Naples Via…Norway?
Close your eyes, and picture a bespoke Neapolitan jacket. What do you see?
Wide, straight-cut lapels with a relatively high gorge. A 3-button front that rolls to the second button, with somewhat swept-away “quarters” below the buttoning point. Dual rear vents. Sleeves attached at the shoulder using the shirt-sleeve method (spalla camicia), probably with some shirring (grinze) either just for show/tradition, or to legitimately compensate for the sleeve being slightly too big for the size of the armhole. Virtually no padding, or only just a little used in the shoulder line. A curved, boat-shaped chest pocket (barchetta), and curvaceous, round open patch pockets at the hips. The darts on the front of the body maybe extend from just below the chest all the way to the hem of the garment. The whole thing is made using a lightweight, full-canvas construction.
Open your eyes. While your eyes were closed, I have placed before you exactly what you just pictured. But this is not bespoke, it is a ready-to-wear jacket that was made in Naples, and sells for less than $800.
Inside the label reveals who sells it: Cavour. A store based in Oslo.
To say that I am flabbergasted that such a garment exists at this price doesn’t do my emotional state credit.
[Update 3/16/2022: My emotional state returned to normal upon learning that the spring/summer 2022 collection and possibly moving forward, Cavour has changed to using a factory in China. Kevin Svindland lays out the reasons in a Styleforum post here. The tl;dr is the Chinese factory can deliver a better, more consistent quality product at scale with better machinery with less tolerances for error and better communication. I personally don’t care where a jacket is made, so the change doesn’t bother me; however I think they should have been more transparent about the change. Nowhere on the product page does it list country of origin. To be fair, it didn’t before when it was made in Italy; but that info was easy to find online. And besides the cachet of “Made in Italy” is the practical concern of customs and import duties for some nations; long-time Canadian customers of Cavour’s were hit with 40% import duties for the same types of goods they were ordering before, with no warning. I have not updated the text of this review beyond this update, but my feelings about the jacket’s style, cut, and quality are as high as they were before; assuming this season’s and future season’s products are the same or better quality and style, I have no qualms about recommending them.]
The only detail missing from that laundry list above are the full-length front darts. Everything else that makes up the hallmark Neapolitan style is present and accounted for here. Which in and of itself isn’t rare. We all know other makers whose jackets are cut in a Neapolitan style, either there in the shadow of Vesuvius itself or somewhere else. But often those makers make little tweaks to the style to cater to whatever market they’re looking to reach. Here, it’s the unfiltered authenticity on display that’s so bracing.
In a way it almost makes sense that it takes an outside retailer—someone from outside Naples or Italy itself—to bring something like this to market. Italians themselves seem to feel the need to take their product and adjust it in certain ways to appeal to the native expectations of buyers in other parts of the world. But for people outside Italy, we look there and see something special that we want in on. We don’t want it filtered through our own country’s mainstream idea of style. Cavour’s house label tailored jackets feel like that special Italian sauce, authentic just like the locals would want it.
The jacket Cavour sent me: https://cavour.co/en/product/4321/mod-2-wool-cashmere-birdseye-jacket
The trousers Cavour sent me:https://cavour.co/en/product/4367/mod-2-single-pleat-flannel-trouser
The shirt Cavour sent me: https://cavour.co/en/product/5721/sartoria-basket-weave-oxford-buttondown
OK But How Does It Fit?
Fit is of course very personal. What fits great on one guy might be pretty meh on another. So I offer my personal experience, with photos to illustrate and my catalog of other brands I’ve written about in this ongoing tailoring series to compare against, with that caveat.
That said, here are my observations. The jacket fits true to size. I took my normal Italian size (52R, roughly equivalent to a US 42R; Cavour does not sell L or S lengths to my knowledge, so the tagged size on the product page is simply 52). If you look at the product measurements, what comes across is a pretty normal drop-6 fit, but where it deviates from the mainstream is in two spots: the jacket length and the shoulder width.
The jacket length is more classic (that is, longer) than the shorter length that’s been popular for the last 15 years. Even Cavour’s first run at Italian jacketing, the Model 1, was very short. But on this size 52 Model 2, it measures just as the product page states at ≈30.25 inches, bottom of collar to hem, which is right in the range you’d expect for this size. On my body, it works just great.
The shoulder width is a little narrower than mainstream, which is a Neapolitan thing. Go check out Simon Crompton’s breakdown of his Neapolitan jackets and you’ll notice they have narrower shoulders than makers from other geographic regions, on average.
