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Transcript:
Luke: What’s unique about Aquaplan is the nanotechnology. Now the nanotechnology makes the fabric water-resistant, but still able to breathe, to the very unique finish. The nanotechnology also adds crease-resistance to the fabric as well. So, what Aquaplan delivers is a very, very light suit, a very breathable suit, but a suit that will repel water if you’re caught in a shower. It also works for those of us who enjoy fine wine, and if you spill some red wine on your lap while wearing an Aquaplan suit, you’ll be delighted to know that the wine will roll off the suit and land on floor.
Sean: How about that.
Luke: We’ve played a bit of a joke – not to make Aquaplan suits with cuffs because if you’re caught in a rain-shower, the water will collect in your cuffs.
Sean: Right, that’s good.
Luke: Since you make Aquaplan suits with a flat front, no-cuff pant, or alternatively, put a small little eyelet in the cuff so that water can run through.
Sean. There you go. That’s great. Now is this a brand new collection for this season then?
Luke: It is. We’ve run Aquaplan as a quality before, but this is a brand new collection of designs, and as I’ve mentioned before, with Amadeus 365, with the exception of the solid blues, blacks, and grays, we only make – on average – four 70-yard pieces of each of these designs in Aquaplan.
Sean: Wow.
Luke: So every gentleman who wears this is one of only 70 gentleman in the world wearing that unique, exclusive design by Dormeuil. So when we talk about exclusive design at Dormeuil, we’re talking about real exclusive design – not pre-supposed exclusive design. These are made at our mill, in England, in very limited quantities.
Sean: That’s great. Yes, beautiful fabric. Okay, great. Well let’s just take a peek at a few other swatches here. Anything else on this collection you want to mention?
Luke: There’s one particular swatch, if you scroll down on the collection, and if you keep going down – yes. The navy basket, the 02615447, this particular cloth is absolutely fantastic because it makes a beautiful suit, but also makes a wonderful sport jacket. Anyone who travels to places like Miami, New Orleans – anywhere in the south – we do get those frequent showers in the late afternoon. This is your must have take jacket. It’s very light, weaved beautifully, and has that water resistance. So this will become your favorite jacket when you travel to those places as they say that typically rain – most days – at 4 or 5 o’clock. Or if you’re traveling to the far east, any places where there’s a lot of fast rain showers – this is a must have jacket for those trips.
Sean: Wow, that’s something else. Now Luke, how did they – in a nutshell – how did they waterproof this fabric?
Luke: The nanotechnology is very unique. It’s not like a scotch guard coating on the fabric – which would render the fabric unbreathable. It’s a treatment that’s put onto the fabric after the finisher is put on, but it only penetrates to the fibers – so it doesn’t actually cover the whole fabric, and create this barrier between air getting through the fabric. So it’s a very unique process as I’ve said that allows the fabric to breath while being water resistant at the same time.
Sean: Wow, that’s something else. Well that’s great. Like you said, for gentlemen in a rainy climate or just to have the ability to wear a high-end fabric like that is very unique.
Luke: And once again, the nanotechnology also gives the fabric a crease resistant property as well.
Sean: Great. Well let me ask you this, Luke, you know, you’re in the fabric business and you really know a lot about that, and one of the things that we – as a clothing salesman, so I’m close to my clients – custom made clothing, a lot of gentlemen don’t understand why you can go to some of the warehouse stores and the two for one sales and suits are so inexpensive, and they can’t imagine why other suits can cost 2, 3, 4 $5,000, and usually what I tell them is that most of the cost of an expensive suit is really in the price of the fabric, because it really is a difference – you get what you pay for.
Luke: Absolutely.
Sean: And you just kind of give me, kind of a lame[?] person’s explanation of the importance of fabric and how it really makes a difference, and what it takes to raise sheep, and the climate, and everything that goes into creating a high end fabric, and why it’s a good investment and why it will last so much longer and feel so much better – I mean, there’s a difference. And a lot of guys just have never tried a higher-end fabric – they have nothing to compare it to, it just doesn’t make any sense to them – it’s not logical for a lot of guys.
