SOLARO

Solaro cloth: one of humankind’s great accidental inventions. Perhaps not quite on the level of fellow accidents the X-Ray or microwave, but a decent contribution to summer tailoring nonetheless.

It was the idea of Dr. Sambon, a doctor working in the British Raj at the turn of the 20th century. He noticed that the darker skin of the local population seemed more resistant to sunlight, so with British mill Smith & Woollens developed a twill cloth that was light on the outside, but by using red yarn on the weft (the thread crossing the cloth horizontally) was dark on the interior, to protect the skin of British soldiers. It was the world’s first technical fabric.

Sadly the experiment failed, and sun cream was invented by L’Oreal 30 years later, but the cloth has hung around, appreciated for the depth in colour and texture offered by the red weft, which give it a luminous, iridescent appearance.

It’s been particularly popular in Italy, embraced by a generation of now older-Italian tailoring lovers as a stylish worsted alternative to the traditional summer cloths of cotton and linen. Originally a lighter shade of khaki, the cloth is now made in several colours, each though retaining the essential red weft ingredient.