Review: Luxury Made-in-Italy Suits from Menswear Startup Lanieri

With Italian lineage and a partnership with a centuries-old fabric mill, online custom tailor Lanieri casts a unique shadow in the still-burgeoning field of made-to-measure suiting.  Modern Fellows reviewed the Lanieri.com suit experience after catching up with co-founder Riccardo Schiavotto to go behind the brand last year.

Receive a $100 discount off your first purchase from Lanieri by entering code MODERNFELLOWS at checkout.

Crafted in Italy from start to finish

Headquartered in Milan, where the company recently opened a permanent studio, Lanieri boasts an Italian supply chain from start to finish.

Albini supplies linen and cotton for shirts, while suit fabrics come from top Italian wool mills including ​​Loro Piana, ​Vitale Barberis Canonico​, Tallia di Delfino​ and​ Reda​.​

The ​latter is also an investor in Lanieri, giving some tradition and corporate heft to the new venture.  Reda, Schiavotto says, “shares our vision to export Italian excellence using the innovation we have developed since the foundation of ​the company​.”

Schiavottto says that the company works with “a top-class suit manufacturer located in Northern Italy. We don’t tailor the clothes ourselves, but we work very closely with our suppliers because there are so many variables that communication with them is key and critical. Also, they entirely support us on customer care and to achieve the perfect fit for our customers.”

Schiavotto provided a suit at no cost to Modern Fellows for review.

Ordering online from Lanieri.com

While the basics are similar to most other online tailors — customers take their own measurements following instructions online — Lanieri’s process is bolstered by a usefully detailed video tutorial and revised using ​​a proprietary statistical algorithm and by the company’s experienced ​tailors​.  If something seems amiss,​​ Lanieri will contact the customer and ask to double-check their measurements. Customers can also ask for the assistance of one of Lanieri’s advisers by making an appointment over Skype.​

Schiavotto boasts that their method “effectively combines the right mix of innovation, experience and heritage​” and arrives at a finished product that fits well out of the box.

One place Lanieri really shines is in the details available on the website.  Online custom suiting involves a leap of faith. It’s easier to make that leap if the photos and details of the fabrics and customizations are detailed and instill confidence about the product that will arrive in the mail.  Lanieri offers multiple photos of models wearing finished products, highly-detailed pictures of fabrics, helpful explanations around customization options and remarkably detailed narratives about their fabrics and suiting options.

For the grey birdseye fabric I chose, Lanieri explains that —

Reda is one of the few woolen mills in the world managing the whole production chain from the batteries to the finished cloth. With its 150 years of history, in its lands situated in New Zealand, produces only high quality merino woolin, which is then processed in Valle Mosso in the Biella district.

Cool.

Or if you happen to be in Italy…

​​Last spring, Lanieri opened its first permanent shop, in Milan, where it installed a 3D body scanner that aids the measurement process.  The company has also used the scanner for a variety of pop-up installations in Milan, Rome and London, England.

If the suit fits…

The finished product impressed out of the box.

The Reda fabric is, unsurprisingly, amazing — soft and luxurious to the touch — and overall the suit appeared well-crafted and cared for.

Lanieri’s suits are half-canvassed. Their tailors construct the canvass from horse hair​s​, and sew it the fabric “using a ​​special technique called picchiettatura, obtained by an hook-shaped needle called rostriglione.” They also now offer a full canvassed version for an up-charge.

Overall, the suit fit well out of the box.  That was particularly true for the jacket, which boasts a soft, natural shoulder. I chose a half-lined, patch-pocket option that gives the suit a more casual vibe, and that jacket has been amazing from Day One. The pants required some tweaking at a local tailor to lower the hem and take out a little bit in the seat.​ I communicated the changes that the tailor made back to Lanieri, who then updated my profile in their system.

Lanieri also shines with subtle details. My grey suit arrived with a black and white checkerboard waistband and a gentlemen’s seam on the rear of the trouser.  The double-button fasteners on the trouser waistband help them stay up and aligned.

One note — the suits are intended to be very tailored in their fit, so if that’s not your thing, you should work with Lanieri’s style consultants to make clear your fit preferences.

Customer service

Lanieri, like most online outfits, promises to take care of alterations, remakes and refunds.  Alterations are covered up to ​​$100 and their full policies are available on their website.

Cost

Lanieri suits start at US$​590 retail, though sales can lower that entry price point to under $500.  ​​For around $900 (or less during a sale), you can get your hands on a suit made with fabric from Loro Piana or an exclusive Reda 160’s.

Verdict

Lanieri makes the online intake process easy and delivers an extraordinarily well-crafted, Italian-made suit that offers impressive value for money.  For men who are willing to take the time to measure themselves and perfect the fit of that first suit, it’s hard to see how you could be disappointed with Lanieri’s high-end fabrics and construction.  Highly-recommended.