Luke: Absolutely. I think where it will start is in the very confusing area of super count. A lot of people have had some information on super counts and have determined that the quality of the fabric is completely based on the super count. Now just to explain, super 100s means that a fabric is made with fiber that is 18 microns in width. All the super count tells you is the diameter width of the fiber used in that fabric. It’s a very important facet, but also just as important is the length of the fiber, the strength of the fiber, the crimp of the fiber, and the color of the fiber. And so I always use the analogy that cloth is a lot like assessing a diamond. A one carat diamond could be worth $5,000. A one carat diamond could be worth half a million dollars. The other facets will determine the value of that diamond – the clarity, the cut, the color – just the same as applies to fibers. A super 150s fiber – it comes from the head or the legs of the sheep – might be discarded because of short staple, or it has bad crimp, or terrible color – and that would be made into carpets – but it’s still super 150s because it’s still fine, but it’s not suitable for a fabric that’s made by Dormeuil because we only select the longest filament fibers with the best crimp, with the best color, with the best strength. So a super 100s for example from Dormeuil, often appears and feels like a super 150s, or a super 160s that you might see at J. Crew, or Banana Republic. But it will perform infinitely better because it’s long filament fiber and it’s very, very strong with great consistency and crimp, and great color for the dye to really sit into the fabric and give you those vibrant colors. And when I talk about fibers, we haven’t even got to weaving the fabric yet, and Dormeuil works with farms in New Zealand and Australia to grow fantastic wool fiber that is long, strong, high-crimp, great color, as well as incredible micron count. And in fact, we recently made Infinity, which is made with an incredible 12.2 micron super 230s fiber, which is the finest fabric ever woven.
Sean: Wow. That’s great information Luke, because a lot of – you know, fabric is just, unless you understand it, it’s hard to really understand why there’s such a variance in prices and you know, with a lot of fabrics coming out of China now and just all these different places and everyone’s throwing these names on these fabrics – oh this is a super 150s, I can sell it to you for $600 – and it just doesn’t make a lot of sense, there’s a difference. And I like the diamond analogy that you used because that really I think, tells the story.
Luke: Absolutely. And if I can explain without getting too confusing, if you can imagine a short staple fiber as a dollar, a mid staple fiber as $2, a long staple fiber costs $5 – so significantly more expensive to buy these long staple fibers because there’s less and less of them available on the clip. You then take these fibers and you weave the fabric with English sitting, very, very tightly woven together – so you use so much more fiber, and so much more yarn in making the suit. And an Ambassador, for example – Dormeuil’s super 180s – there are 8 ½ thousand ends in the warp[?] sitting of the fabrics – incredible. And if you look at a suit made in Ambassador, which uses 4 yards of fabric, you’ve got over 50 kilometers of fiber in that one suit.
Sean: Wow.
Luke: So the fiber itself is a massive part of the quality dimension, then you get the weaving, and of course, Dormeuil makes everything in England on the Amadeus 365, Amadeus 365 jacketing, 15.8 Ambassador, and it’s finished with that unique, exclusive Dormeuil finishing in England from very, very fine waters in Huddersfield, which is in Northern England. And that finish cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world. There’s only one place in the world with that wonderful water that comes from a well under the mill – can finish the fabric. And without that water, it’s absolutely impossible to create a fabric British smooth finish.
Sean: Wow, how about that. That’s very unique. Okay, well that’s great, Luke. This is some great information, and it’s really going to go a long way towards educating the readers, and you know, unless there’s anything else you have to add, I’ll say thank you very much for your time today, and I’d like to have you back in the future to talk about you know, collections that come out in the seasons ahead. And unless you have anything else to add, I think we’re finished up for today.
Luke: No, that’s great. Thanks so much, Sean. I also tweet once a day on fabric technology, the history of textiles @DormeuilUSA, so anyone interested in following that Twitter would be more than welcome to follow us.
Sean: Great. Well I’ll make sure I promote that as well, and that’s go on the transcript. And I think that’s a great idea to help educate yourself, and I really appreciate your time today, Luke.
Luke: Great. Thanks so much, Sean.
Sean: Yes. Take care, Luke. Talk to you soon, bye-bye.
Luke: Bye-bye.
