Geoffrey B. Small

[Geoffrey B. Small]

evolution II: on to the next step...

Great read, enjoyed every bit of it.
hope you and the team are welll

Thank you so much for the kind words Zam, hope you are also very well. I am admiring your patternmaking teaching work recently (Z Factorie Educate) and ardently support it from our side. It is so important now to pass on the craft to others who wish to learn how to make things, the current glut of bad design and lowered standards across the entire fashion industry at all price points is a direct result of its own growing ignorance and lack of education which it is passing off to consumers at their own expense. Dumb supports dumb. And then gets even dumber. Also the Z/Market project is a very good idea. I encourage any SZ readers out there to check out what Zam is doing recently...

best wishes, Geoffrey




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On to the next step...

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GBS Evolution II would expand our offering and proposals beyond the concentrated pure Como silk supershirt program we introduced in Evolution I. An important new selection of tailored ideas were carefully designed for a critical moment during the global pandemic to bridge warm weather, the start of vaccination programs in certain countries, and the ongoing issues of prolonged lockdowns, Covid spread and new mutations of the virus in many other areas of the world. All of the pieces developed and designed using feedback from dealers to also go with the new silk shirts being delivered into our dealer stores from Evolution I, as well as existing GBS pieces in the stores, further enhancing existing GBS inventory in each of our dealer's stores to maximize GBS customer selection and satisfaction when working with each dealer. This would be critical as material shortages and supply chain problems were rising from the pandemic's effect on the world economies, and many of our customers were writing to us constantly looking for pieces available to acquire.

They also incorporated our extensive research into the pandemic situation on many levels and featured our ongoing strict safety protocols and procedures in all of our production operations including individual product sterilization of every piece before final packing and shipment to the store and matching GBS tailor's community respiratory masks now being provided as standard equipment with almost every design piece for ongoing Covid pandemic protection wear.

We started sending dealers our new proposals for evolution II targeted for projected May and June deliveries. The first one, like the masks, has already proved to be rather prescient as the Delta variant from India now surges everywhere despite the progress being made with vaccines...







(to be continued)...

[Geoffrey B. Small]

Evolution II prototype proposals: the CVO02 Pandemic Travel Protection Set (in black)

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BACK in April, inspite of all the exciting news about vaccine campaigns and the reopening of travel for some countries... we felt serious travellers knew that the media hype was one thing, the reality and risks were another. At that time, only 3.9 percent of the entire world population had been fully vaccinated. That was only 300 million out of almost 8 billion hosts. None of the vaccines were 100 percent effective against the virus, and new more virulent mutations from the UK, Brazil, South Africa and India and neighboring countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka were showing themselves increasingly resistant to them.


Nothing concentrates infection and global spread from COVID risks more than going through mass transportation terminals and spending long periods in airplanes, trains, and cruise ships in close proximity to others breathing stagnant or recycled air for hours on end. In fact, there have been fewer bigger global superspreader factors of the pandemic itself than mass international passenger travel. So as vaccine hubris allowed many politicians to begin to risk reopening the flood gates of tourism and travel this summer, more than 95 percent of the world was still unvaccinated- and daily new cases worldwide remained at all time high levels. More travellers this summer would mean far more risks of yet another new wave of infections and mutations spreading. So we felt smart people needed to ask themselves if they could really risk getting a new mutation variant and or having to get quarantined for weeks on either or both ends of a journey. Nicholas Giannelli had been working for almost a year on advanced sustainable design medical gear and I felt it was time we made some of our research on this available to our dealers and customers for Evolution II...







Designed for the GBS customer who does not want to travel, but has to, the new CVO02 pandemic travel protection system set provided extensive protection, comfort and environmental reusable sustainability. It was created from our advanced medical design wear research from our extensive COVID-19 pandemic experience in the Veneto region of Northern Italy to provide a washable, long-term use, sustainable natural fibre overall protection system for extensive traveling or high risk communal event wear and service, as an alternative to extremely uncomfortable and environmentally devastating single-use Tyvek petrchemical plastic-based medical wear products and systems… using a special supertightly woven lab-tested anti-microbial anti-liquid bacterial treated pure cotton fabric specially developed and made for us by the world's leading research fabric maker, Luigi Parisotto in Sarcedo Vicenza.





The design features special self closing zipperless flight pockets for docs and valuables, a superb cut that allows for maximum movement, and comes with our tailor made full face cover visor with handmade Toscano vegetable tanned leather belt and Fontana metal closure buckle for secure and elegant fit adjustment, and matching deluxe GBS handmade triple filtration tailor's respiratory community mask in the same special medically treated fabric as standard equipment for Covid-19 pandemic protection wear.















