Almost every mill on our Italian shelf is from Biella, which is wool country. Carnet is from Como, which is silk and print country, and the difference shows in the book. Carnet is a division of Ratti, the Como textile house founded in 1945 by Antonio Ratti, and it traces its weaving lineage back to 1865. They hold over 4,000 articles in stock across menswear and womenswear, which for a tailor means we can find something for a very specific brief without waiting a season for it. This is the shelf for the wedding jacket, the waistcoat, the odd trouser and the piece that has to look like nobody else has it.
Como, Ratti, and why silk country weaves differently
Como has been the centre of European silk and printed textiles for centuries. Antonio Ratti founded his company there in 1945 on the conviction that textile is a cultural product, not just an industrial one, and the Ratti operation at Guanzate near Como is one of the most capable printing and weaving houses in Italy. Carnet is its tailoring division.
The historical thread runs back further than 1945. Carnet traces its weaving lineage to 1865, through Donato Levi and the Fabbriche Riunite and then Giuseppe Rivetti, before the Ratti era and the creation of the Carnet name. Ratti today is jointly controlled by Marzotto and Faber Five, which puts Carnet in the same broad family as several of the Biellese mills.
The practical difference between Como and Biella is one of instinct. A Biella mill thinks first about fibre, count and finish. A Como house thinks about colour, pattern and surface. Both matter. If you want the safest possible navy, go to Biella. If you want a cloth nobody in the room has seen before, come here.
Print, pattern and 4,000 articles on the shelf
Carnet lean on Ratti's printing capability, and they are frank about it being their strongest suit. Prints, checks, plain weaves, satins and twills sit alongside each other in the same book, across cotton, wool, cashmere, linen, silk, viscose, bamboo and blends of all of those.
The stock depth is the other half of the story. Over 4,000 articles held in stock means short lengths are workable, so a single jacket, a waistcoat, a set of trousers or a lining does not require committing to a full piece. For a bespoke shop that is a practical gift, and it is why Carnet is often where we end up when a customer arrives with a very specific picture in his head.
The house line, from Tim Neckebroeck who runs it, is that fabric should be a conscious and inspirational choice when you build a wardrobe rather than an afterthought. That is a pitch, but it is a pitch aimed at exactly the customer who walks into a bespoke tailor with an idea rather than a brief.
Cool Bamboo, Comfort Cashmere and the rest
Cool Bamboo is the one to ask about in Chennai. Bamboo-derived fibre moves moisture and feels cool against the skin, and blended into a tailoring cloth it gives you a garment with a different comfort profile from pure wool at the same weight. For a summer jacket or a warm-weather suit, it is worth putting your hand on.
Comfort Cashmere sits at the soft end, for jacketing where the hand is the point. Premium Classics covers the conventional tailoring vocabulary in plains and quiet patterns, which is the sensible starting shelf if you have come for a suit rather than a statement. They also carry a Harris Tweed selection, which is a cold-country cloth we will happily cut for you but will not pretend belongs in a Chennai summer.
When Carnet is the right shelf
Carnet is where we go for the garment that is not a plain suit. A reception jacket. A waistcoat that has to work with three different outfits over a wedding week. A pair of trousers in something unusual. A bandhgala in a cloth with surface interest rather than an obvious pattern.
It is not where we would send you for your first navy business suit, and we will say so. That job belongs to Biella. But once the foundations of a wardrobe are in place, this is the book that makes getting dressed interesting again.
Carnet cloth is available to order through us. Come with a picture, or a colour, or an event, and we will work backwards from that rather than starting with what is easiest to sell.