Luca Avitabile

Luca Avitabile cuts shirts in an atelier on the first floor of Palazzo Berio on Via Toledo in Naples, opposite the Galleria Umberto. Clients climb a stone stairwell and ring the bell before entering a terrazzo-floored fitting room. Monocle described the process in its February 2024 issue. After coffee and conversation Avitabile cuts a pattern in plain muslin and follows it with a fitting, which he regards as the delicate part of the process. Fabric choices run from striped Carlo Riva twill to Alumo Swiss cotton and Japanese denim, with buttons in Australian or Tahitian mother-of-pearl. The Friday polo, sewn from lightweight piqué and cut long with shirt tails so it can be tucked under tailoring, entered the range in 2020 as ready-to-wear and is now ordered custom as often as not. Clients who come for a classic shirt usually add a made-to-measure overshirt or polo, he told the magazine. A made-to-order overshirt service lets customers pick fabric and details. Ready-to-wear shirts and knitwear are sold online, and trunk shows and virtual meetings extend the atelier beyond Naples. Enquiries in Japanese are welcome, and appointments at the atelier are booked by email.