There is a debate about what is the most flattering shoulder width on a tailored jacket. Derek Guy started a Styleforum thread about it and wrote some words about it a couple years ago. I agree with Derek, and my personal preference is for a slightly extended shoulder, ideally with a tad bit of roping to it.
But given the very natural, true spalla camicia construction of the shoulder, the narrower width makes sense: it makes the shoulder feel nearly completely unstructured, just like a shirt. Indeed there is only the lightweight canvas that extends up from the chest, over the shoulder line, to give it any structure.
I intend to give the next size up a try at some point in the future just to see whether I prefer how the shoulder fits and looks on me. But of course I know that will mean everything else will be bigger, meaning more alterations. In the meantime, with some alterations to slim it a tad in the waist and hips on me, it’s a great fit straight off the rack.
The shoulders are the one point where, personally, I could stand to see improvement, both in terms of fit on my body and also my personal stylistic preference. Ideally in my mind, the shoulder line should stay mostly flat and lie clean, even when moving your arms to put them in your pocket, etc. This jacket’s shoulders buckle and break that clean line even with just a little movement. I don’t know what changes to the pattern would fix this on me personally, perhaps a slight change to how they slope, or a little added room to accommodate my lats. Stylistically, I have learned in the last few years that I prefer a slightly extended shoulder with just a little bit of roping (con rollino) over a purely natural, “bald” shoulder. But again, it’s all a matter of personal taste.
Overall, I am overjoyed at Cavour’s Model 2 jacket, in how it looks and fits. If you’d have shown me a photo of it 10 years ago, I would have assumed it were either bespoke or a ready to wear brand that retails for $3,000.
Bravo Team Cavour.
Cavour Model 2 Trousers
Whenever I pitch these article features to the brands I like, I always ask for the same thing: just send me a blazer/sportcoat on loan for a week or two to try on and photograph, then I’ll send it back and we can do the interview. But I also offer for them to send me a full suit if they’d prefer, or a separate pair of trousers perhaps. And that’s just what Cavour did; pictured throughout are their brown flannel single pleat Model 2 trousers. In fact they sent me a shirt, too (shown separately from the main outfit).*
Trousers are a sore spot for me. I feel like the silhouette I want my trousers to have in my mind is maybe physically impossible to create in actual fabric on my actual body—at least in a form that’s comfortable and functional to wear. And while there are menswear-nerd details I appreciate in photographs of other people, or on mannequins, in general what I actually like wearing is pretty plain. Flat front. Mid-high rise. Slim-straight cut. 2-inch cuffs.
Cavour’s Model 2 trousers are a medium rise, single pleat, tapered affair with a generous side seam allowance in the legs if you desire to let them out to make them less slim. As-is, the size 52 I received have a leg opening of 7.5 inches across (15 inches circumference), which is on the slim but not skinny side of contemporary trousers. However, the knee measurement allows for reasonable movement and the hips/thighs aren’t skin tight either. (Again, this is personal and your mileage will definitely vary).
As they are, off the rack, I like them well enough and am glad to add them to my wardrobe. I am on the record multiple times as having tried pleats and just not liking them. I hate the way that a pleated trouser tends to look from the side in the top block. But these are the first pleated trousers I’ve ever tried that, when you are wearing a jacket, you cannot tell they are pleated. That’s a win for me (since I will always be wearing a jacket if I’m wearing tailored trousers). They are not my new go-to trouser company, but if you like what you see, I definitely encourage you to give them a go.
The shirt!
It’s part of Cavour’s higher-end “Sartoria” line, meaning it has handmade details galore. It is a university stripe OCBD, sure, but it’s in kind of a different class than the typical ones you normally think of. This is a fine, dressy oxford cloth with a more silky texture. Everything appears finished by hand: the sleeve attachment, the buttons, the cuffs with numerous shirring around the entire circumference, the hand-tack on the front placket, etc. It is fancy and it is very nice.
Of Note: Shipping and Return Policy at Cavour
It’s worth noting how generous and frictionless Cavour makes your experience as a customer. 2-day international DHL shipping is free on orders over $250USD. And returns on orders purchased at up to 50% off are free, as well (meaning return shipping is paid for by Cavour, unless the purchased item was 60% off or greater). That is a huge incentive to give them a try.
Final recommendations and conclusions
I advocate for tailoring because it’s flattering, makes me feel cool, and I can express my style in it. But I promote soft tailoring like what you find from southern Italy in particular because it works really well in a contemporary context. It’s wearable with jeans on account of its more natural cut. Less padding feels less stuffy. The softer construction feels more comfortable. The humanistic touches—the waterfall shoulder, or lack of so many straight lines, such as on those rounded pockets and swept away lower quarters—are pleasant visual reminders that these are made by hand (yes, with the aid of a machine in some areas), which is somehow comforting.
