San Francisco Chronicle

“One day if I go to heaven … I’ll look around and say, «It ain’t bad, but it ain’t San Francisco»”

It wasn’t the first time I’d ever been to San Francisco, but I went back gladly, and I must say it never ceases to surprise me. I have welcoming friends who always make me feel at home, and new opportunities and people to meet. It must be said that the well-known journalist Herb Caen, who wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle for more than sixty years, caught an element of truth in the sentence above that is apparently ironic.

No matter what your reasons for your trip, to wake up in San Francisco is always a pleasure even if you have work to do. And this was definitely the case for me. Here’s what I did: I left with my tape measure in my pockets and that’s where it stayed for the whole of my trip. I never left home without it, I could have come to the States without a suitcase; all I needed was my tape measure, a notebook and a pencil.

I unroll the tape measure over the width of my friend’s shoulders. He’s been wearing our shirts for years. After having taken his measurements, together we choose the details that make his shirts his, unique. Small lapels of material, cuffs, buttons in contrast. His shirts are his trademark, even if they’re made in Italy.

I did the same thing for other friends and colleagues. To personalise a shirt, a jacket, a suit, means we have to tune in to your frequency, to listen to you and to create an item that tells your story and speaks your language.

For a few years now, Franco Montanelli has offered an ad hoc service that isn’t limited to the four walls of the Lucca store, in Tuscany, but can go where you are to literally meet you halfway.

If you’re interested in this service, please contact us at any time, by phone or by email. We will be happy to come to you so that together we might find the best item whether it be a suit for a special occasion or that can be used every day.

 

Fun Facts

In Anglo-Saxon nations, including the United States, small measurements are calculated in inches, a unit that is not part of the International System of Units. The value of an inch, or “pollice” in Italian which means “thumb”, was already in use by the Ancient Greeks and Romans and varied depending on the region in which it was used. Under the reign of Octavius Augustus (27 B.C. – 14 A.D.) it was equalised with the measurements used in Rome, and this brought about the use of the inch as the twelfth part of a foot which was the Roman measurement unit.

It was used extensively in Europe and the inch was applied with different values from city to city, until the metric system was introduced.

The presence of different units of measurement was becoming a problem, especially in matters of international commerce. In 1775 France decided to put together a commission of scientists led by Joseph-Louis Lagrange, the famous mathematician, whose aim was to create a set of units for each measurement (length, weight, volume, etc) that could be used unequivocally by different countries.

The use of the inch as a unit has survived only in Anglo-Saxon countries, where an inch corresponds officially to 2.54 cm.

magazine@francomontanelli.com

( text Anna Tongiani )