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| The collar. Not the most spectacular collar shape, I would say. |
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| @desmondhui_kt thinks shirts "don't take much space". I wish my wife agrees with him. |
Anyhow, above was just to explain why I need to borrow another gentleman's experience in order to craft a review. A lame excuse, perhaps?
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| The Apposta shirt. Shirt and model: courtesy of @bamboohkg. Venue: @wongmanhoi1025. |
It could not be remembered exactly whether @bamboohkg or I noticed Neronote first: a website claiming to offer fully-customizable, Made-in-Italy shirts. I waited perhaps a bit too long (due to engagement with other projects), and the plan of a Neronote shirt never actualized. Then one day they popped up into my mind again, and I casually texted my friend (and, more importantly, menswear mentor) @bamboohkg:
"Have you tried Neronote shirts? They offer rather reasonably-priced shirts - said to be Made in Italy as well!"
"Neronote?"
"Let me confirm... oh, they actually renamed themselves Apposta now!"
"Let me have a look..."
Mentors being mentors, they usually have something extraordinary the mentees can learn from. One fine day, mentor texted back:
"Do you want to have a look at my Apposta shirt? It's interesting..."
So it goes. We conducted the photo session on a fine Saturday. Noting the limitations of "online MTM", the reader is advised to focus on the overall effect and craftsmanship, instead of the fit depicted in my poorly taken photos.
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| A rather classic silhouette, I would say. |
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| The back is not super clean, especially near the waist. @bamboohkg also thinks there is quite a bit of excess fabric. But then perhaps it could actually be a feature of the Italian fit - with more fabric at the back to allow movement? |
Apposta's ordering system is something to sing praises to. As @bamboohkg has a relatively large neck circumference, the self-measurement was actually flagged automatically during the data submission, and later verified by a staff member at Apposta via email. So, unlike some tailors who cannot even copy measurements properly, Apposta is relatively professional and systematic in dealing with these essentials. We agreed that the overall fit should be granted a pass. Being lenient, I would probably give the front 7/10 and the back 6/10 (per MTM standards, just like the English Syllabus A that once existed in the local Certificate of Education examination).
The craftsmanship, however, would not be passed lightly: to openly say that the garment you sell is Made in Italy, to menswear aficionados, is no less than a small quality statement...2
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| MADE IN ITALY!!! |
In Hong Kong, there has been a long-standing delimitation of "Canton craftsmanship" (廣東工) and "Shanghai craftsmanship" (上海工). In essence, the former represents modern, adaptable and quantity production whereas the latter traditional, classic and quality production. One pays more for the look and feel of artisanal craftsmanship, and it usually involves more waiting3. This classification is unimportant outside of China, obviously. But Apposta does evoke the image of Canton-in-Italy...
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| Match-making is Difficult. Sounds like the name of a bad movie. |
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| Cutting of cuffs seems precise. |
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| A decent stitch density at the exposed areas. Buttonholes are actually decent. |
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| Match-making is Difficult II. Note the reduced stitch density at (apparently) non-exposed areas. |
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| Relatively thick bottom hem. |
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| 3 mm synthetic MOP buttons. @bamboohkg pointed out that the buttons have a slightly curved bottom, like those I ordered from Yiu Wah, so if one measures the full height, it will actually be more than 3 mm. |
Regarding the last point, @bamboohkg volunteered an explanation before I even asked: he actually wanted thicker buttons, and was prepared to pay an extra surcharge for thicker MOP buttons if available. To his surprise, Apposta is a rather practical4 shirt company, and the best they could do was to offer him thick plastic buttons.
Last but not least, we reviewed the fabric choice. According to @bamboohkg's memory, he ordered a David & John Anderson (DJA) poplin. Curiously, the fabric had a yarn thickness of 140/2 x 140/2. The knowledgeable reader is hereby invited to help decipher our mysterious find:
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| "DJA", 140/2, pure cotton poplin. |
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| Where is Buckingham? |
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| Thomas Mason. Um. Buckingham. |
To be fair to Apposta, we have to mention that the Albini group have re-organized their product lines not infrequently over the past few years or so. There was once a Thomas Mason Bespoke, then a Goldline, and more recently DJA has been integrated into the super-bunch with Thomas Mason and Albiate lines. The apparent mislabeling could have well been unintentional.
The bottom line is, if you look close enough and find hard enough, there are indeed exclusive DJA main collection items on Apposta, such as the superb "Twill DJA" series in 200/2, warp and weft, Giza 45 cotton - priced at the relatively reasonable EUR 199. A shirt made from the same fabric would easily cost you north of EUR 400 at physical bespoke makers such as Ascot Chang. You get a made-in-Italy label, quality fabric (N.B. choose carefully) at half of the price of East Asian bespoke! And the whole process can be done entirely online - which spares the time and social difficulties some individuals may have with respect to a physical consultation.
And the mentee shall see if mentor will get a next shirt from Apposta, or if Apposta would actually be eager to respond to this review.
Until then, goodbye!
Footnote:
[1] The other problem is obviously TooManyTailors. I witnessed the early days of the project, closely followed the founders' ambition, but could not follow up further due to the fact that they stopped updating their site since July 2015. This site is at least partly inspired by them.
[2] @bamboohkg noted that the shirt was shipped from France. The official explanation he obtained from Apposta (which, incidentally, was incorporated in the UK) was that the Made-in-Italy shirts were first shipped to France, which serves as a sort of logistic hub. We cannot easily verify these claims, to be honest.
[3] See also the definitive piece by Mr. Mark Cho at http://www.markcho.com/abridged-history-of-tailoring-in-hong-kong/ The differences between the two methods of production are described in detail. While Mark's discussion focused mainly on suits, there are discernable differences between shirts made by shirt-makers trained from the two schools.
[4] An euphemism. They do offer some rather impractical fabric on the site - which I actually love to wear. See text.
Shop information:
Apposta (formerly Neronote)
https://www.apposta.com/
Minimum order: one shirt
Price range: EUR 69+/shirt for Monti pure cotton 50/1 x 50/1, EUR 129+/shirt for Thomas Mason fabric. Shipping varies by destination, but is free worldwide for orders over EUR 220.
CMT service: Not available
Handmade option: Not available
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