The Cloth
To mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, Huntsman is reissuing one of its most storied cloths, exclusively for our valued American clients. Stars & Stripes was first woven in the 1960s, born of a transatlantic sensibility: an American theme, Australian wool, British hands. It returns now as it always was: understated, enduring and elegant, with its name marked in red, white and blue along the selvedge.
“Made from the finest merino wool, using skills passed down through generations of Britain’s clothmakers, this cloth combines the lustre and wearability of a superfine two-ply merino worsted wool and the depth and kind hand of cashmere with the luxury of one of nature’s rarest fibres”, Ed Turco, Huntsman’s US Director, explains.
Its story begins in Huddersfield, at Broadfield Mill on Albert Street, where the first version was woven in the 1960s. In this collaboration between Huntsman and Dugdale Bros, the cloth has been further refined, with extra picks and ends added to create a firmer, more resilient fabric that holds its shape through even the most demanding schedule or the longest journey.
The wool is sourced from stations such as Hillcreston in Australia, whose flocks descend from some of the continent's earliest merino arrivals. Fleeces are hand-sorted so that only the finest sections make it to yarn, dyed and spun to exacting standards of colour and strength.
In Huddersfield, the yarn is woven on modern Dornier looms, which achieve a dense, tight weave without adding unnecessary weight. The cloth is then scoured in the region's celebrated soft water, using natural palm oil.
The final step is the ‘London Shrunk’, a finishing process dating to the 1600s, in which the cloth is folded between layers of damp fabric and carefully dried. The result: a cloth that will neither twist nor wrinkle under the cutter's scissors or the tailor's needle.
America's 250th calls for something befitting the occasion. Stars & Stripes is precisely that: a cloth with history in its weave, craft at its core, and a transatlantic story that has been 60 years in the making. Stars & Stripes returns as a reminder that the finest things are made slowly, carefully, and with a great deal of respect for what came before.
The Lining
This cloth alone is fitting for this momentous occasion. Still, this reissue carries one further detail — an exclusive silk lining printed with Childe Hassam's The Avenue in the Rain (1916), one of the most celebrated works in his iconic Flag Series.
The connection is more than aesthetic. Hassam painted the series from his studio at 130 West 57th Street, New York, the very building where Huntsman is based today. When he looked out onto Fifth Avenue and captured those rain-soaked flags in the weeks after America entered the First World War, he could not have known that a century later, a British tailor would occupy the same address, or that his image would find its way into the lining of a suit made to mark America's 250th.
It is, in every sense, a coat with a story on the inside, and a personal and enduring pleasure available only through our bespoke tailoring service.