IRONBARK
A charcoal herringbone jacket on a tailor's form, one side raked by hard light, the other falling into black

Bespoke suits and jackets, made in Perth.

Ironbark is a tailoring house in the English tradition. Two basted fittings, and cloth from Holland & Sherry, Dormeuil and Vitale Barberis Canonico.

Perth, since 2019 Commissions by appointment
Book the measure

The cloth

Every commission starts at the cloth table, in daylight. We hold lengths from Holland and Sherry, Dormeuil and Vitale Barberis Canonico, and we will tell you plainly which of them suits the life you are going to give the garment. An 11-ounce worsted for courtrooms, a 13-ounce flannel for winter, an open-weave hopsack if you run warm.

Raking light shows what a swatch book hides: the twist of the yarn and the depth of the weave. We fit under the same light.

Macro of charcoal herringbone wool, raking light throwing a shadow off every chevron
Herringbone, 13 oz
Macro of mid-grey flannel, the brushed nap catching a low side light before the cloth falls to black
Flannel, 12 oz
Macro of navy hopsack, the open basket weave catching points of light with black between the yarns
Hopsack, 9 oz
The lapel of the finished jacket in near darkness, a raking light running along the belly of its roll and catching the hand-sewn buttonhole

The lapel

The roll is sewn in by hand. Under a moving light you can watch the belly of the lapel turn, which is how we check it on the bench.

The jacket folded back to show the pale horsehair canvas inside, covered in dense parallel rows of hand pad stitching

The canvas

Horsehair canvas, pad stitched by hand, sits between cloth and lining. It gives the chest its shape and holds the line of the jacket for decades.

The whole jacket on the form at a three-quarter angle, light travelling down the fall of cloth from chest to skirt

The drape

Cloth should fall from the chest without gripping the waist. We cut a fraction more length in the front balance than the block calls for, because Perth shoulders live in cars and at desks.

The fittings

Fittings
Three visits
First cloth to final press
Ten weeks
Pricing
By appointment

  1. The measure

    Twenty-six measurements, a conversation about the life the garment will lead, and the cloth chosen in daylight. An hour, sometimes more.

  2. The baste

    The jacket arrives held together by white basting thread and nothing else. We mark, unpick and recut. This is the fitting that decides everything.

  3. The forward

    Buttonholes finished, lining set, one last look under the raking light. Small alterations stay complimentary for ninety days after collection.