Only two things in the making of the shirt are done by sewing machine. These are the outer edges of the collars and cuffs (so as to present a cleaner, sharper line at the neck and wrist) and the side seams up the body and sleeves (to be stronger).

On the side seams, however, the machine stitching is followed by hand stitching. Someone takes a needle and thread, folds the edge of the shirt over and sews it up by hand. The idea is that this allows the shirt body to move more easily, and makes it less likely to stretch permanently. The machine stitch is merely a back up to keep the parts together. Most shirts use two lines of machine stitching on the side seams. This creates a hard little ridge of cloth that should be less comfortable than a hand-sewn edge.

The bottom edge of the shirt is all finished by hand, delicately turned over like a hand-rolled handkerchief. The cuff is attached by hand, gradually easing in the fullness of the sleeve (though some are also folded in pleats, if the customer or store prefers). The sleeve is similarly attached, the fullness here being particularly important to give greatest freedom of movement – anyone with even a passing acquaintance with bespoke tailoring knows the importance of a small armhole and a large sleevehead.

 

[Above and below: a first fitting on a shirt]

Interestingly, the Kiton shirtmakers insist on the sleeve being set into the body such that its seam runs slightly in front of the body’s side seam. Look in the armpit of any English shirt and you’ll see these two seams line up. It’s a lot easier to make that way. But Sebastiano (or Seb, to us) insists that this is a more natural setting for the sleeve in regards to the arm.

“It allows the sleeve greater movement and feels more comfortable as a result. Having the seams lined up would only make sense if your arms hung straight down. They don’t,” said Seb.

I own one Kiton shirt and it is amazingly comfortable. But to be frank it’s hard to know whether that’s down to the stunning quality of the cotton or tailoring aspects like the hand sewing and offset seams. Even just wearing the basic body in a lightweight cotton, as in these images of a first fitting, feels like something far removed from a typical English shirt.

 

One immediately obvious benefit in the finished shirt, however, is the hand-sewing of the collar. It is attached by upturning the collar and sticking it to the body of the shirt with a pin, then buttoning the collar closed. The tailor then sews it onto the shirt, in a circle. In much the same way as a collar is sewn onto a bespoke jacket, this means the shirt collar retains its shape even when unbuttoned. It is less likely to collapse beneath that bespoke jacket when you wear it.

Other interesting details are that Kiton uses no interlining down the placket of its shirt, which is actually cheaper but makes it lighter to wear. That placket is basted back onto the shirt by hand. All the buttonholes are sewn by hand, which seems like an awful lot of effort even to someone used to closely examining the buttonholes on his suits. The buttons are also sewn on by hand, using the ‘chicken foot’ or three-pointed technique to show it off.

And finally the collar is an interesting mix of fused and floating construction, with a light, floating canvas throughout for comfort but fused sections at both ends to keep them sharper.

 

Go see one yourself in a Kiton store. There’s nothing like seeing it in person.