Above left: pure titanium Monocoque Zeiss lens handmade sunglass by Rigards for GBS with triple-filtration GBS Tailor's Community mask. Above Right: GBS Evolution II "Alienatore" handmade dress sport shoe in Toscana Vegetable tanned leather.






A complete system of protection, comfort and functional performance for those who don't just “want” to travel- but have to. Also designed for concerts, discoteques, night clubs, large events and frontline service professionals.












IN hindsight the CVO02 Pandemic Travel Protection Set was prescient. At this posting date only a few months after its introduction to our dealers, still only 13.0 percent of the entire world population has been fully vaccinated. Even though that is about 3 times more than back in April, it's still only about 1 billion out of almost 8 billion human hosts. And that leaves 7 billion still to go widely susceptible to the now raging Delta variant which is now surging everywhere… especially among the unvaccinated, and thanks to the opening up of travel and almost of the western economies for the summer--numbers are now going back up just about everywhere.

Given that situation, we continue to feel that this design is as pertinent as ever as a key wardrobe tool for anyone who is serious about traveling professionally. For instance, it should be standard equipment for all Olympic team personnel traveling to Japan for the 2020 games or persons working the newly reopened rock concerts, clubs and large events. Alas, the Olympics is not to be... but our customers are picking them up at Hues in Fukuoka and Darklands in Berlin where they are now currently available.

Personally, I felt most of our dealers were being too scared of controversy not to stock the new design asap. I wouldn't think of going on any long haul flight with out one. And if anyone out there has ever had to endure the horrible bodily experience of wearing a tyvec suit overall -- let me tell you this one is like a whole different world. Like so many other things with this pandemic, it will probably require another huge wave for people to get the idea and its superb execution and practicality, and then we won't be able to keep up with the demand for them. Well, so be it for now. Less controversial Pandemic designs would be proposed next....


(to be continued)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

the CVJ02, CVP05 & CVP04 suit-relax-and sport combination system

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THAT'S a photo of me working back in April in our amazing new GBS Tintoria hand dye room at the GBS superworkrooms on a great fabric that formed the foundation in our newest Evolution II proposal. Without a doubt the new Geoffrey B. Small Salla Tintoria (dyeing room) is the most advanced and sustainable artisanal hand dyeing facility in the world right now. It represents an investment of close to six figures with equipment and systems never before utilized in this manner in the history of fabric treatment, and it establishes a new benchmark for employee and environmental safety as well. While other brands talk about sustainability, I will continue to emphasize that no company in the world is actually doing it more than we are... and at an ever increasingly advanced level. This is only one example of many, and the Tintoria is a part of the major role our new GBS Superworkrooms are playing in our ability to carry out our revolutionary Evolution creation, production and distribution programs for 2021...


But before I get to all that in later posts, I need to explain that designing the best wardrobe solutions for the GBS customer in 2021 has been a real challenge. By April, we were still right in the middle of the biggest pandemic to hit the world in over a century. And while vaccines had started in some places in the world (mainly the U.S and UK), most of the world was far from being successfully vaccinated. Major surges and new variants were being seen that were maintaining daily new case numbers globally at record levels and a new study had just come out from MIT's CSAIL labs that had found that this virus mutates right where it needs to to avoid vaccines and antibodies. The Covid-19 virus continued to show that it is a real smart fellow and we still did not have it marked out completely yet....So the cycle of lockdowns, reopenings and more lockdowns were still part of our life even in the most vaccinated countries to date. And as the saying goes, "nobody is really vaccinated until all of us are vaccinated"... but right then in April even in the US (which had a surplus of the best available vaccines) and Europe (which had a crazy shortage) there were large numbers of the population who were refusing to get the vaccine even if it was available to them. Add to all that the new economic and market volatility and uncertainties resulting from the beginnings of the recovery like inflation and supply chain disruptions and shortages.. and it it was pretty clear to me that we were not out of this yet. And anybody that thought so was thinking wishfully. Most of our clients knew better. They have to, and our design strategy for our client wardrobes needed to reflect and deal successfully with the realities of today that they must face. So we felt versatility, value and flexibility was key. Great hyper-quality pieces that could bridge lockdown situations and reopenings with the classic long-term design value that we are uniquely able to provide... were to us what the real "avantgarde" direction of design was all about in 2021. And we still do. Witness this new advanced 3 piece combination proposal that allows our extreme handmade technologies to dress our client from relaxing or working at home, to engaging in sport and movement activities, to getting back to the workplace, meetings or social gatherings when needed or appropriate and always supplied with our most efficient triple filtration respiratory mask as standard equipment for these times. All in superb warm weather taste, style and impeccable elegance.


































