A guide to summer fabrics: Fresco
When it comes to tailored menswear, nothing says ‘summer’ quite like Fresco. This lightweight open-weave wool cloth has been a summer go-to for stylish individuals for almost 70 years. The original Fresco (‘fresh’ in Italian), was first popularised by British woollen merchant J&J Minnis Ltd. in Huddersfield during the early twentieth century, and it’s been a firm favourite of well-dressed men ever since.
Technically, Fresco is a kind of ‘tropical worsted’, part of a family of fabrics specifically designed to wear comfortably in warm weather, and to keep the wearer cool. It does this in two ways.
Firstly, it’s woven from high-twist yarn that is both extremely strong, yet lightweight. And secondly, it’s woven with a plain-weave structure, which combined with its twisted yarns produces a fabric that’s extremely airy – hold it up to the light and you’ll see what we mean. Small gaps in the weave allow air to circulate through the cloth, keeping the wearer cool as a cucumber, even in hot climates.
Another plus-side of using high-twist yarn is that fresco is also naturally resistant to creasing, which makes it a great choice for travel suits and trousers. You can hop on a plane in your grey fresco suit, and as soon as you hop off it again, any creases will start to fall out.
So, how are we using fresco in our collection this season? Well, we’re championing the cloth with trousers cut in ‘Fresco Lite’, a smoother version of classic wool Fresco that was released by Minnis last summer. Light in weight and cool to the touch, our flat-fronted Bowthorpe trousers and our new pleated high-waisted Tolpuddle trousers both come in this luxurious summer cloth. Each is available in classic mid-grey and navy, which make for ideal companions to our colourful range of summer jackets.
Elsewhere, our suiting collection makes use of some similar high-twist open-weave fabrics, woven for us by another storied British mill in Yorkshire, which behave in much the same way as Fresco. Our Morton, Borrowdale and Yew suits are all cut in high-twist lightweight wool fabrics, and the jackets are half-lined for comfort too.
So, whether you’re city-hopping, escaping abroad for a week in the sun, or in need of a comfortable and durable summer business suit, our Fresco collection is there to serve.