Florentine tailors and their English peers on London's famed Savile Row are planning an exchange program aimed at helping both rag trade traditions attract more young blood.
It seems that suit-makers in Savile Row and Florence are struggling to find young people who, apart from wanting to wear stylish clothes, are also willing to be trained in the business of making them.
An accord setting up cooperation plans was signed on Friday by the Florentine artisans' association and a delegation from London.
The Savile Row tailors were in Florence for the Pitti Immagine Uomo fashion shows, Italy s annual showcase for menswear, which ends on Saturday.
For the first time in its 70-year history, the show featured clothing by Savile Row tailors, together with an exhibition entitled The London Cut: Savile Row Bespoke Tailoring.
This annoyed a few Italian designers, who said the Pitti show was intended to represent Italian clothes, not to offer a showcase for foreigners.
But those differences appear to have been overcome, at least in Florence. Italian tailors are set to visit their colleagues in the British capital later this year.
The idea is to set up regular exchanges for trainees and entrepreneurs and to work together on international promotion projects.