Redefining the tailored ''suit'' for Covid times: Dress up, relax at home and/or even go and do some light sport activities... who says you can't have it all? Introducing the CVJ02, CVP05 and CVP04 suit-relax-and sport combination system. You can find the pieces now at Hirshleifer’s in Manhassett New York, Darklands in Berlin, Joyce in Hong Kong, Eth0s in Shanghai, Cathedral in Osaka and Ginza, Void in Shenzhen and Dongliang in Beijing. Read on to take a look at more details on each key design in this total concept for Covid times and beyond...




(to be continued)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

the CVJ02 superjacket

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The CVJ02 superjacket





The super limited edition CVJ02 4-button special hand made jacket design is made by hand from our original slim-body single-breasted peaked lapel pattern, and cut in a special "Superleggero" superlight silk and linen seersucker textured weave fabric woven for us by the world’s leading research fabric maker- Luigi Parisotto in Sarcedo Vicenza, then specially dyed by hand in our studios using a process that required 8 hours to achieve its special color, patina effects and softness...





The piece features handcut besom welt pockets all around, each pocket requires about a half an hour to fully construct, almost unheard of in the entire industry today where luxury and designer brands use fully automated pocket making machinery in their so-called tailored clothing. Fully handmade pockets simply work, look, and feel so much better. For us their is no other way...





The piece has no less than 9 of our signature real hand stitched buttonholes (each one requires 8-10 minutes to cut and sew) in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Reale Milano Seta thread along with extensive hand stitch detailing and*remarkable real artisan made classic form horn buttons from Italy's greatest living button-makers Claudio and Cinzia Fontana in Parma...





Its real working buttonhole surgeon’s cuff sleeves with handmade buttonholes are unique in the designer market and represent the highest skill and artistic value anywhere. And the beautifully clean finished interior work with Italian satin tape seams and extensive handsewn bodice and sleeve hems (no machines)speak for themselves...





...combined with a beautiful triangular patchwork combination partial lining design story using exquisite geometric abstract jacquard and striped herringbone luxury viscosa lining fabrics by Ezio Ghiringhelli in Varese and Tessitura Mauri in Como, two of Italy's greatest lining fabric specialists...





The superbly crafted elegant side vents are also handcut and assembled by our top tailors in our superworkrooms at Cavarzere, each one requires some forty minutes of ultra-precise master work to achieve its beautiful and impeccable results and elegant soft feel and drape...





The design also features a versatile invisible lapel top button functional closure, ingeniously and elegantly achieved by applying our extreme handstitch technology work between the collar and lapel to create the buttonhole without being visible on the lapel itself, and providing its owner with additional options to wear the jacket fully buttoned up to the neck...





The new GBS CVJ02 is a beautiful lightweight versatile warm weather jacket that offers ultra cool avant garde styling balanced with impeccable classic handmade tradition and codes. A limited edition of only twenty examples in the world is currently being produced for 2021. Each one is handsigned and numbered by the designer and individually by created by hand in our world famous workrooms to offer excellent short and long term value for its owner.








Above: The CVJ02 also features our world leading natural pure silk created exclusively for us by Mion SpA in Torreglia which is the first label in the luxury industry to completely eliminate plastic polyester yarns in it, and also comes with matching GBS handmade triple filtration tailor's respiratory community mask as standard equipment for ongoing Covid-19 pandemic protection wear. For Evolution II, the CVJ02 is currently being created in a limited edition of only twenty examples for the worl, each one handsigned and numbered by the designer exclusively for Hirshleifer's in Manhassett (NY), Joyce in Hong Kong, Cathedral in Osaka & Ginza, Darklands in Berlin, Eth0s in Shanghai, Void in Shenzhen, and Common Place and Dongliang in Beijing.



coming up next the CVP05 supertrouser in detail...

