Riccitelli Milano manufactures blazers and jackets in Italy for fashion brands, from soft unstructured shapes to fully canvassed tailoring. The jacket is the hardest garment in a collection to get right and the one buyers judge a brand on, because everything that makes it sit correctly is hidden inside it.
We are a fashion production agency in Milan, working with the tailoring rooms where the Italian jacket is actually made. A brand hires us and we produce the collection, answering for the result at every stage.
What is inside a jacket, and why it decides everything
Two jackets can use the same cloth and the same pattern and behave completely differently, because the difference sits between the outer cloth and the lining.
Full canvas. A layer of horsehair and wool canvas is floated between cloth and lining and attached by hand or by machine pad stitching, never glued. It moulds to the wearer over time, keeps the chest and lapel alive, and is the construction the best Italian tailoring is built on. It is the most expensive and the most durable.
Half canvas. Canvas through the chest and lapel, fusible below. Most of the roll and shape of full canvas at a lower cost, and the right answer for a great many ready to wear jackets.
Fused. Interlining bonded to the cloth. Faster and cheaper, flatter in appearance, and vulnerable to bubbling if the bonding or the cloth is poor. Legitimate for some products, wrong for anything sold as luxury tailoring.
Unstructured. No canvas, no shoulder pad, often unlined. This is not the easy option: with nothing inside to correct it, the pattern and the pressing have to be right on their own, which is why a good unlined jacket is a serious test of a maker.
The shoulder
The shoulder is where a jacket is read from ten metres away. A Neapolitan spalla camicia gathers the sleeve head into the shoulder like a shirt and gives a soft, rounded line. A structured shoulder with a pad and a roped sleeve head gives a defined, formal one. Between them sit the choices that make a house style recognisable.
These are pattern and construction decisions taken before the first sample, not adjustments made later, which is why they belong in the tech pack from the start.
What we produce
Tailored blazers, single and double breasted, in wool, flannel, hopsack and linen. Soft unstructured jackets and shirt jackets. Trouser suits and separates. Occasion and evening jackets. Cropped, oversized and deconstructed shapes for brands working away from the classic. Womenswear and menswear tailoring both run through the same rooms. Leather jackets run through our leather specialists, and full suits through tailored suits manufacturing.
Cloth for jackets
Jacket cloth has to hold a shape while staying alive in movement. We buy from the Italian houses that supply the best tailoring rooms in the world, choosing weight and weave against the construction rather than the other way round: a soft unstructured jacket needs cloth with enough body to stand without help, while a fully canvassed jacket can carry a lighter cloth because the canvas does the work. See fabric sourcing in Italy.
How a jacket project runs
Flats drawn to scale, first patterns drafted and cut, then the crucial step: the jacket is made up and worn, because a jacket only reveals its faults on a body in movement. Corrections go back into the pattern, a second sample confirms them, and the size set proves the grading across the range. The approved sample becomes the reference the whole production has to match, checked at every stage. See pattern making and grading and sampling and prototyping.
Jackets need more fitting rounds than any other category. Budget for that in the calendar rather than discovering it late.
Quantities
Minimums are set per product rather than per client. A fully canvassed jacket and an unlined shirt jacket carry different constraints and are placed in different rooms, so we quote each against what it actually requires. See low minimum order production and capsule collections.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between full canvas, half canvas and fused?
Full canvas floats a horsehair and wool layer between cloth and lining, attached by pad stitching and never glued, so the jacket moulds to the wearer and keeps its roll. Half canvas does this through the chest and lapel only. Fused bonds interlining to the cloth: cheaper and flatter, and it can bubble over time. Full and half canvas are what luxury tailoring is built on.
Is an unstructured jacket easier to make?
No, harder. With no canvas and no shoulder pad there is nothing inside to correct a mediocre pattern, so the drafting and the pressing have to be right on their own. A good unlined jacket is one of the clearest tests of a maker.
What is a spalla camicia shoulder?
A Neapolitan construction where the sleeve head is gathered into the shoulder like a shirt sleeve, giving a soft rounded line with visible gathering. It is a pattern and construction decision, not a finishing touch, so it belongs in the tech pack before the first sample.
How many fittings does a jacket need?
More than any other garment. Expect at least two full rounds before the size set, because a jacket only shows its faults when worn and moved in. Building that into the calendar from the start is the difference between a jacket that ships on time and one that does not.
Do you produce both womenswear and menswear tailoring?
Yes, through the same tailoring rooms. The constructions differ in the shoulder, the chest and the suppression through the waist, but the craft and the standards are the same.
Can you produce jackets in small quantities?
Yes. The minimum follows the construction: a fully canvassed jacket and an unlined one are made in different rooms with different constraints, and we place each where a run of that size makes sense.
Which cloth should a blazer be made in?
It depends on the construction. A soft unstructured jacket needs cloth with enough body to stand on its own, typically a hopsack or a flannel. A fully canvassed jacket can carry a lighter cloth because the canvas provides the structure. We choose against the construction rather than the swatch.
Produce your jackets in Italy
Send a sketch, a reference jacket or a finished tech pack and we tell you what it takes to build it: which construction, which room, what calendar. Contact our Milan studio, or see all fashion production services.
Start your production with Riccitelli Milano
Tell us about the collection you would like to create. Our team will get back to you to begin your production in Italy.