Cavour’s house line of tailoring is a bullseye on all accounts where it matters. It has a flattering, classic overall cut—a long-enough jacket in a bona fide Neapolitan style that checks nearly every single box. It’s a high quality, full-canvas garment made with well regarded fabrics from world-renowned mills. For the price—and with the completely seamless shipping and returns policy they have—I can’t recommend Cavour enough.
Thank you Kevin for agreeing to the feature, and for taking the time to answer a few interview questions.
*After he agreed to the feature, and we settled on what he was going to send, Kevin generously offered to allow me to keep the garments, free of charge. See my policy on free products, gifts and reviews here. back
An interview with Kevin Svindland of Cavour
Menswear Musings: Who’s behind Cavour, and what’s your history with menswear?
Kevin Svindland: Cavour was founded by brothers Richard and Sebastian Scharnke in 2014 as a brand to fill the gap between the popular Scandinavian brands (Tiger of Sweden, Oscar Jacobson, J.Lindeberg etc..) and the popular and commercial Italian ones (Canali, Caruso, Zegna).
In 2014 the three of us had been working together for many years in a Norwegian department store called Høyer. Richard as menswear director, Sebastian and I as buyers. They broke out and started Cavour, selling wholesale to other Norwegian stores for a few years. I stayed in Høyer for a few more years, and did one year for a small Made To Measure outfit named MWH.
When the time came to open the first Cavour store, I joined as store manager and buyer in 2017. Which was when we started presenting our own collection along with other brands that we were into. And then the online store followed shortly thereafter, which has been in constant development ever since.
Who do you think of as your customer and how do you meet his needs and wants?
Our core customer is the young professionals. Basically guys our own age (early 30s) that work in more corporate environments. Given that our concept is still pretty young, we hope to be the place that these guys bring their sons when it is time for the first suit. At least here in Oslo.
Our online store is steadily growing, so we do have a very diverse clientele from many different walks of life.
All in all, everyone that enjoys a modern take on classic menswear and good quality is our customer.
What is your raison d’etre for Cavour?
See above. Starting out it was all about filling the gap between Scandinavian suits, and higher quality high end Italian suits.
Cavour carries lots of high end makers—Attolini, 100 Hands, Rota, Ambrosi—yet you also have this very value-oriented line of house tailoring. Did you start out with a house line of tailoring always in mind or was it something you developed after a period of time? What were the reasons for developing it?
Cavour was started as a brand (for the reasons above), the store and the general selection of other brands was added later.
You also have the Cavour Sartoria line. What is the difference between the two lines? Is it just about extra steps done by hand, or are there other differences?
The Sartoria Line is my little passion project, next to the main collection. The idea is that the products under the Sartoria label are to be made in small ateliers, rather than with larger manufacturers. For example, the shirts are hand made by a small team in Naples, jackets and suits are entirely hand made by a small workshop in Bari. Considering the quality of these products, they really offer superior value, if compared to products of a similar make.
The pandemic slowed down the development a little bit, but we are currently working on shoes and outerwear, and also expanding the selection of tailoring.
The Cavour Sartoria line is over all more nerdy.
How would you describe the style of Cavour’s house garments?
Soft and easy, inspired but southern Italian style, with Scandinavian sensibilities.
What makes your garments special?
I would say that what sets our products apart is the overall quality vs price. Fully canvassed suits and jackets with hand made bar tacks, pick stitching etc.
We also mainly work with materials usually found in far more pricy collections than ours.
Also the fact that our knowledge about the business in general, allows us to really make sure that our product stands out in terms of quality and value.
Working as buyers for a long time, we got to visit many brands, showrooms, factories, mills and makers. Which allows us to see through a lot of the smoke and mirrors in this industry.
What kind of quality are you producing, and what sets your garment apart? (i.e. Is there handwork in any special places or any special kind of fabrics used, fancy stitching, etc.?)
Covered above, I believe?
Are there any other things about your clothing or your store that we haven’t covered that you want to say?
I think the products are fairly covered, but might say a thing or two about our DHL shipping and return service, which is pretty pretty pretty pretty good. And a unique added value to our concept. Delivery on the other side of the world in less than two days is amazing. I honestly don’t really understand how they do it. (During big seasonal sales things sometimes take longer time.)