(to be continued)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

CVP05 supertrouser

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So while all the talk and idiot fashion media headlines in the past few days are obsessing about more and more buyouts, mergers and selling of luxury brands and designers to ever larger corporate owners to "shore up their finances as a result of the pandemic" or "expand their collaborations and market positioning potential", we quietly suggest a different approach. Try working on your product for once. Try investing in your people and your factory (that means your own factory with real employees, not your subcontractor's that you are subbing out all your production to)- because that is the only way you will ever come close to making clothes that are made like no other in the world and that provide customers with the real value that they are increasingly demanding once they realize how badly they are getting ripped off by all the fakers in this so-called designer and luxury business. For us it's just about totally focusing on going the other way than everybody else in this industry- and the new CVP05 is no exception. Nobody makes a classic tailored drawstring trouser as light or as superbly constructed and cut as this. Created for the world in only 36 examples exclusively for Cathedral in Osaka & Ginza, Darklands in Berlin, Gullam in Daikanyama (Tokyo), Souterrain in Roppongi (Tokyo), Hirshleifer's in Manhassett NY, Dongliang in Beijing, and Ink and Joyce in Hong Kong.





the CVP05 supertrouser























The CVP05 is being made by hand from our own exclusive relaxed dress drawstring waist leisure trouser pattern from our extensive tailoring research using a deluxe “superleggero” super light silk & linen seersucker stripe weave fabric developed for us by Luigi Parisotto- the world's leading research fabric maker in Sarcedo Vicenza, then specially hand dyed in our studios using a process which takes over 8 hours for each piece to achieve its special color, patina effects, and softness...

















A superb pure wool soft but substantial belting tape created by the reknowned Nastrificio Victor Spa tape specialists in Piove di Sacco Padova is used for the drawstring of the trouser all beautifully finished and constructed....

















The piece also features beautifully finished interior Italian satin taped seam finishing and tailoring work, and our world leading pure silk label created exclusively for us by Mion SpA in Torreglia which is the first label in the luxury industry to completely eliminate plastic polyester yarns in it...


















Super clean tailored in the seam side pockets and a slightly dropped position rear tailored patch pocket give the design a refined but relaxed styling and functionality...






















The CVP05 is an exceptional versatile wardrobe piece that bridges tailoring, relaxed wear and sport and also provides extra superb value with real hand sewn taped hemlines (not machined) which required over an hour of handstitching work, generous 2,5 centimeter seam allowances on major fitting seams that allow the trouser to be altered and let out or taken in, a full size larger than its original cut, and extra large hem allowance inside which lets you roll up the bottoms with an ultra clean finished look....


























The CVP05 also works flawlessly with our pure Como Silk Tintoretto print supershirt from Evolution I, and handmade all natural vegetable tanned Tuscan leather sustainable trainer shoe created for us exclusively by Giuseppe Rebesco.










coming up next the CVP04 supertrouser in detail...




(to be continued)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

CVP04 supertrouser

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CVP04 supertrouser


IN earlier times, when clothes were made by tailors for people who relied on them make absolutely sure that their garments would take care of and protect them during their lives... when it was expected to invest at least a week's wages in a good suit that would last as long as possible and deliver its very best value for money... it was customary to get 2 pair of trousers for 1 jacket. The trousers you see, would get the toughest wear and if not rotated with another pair--would wear out in the seat, pockets and knees well before the jacket would reach a similar condition. So good tailors and smart customers would double up on the trouser in the same cloth as the jacket and thus get the maximum wearing life for the suit. In the long run, the extra pair of trousers would save you a ton of money and keep your favorite suit usable for many years throughout your life. For us, nothing has changed since then. Smart customers and competent tailors are still getting the best return on investment whenever they can get a 2nd matching trouser to go with a great jacket. That's why our Evolution II suit-relax and sport combination has 3 pieces in it. And what's really cool about it is that the 2 trousers are slightly different. One is a sporty drawstring tailored trouser the CVP05, the other is a more classic dress work trouser, that's the impeccably built superlight CVP04 shown here below...










The CVP04 trouser design is being made by hand from a modified 1940’s button fly front reproduction work trouser pattern from our extensive tailoring research and cut in a deluxe “superleggero” super light silk & linen seersucker stripe weave fabric developed for us by Luigi Parisotto- the world's leading research fabric maker in Sarcedo Vicenza, then specially hand dyed in our studios using a process which takes over 8 hours for each piece to achieve its special color, patina effects, and softness...






The design features a relaxed leg cut, special coin pocket (above), hand built concealed button-fly front construction with real horn buttons made for us in Parma, Italy by the world's greatest living buttonmakers-Claudio and Cinzia Fontana, and our signature hand stitched buttonholes (each one requires 8-10 minutes to cut and sew) in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Reale Milano Seta threads...







and impeccable clean-finished interior construction with Italian satin tape finishing...








