Back to my roots: Where it all started

The pure silk label - a D'Avino Signature

Long time no see!

This is likely not the last time you will see this line on the @shirtingfantasy blog. Due to a busy work schedule, a busy family life, and everything else in between, there is practically no time for many of these leisure activities—tailoring, shoes, and other menswear passions.

Today, we are going back to one of the subjects that fascinated @shirtingfantasy from the very beginning, and one that has been gaining increasing relevance due to global warming: shirts; handmade shirts, to be exact.

@shirtingfantasy has surveyed a number of makers, from his homeland of Hong Kong, China, to Tokyo, Japan (Yamagami), to Milan, Italy (Camiceria Piccolo), and to London, UK (Turnbull & Asser). The most impressive shirt delivered—both in terms of fit and make—would have to be the handmade excellence from D'Avino Napoli.

To many, it sounds a bit crazy to spend upwards of EUR 350 for a shirt. But if you are more familiar with the Hong Kong or London pricing systems, in which tailors basically (over)charge you based on how luxurious a fabric you pick, a DJA 300/2 or Alumo 170/2 will practically run well above EUR 400—fully machine-made, with zero handwork. In comparison, Italian handmade shirts are an absolute bargain.

Fiorenzo's website (https://www.davinonapoli.com/en/) remains quite primitive, whether by 2015 or 2026 standards. Furthermore, ordering shirts from him is more easily done via Facebook Messenger than by email. Perhaps, we are all men trapped in a certain era, a certain nostalgia, and a certain refusal to modernise and catch up with the trends.

When @shirtingfantasy started off, the shirt passion was merely out of financial necessity—it is the cheapest item to commission bespoke, making it relatively easy to "get to the top" with limited means. It had the incidental effect of allowing the budding enthusiast to experiment with pattern, colour, texture, and material provenance (there is simply no other way to learn about Giza cotton, WISICA Sea Island cotton, or vintage 90cm fabric versus modern 150cm widths). The knowledge gleaned from cotton is, at least in a certain sense, transferable. It likely heralded @shirtingfantasy's subsequent passion for all things sartorial, which currently manifests in shoes.

Without further ado, let us indulge in some close-up photos of one of the more recent deliveries from D'Avino Napoli. The fabric is Carlo Riva's twill voile in 180/2 Egyptian Giza cotton—never Sea Island, as they are not Bonfanti Tessuti. The button-down collar is, naturally, non-fused.