WORLDS FINEST
Moody Tuscan Blues
Part of our ‘Made in Italy, by Humans’ collection, the Raffinato suede
jacket is made in Florence by blissfully moody artisans.
“You understand these jackets are made by hand, right? You know they are made by actual humans?”
It’s a picture-perfect day in late May, and as we weave through bucolic Tuscan hills just outside of Florence en route to the workshop of our suede jacket maker, Daniele, their point man, is detailing his recent conversations with M.J. Bale’s design and production team. It seems we are a bit too particular. “You guys are asking me, ‘Oh, can you change the collar by 0.2mm?” He laughs. “I’m, like, ‘Guys, these jackets are made by real people! Your M.J. Bale jacket (the ‘Raffinato’) is made by hand from the very first step. Every piece carries the personality of the person who made it and will be affected by very small details, even like how they were feeling that day, what mood they were in. Each jacket will vary from maker to maker, you know? We do now. But still… a hell of an effort goes into making each piece uniform. Arriving in the workshop, we see a master craftsman examining a piece of hide with the intensity of a surgeon. He has twenty years of experience etched into his hands and can spot defects invisible to the untrained eye. "You see, if he doesn't show you, you will never see it," explains Daniele as the artisan discards what appears to be perfect leather. "There is a small defect that would compromise the entire jacket."
This is the reality inside one of Tuscany's last traditional leather workshops, where every suede jacket begins its journey with human artistry. The atelier is in the heart of the Santa Croce district famous for centuries, if not millennia, for luxury leather, traditionally relying on Florence’s Arno River for soaking hides and transporting them. “They have probably been making leather hides here since the time of the woolly mammoth,” jokes Daniele, “then they were making the barbecue with the meat.” The process of the Raffinato suede jacket begins with an arranged marriage of materials. Each jacket requires approx. 45 square feet of goat leather sourced from the Mediterranean. But here's the craftsman's first challenge: every piece must match perfectly in colour and texture. "It's a natural product, so every single piece of leather has its own story," explains the workshop’s owner, Cristiana. "The reaction with the tannery could be different for every single piece, so a shade of blue could be slightly different." The cutting alone requires extraordinary precision – each movement appears swift, but the craftsman simultaneously checks for defects while optimising every inch of precious material. Nothing is wasted in this process where a single jacket can take many hours to complete – mostly by hand but with sewing machines required for the tough stitching.
The workshop uses only "Fiore" – the ‘flower’ of the hide, the most premium part of the leather. This quality, combined with specialised tapes applied to each section for structure, ensures that these jackets will age gracefully rather than deteriorate. "If you have a leather jacket, it stays with you all your life long," Daniele reflects. "You will see your history on it like a tattoo." There is a saying here that goes something like, “In Florence, even the stones speak of art." We can probably now add ‘leather’ to that maxim.