The piece also features our world leading natural pure silk label created exclusively for us by Mion SpA in Torreglia which is the first label in the luxury industry to completely eliminate plastic polyester yarns in it entirely attached by hand with silk Bozzolo threads, and all handcut and tailored besom back and curved slash front pockets...











First class value all the way: all handsewn taped hemlines (not machined), generous 2.5 centimeter seam allowances on a all major fitting seams which allow the piece to be altered up to a full size up or down as its owner's body changes over time...






A super artisanal clothing investment, the CVP04 is an exceptional warm weather trouser available in either full length ( as shown on model form) or 8/10 advanced cropped length (as shown on hanger). Bespoke handmade clothing enthusiasts know that traditionally one would always have two trousers made to match one jacket as trousers always wore out faster than the jacket, and in this way- its owner would get maximum life and wear for a suit. We suggest the same idea for our dealers and their clients in this case, which not only provides a complete system of versatile wear combinations from office to home to a jog around the park - but also a phenomenal long term design value for looking and feeling great whenever the weather gets warm or hot...



















(to be continued)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

CVS01 supershirt

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CVS01 supershirt


THINK of it as the latest GeForce GPU card for your wardrobe. Anybody keeping up with computers these days knows that game PC technology is blowing the doors off of anything out there. Innovation at firms like Nvidia, MSI, Acer Nitro, AMD and Asus- and the creativity of the free-build design PC user community is achieving processing speeds and capacity of unprecedented levels to run bigger, more complex and more beautiful and realistic virtual experiences and applications.

In 21st century modern clothing design, the GBS Evolution community of (1) the world's most advanced tailoring organization at Cavarzere Venezia in Italy, (2) exclusive GBS Evolution dealers on 3 continents and (3) forward thinking aware customers and supporters around the planet... are leading a revolution in the technology of how human beings should be making clothes and dressing themselves- in a world now exploding with unchecked contamination, global warming, slavery, corruption, abuse, and waste. We're done with all the talkers. It's time for action. With its symbolic hand dyed black superlightweight organic silk and linen L. Parisotto seersucker punched up with completely hand sewn detailing in red pure silk Bozzolo Milano threads and superb real mother of pearl buttons, the CVS01 handmade supershirt throws a nod to sharp gamers who are into dressing well and also takes value and cool summer tailoring quality to a new level...









The CVS01 is being made by hand from a classic European cut tailored shirt pattern and french early twentieth century workwear details from our extensive tailoring research, and cut in a deluxe super light silk & linen seersucker stripe weave fabric developed for us by Luigi Parisotto- the world's leading research fabric maker in Sarcedo Vicenza, then specially hand dyed in our studios using a process which takes over 8 hours for each piece to achieve its special color, patina effects, and color softness...





The design features a very functional and useful special 1930's workwear double-breast pocket design combined with impeccable
classic European tailored men’s shirt cut and collar proportions...





...with special handstitch detail work in contrast pure silk threads and a beautiful amber color tinted real mother-of-pearl
button made for us in Brescia Italy by the Lanzanova family of master pearl button specialists...





The piece also features special handsewn embroidery detail work in contrast red silk threads with
all double back-handstitched pure silk thread label detailing work on front and back yoke panels...





The very time consuming expert detail work adds a touch of color to the darker black foundation patinas
and both enhances and affirms the design's ultra artisanal quality and character with a symbolic nod to gamer style...





...combined with the no less than 12 of our signature hand sewn buttonholes (each one requires 8-10 minutes to cut and sew,
over 3 hours of expert and painstaking work on buttonholes and buttons for a single shirt) in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Reale
Milano Seta threads...





And like all of our GBS handmade supershirts- expert single-needle stitching throughout and beautifully finished all-french-seamed
interior construction that blows away anything else in the so-called luxury designer brand market today...





The CVS01 is a superb value, versatile, and impeccably handmade shirt designed to go with everything in our evolution II
and III programs for 2021- including the CVP06 Fratelli PIacenza super 140's Sublime trouser design shown here below
from our last proposal message...





The piece also features our world leading natural pure silk label created exclusively for us by Mion SpA
in Torreglia which is the first label in the luxury industry to completely eliminate plastic polyester yarns in
it, and comes with a matching undyed deluxe GBS handmade triple filtration tailor's respiratory community
mask as standard equipment for ongoing Covid-19 pandemic protection wear.



