Menswear’s tailoring evolution is one of the shifting paradigms of modern fashion, and traditional tailors face a daunting challenge, having to confront the global dominance of sportswear and streetwear. The survival strategy for many traditional Italian tailoring companies has been to infuse formal elegance with a sense of ease, without losing handmade, made-to-measure appeal. Balancing technology and craftsmanship is a way to maintain relevance and healthy balance sheets.
Kiton’s CEO Antonio De Matteis’s strategy so far has been to focus more and more on his core niche clientele of super wealthy customers, raising the bar of excellence in execution and quality of fabrics—with price points way up in the thousands for suits tailored with famous Neapolitan expertise.
You don’t have to look for tectonic shifts at Kiton; every season there are just discreet adjustments to their impeccable suits. The emphasis for Spring was on beautifully textured new lightweight fabrics, and on a Mediterranean color palette with a fresh vibe. Deconstruction was also paramount: “Our blazers have a slim fit that follows the figure, accentuating the waist; a jacket has to be soft, giving freedom of movement, almost ‘leaning’ on the body without any constricting feel,” said De Matteis. “The jacket has to live and move with you, almost as if you were making love with it!” he added, in pure #italiansdoitbetter mode.
Sportswear was expanded to include a nautical-inspired offer of parkas, vests, and comfortable pants, all designed with an elegant edge; personalized denim pants and jackets were proposed in the precious Japanese Kurabo fiber, highlighting a modern approach and attention to younger customers. On this note, Kiton collaborated with Naples’s Vanvitelli University on a project called IGP for Kiton, an acronym for Intertwined Geographic Proficiency. The students worked on a capsule collection of classic dinner jackets in super-fine wool interpreted creatively, with the handmade basting kept in evidence as a decorative element. Inside every jacket, the geographic coordinates of Kiton’s factory were embroidered; part of the sales revenues will be donated to the school.
Youth is very much on De Matteis’s agenda; his twin sons Mariano and Walter’s sporty, cool line KNT (Kiton New Textures) continues to expand. This season they introduced new categories, like short sporty jackets in soft technical fabrications, and a new take on the classic blazer, proposed with no lapels, often hooded and easy as a sweatshirt. It was still cut with Kiton’s signature precision.
