity of such a colour as it relates to age. After some thinking I figured if such considerations are to be made, although I’m not certain whether I buy into the notion that one can be too old to wear certain colors, the timing for a pink suit is now.
Cloth Properties
Loro Piana
→ Summertime
71% Wool, 15% Silk, 14% Linen
250g
Plain Weave
The make of this fabric is fairly standard for summer appropriate fabrics, especially for Loro Piana to the extent that you can more often than not tell that it is a Loro Piana fabric.
I’ve generally found them to be quite reliable and especially for this last Summertime bunch, their selection of colours spread out on the different qualities incredibly vast. Although it’s the first time I order a suit with a Loro Piana fabric since the old days when ordering mtm suits from Universal Language, I’ve always liked browsing through particularly this bunch book.
In my experience Summertime is a great fabric for summer. Considering this is for a suit, thus some of the qualities from Drago and Piacenza that I would deem “better” for jackets would be an unfair comparison to make as they wouldn’t work well for trousers.
Thus among the summer fabrics available, for which are also appropriate for a full suit, this is one I hold in high regard.
The weave is a plain weave, fairly breathable and in this case the lower weight helps a lot to make it a good suit for hot days.
I also find that it drapes fairly well despite the lower weight. Comparing to high-twist fabrics it might not snap back to shape as well, but that’s not really an expectation I have either.
Cloth Look
The most interesting part of this fabric is of course the colour. The aspect that caught my attention the most was that although it is most definitely pink, it has a sense of subtlety to it. I’m not sure understated is the right word, but as far as pink fabrics go I don’t think this is overtly bold.
I also appreciate the white under threads giving it some melange effect and adding some more textured feel.
Almost close to the look of some Italian linen cloths. Although I do usually reserve the brighter colors for the warmer months, I still think it is a colour that can be implemented in earlier fall months as well.
Tailoring & Details
Working with Kuchino-san I wanted to find a midpoint where my preferences were met while his work was still properly represented. Going with a single breasted, unstructured jacket, 3-roll-2 buttoning and patch pockets, the details are not surprising in any way. As far as the trousers go, two pleats, high-rise and an elongated, one-button waistband is neither a surprise.
But aside from going with a familiar look, some new endeavours were in order and this mostly came to fruition with the lapels. I was very grateful for his input on this matter as I wanted balance my wish for wider lapels with a lapel belly, or rather the upper part of the lapel, that doesn’t cover the chest pocket. I think he achieved exactly what I wanted in this regard while also lowering the gorge quite a bit compared to the jackets I already own.
The most difficult part of making a jacket for someone like me is the chest area. When buying RTW or ordering MTM this has always been an area difficult to accommodate and finding that balance of leaving enough room without the jacket looking boxy, nor having too much room around the armhole is by no means an easy task.
Well, I am both relieved and satisfied with the results and also as far as the overall jacket shape goes I think it ended up exactly how I wanted it. I do have to give some extra credit here as my body weight and as such shape fluctuated a lot during the period of making this suit. Not just did my chest change, but in terms of overall size there was about 1,5 size difference between ordering the suit and finishing it. Not an easy situation to accommodate for.
You can judge the end result for yourself. As far as I am concerned the suit turned out amazing.
Why bespoke?
To some this might be the most self-explanatory question thinkable, but I would say in my case there were some factors that first lead me here unrelated to bespoke, namely price.
To me the label isn’t of much importance, whether ready-to-wear, MTM or bespoke, if it fits, meets my expectations as far as details goes and the price is right, it’s good in my book. And there is really no point of complaint as far as Ring Jacket’s tailoring goes. But, given the amount of suits, jackets and trousers acquired from Ring Jacket throughout the years it was inevitable I would try something new at some point and with increasing prices making it harder to justify it felt like this was the right time.
The benefit for the most part comes in terms of shaping a garment the way I want it to be from scratch and aside from having more room to obtain the perfect fit, I must admit that lapel shape and size was one of the main points of interest for me.
Style wise I’m not moving much far away from where I’ve been, still staying firmly within Neapolitan style.
As far as the experience go, this has been an amazing endeavor. Aside from the expertise and inputs, fittings and the final product I really enjoy the conversations and relationship created throughout this process. Not to mention the fact that I finally have the experience of acquiring a bespoke suit from the city I live in; Kyoto.
Although not a conclusion in the sense of being and end, it is a nice conclusion to the quest exploring Japanese tailoring, going from RTW and MTM in Tokyo, MTM and bespoke in Osaka and finally bespoke in Kyoto. And my experience with Sartoria Cucino bears repeating.
Definitely someone I can highly recommend (perhaps for your next Kyoto trip ;) )