Extreme comfort, sustainability, and sharp style that will last and serve its owner well for a very long time. Experience the high technology of handmade clothing in your wardrobe with the new GBS Evolution II CVS01- only 16 made in the world- exclusively for Hirshleifer’s in Manhassett (NY), Provogue in Nagoya, Liberté in Kobe, Ink and Joyce in Hong Kong, Void in Shenzhen and Dongliang in Beijing.



(to be continued)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

CVS04 "Sublime" Piacenza super 140's supershirt

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THAT place in the photo below is the home of the oldest still running woolen mill in the world today, now in its seventh generation of family direction and hands down the best fine wool fabric makers on the planet...





...the formidable Fratelli Piacenza 1733 SpA at Pollone in the provincia of Biella, is one of our most important partners as we continue to build on a 17-year collaborative journey of excellence with them. For Evolution II, a special new group of GBS superpieces was developed using their phenomenal dark mini-herringbone "spinato" weave pure Super 140's virgin wool "Sublime" luxury wool suiting that bridge classic tailoring value with a new relaxed comfort and styling. Much of the credit goes to our legendary dealer partners in Japan whose input requested this precise direction along with the fabric itself which was already extremely successful in our Paris AW2020 "Just another Boston guy" collection worldwide. A proven transitional cross-seasonal fabric, the Piacenza "Sublime" luxury wool suiting pieces offered long term money in the bank values and further enhanced AW2020 designs in the same cloth for extraordinary customer wardrobe building options.






Above : That's me and the great master Nobuhiko Akiyoshi, our commercial director and boss of the Le Berger Agency in Tokyo (and former buyer and manager at the legendary Minority-Rev stores in Fukuoka) during a visit to Pollone, Biella... home of the world-famous Lanificio Piacenza, founded in 1733 and the longest continually running woolen mill in the world (still run independently by the 7th generation of the Piacenza family) and makers of a superb value luxury wool cloth called*"Sublime"...





For Evolution II, a special new group of GBS superpieces was developed using their phenomenal dark mini-herringbone "spinato" weave pure Super 140's virgin wool "Sublime" luxury wool suiting that bridge classic tailoring value with a new relaxed comfort and styling. Much of the credit goes to our legendary dealer partners in Japan whose input requested this precise direction along with the fabric itself which was already extremely successful in our Paris AW2020 "Just another Boston guy" collection worldwide. A proven transitional cross-seasonal fabric, the Piacenza "Sublime" luxury wool suiting pieces offered long term money in the bank values and further enhanced AW2020 designs in the same cloth for extraordinary customer wardrobe building options.



CVS04 "Sublime" Piacenza super 140's supershirt












The CVS04 is created using our band collar classic longer-length, relaxed fit °old timers° tailored men’s shirt pattern, from our extensive tailoring research, which has been developed and perfected over many years in our collections and features a uniquely balanced cut, fit and design which can be worn tucked in or out with total style, elegance and really great comfort- in simplest terms this piece is really easy to wear and already has become a best-seller among our Japan Evolution II dealers...






...and cut using Super 140's "Sublime" mini-herringbone weave luxury wool suiting cloth woven in Pollone Biella by the oldest woolen mill still operating in the world today and the world most reknowned maker of fine wool fabrics- Fratelli Piacenza 1733... then rendered even better by specially washing and treating the fabric by hand in our studios at Cavarzere for extra aging and softness. (above bottom left): the elegant side slit vents and assymetrical longer back dimensions look great untucked and provide better security when tucked in. (above bottom right): beautiful classic back yoke and shoulder pleat construction enhance fit, comfort and movement.





Claudio and Cinzia Fontana's amazing new incision-cut horn button designs are just one more example of what makes them the world's greatest living buttonmakers and help render a beautifully elegant textural story of impeccably crafted all natural materials for the design...




Above: the square cut sleeve cuffs, impeccable clean-finished french-seam interior construction, and no less than eight of our signature real hand-stitched buttonholes (each one requires 8-10 minutes of rare and totally expert work to cut and sew) in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Reale Milano Seta threads, further add to the uniqueness of the design and its impeccable quality and value. Below: Like all Evolution II designs, the CVS04 represents our industry-leading 40-year sustainable design and practice commitment, as well as our focus on providing maximum protection and safety for our customers with our designs during and after the Coronavirus global pandemic. As such, it features our world leading pure silk label created exclusively for us by Mion SpA in Torreglia which is the first label in the luxury industry to completely eliminate plastic polyester yarns in it, and comes with a matching Piacenza Sublime fabric deluxe GBS handmade triple filtration tailor's respiratory community mask as standard equipment for Covid-19 pandemic protection wear...













Handmade wingtip vegetable tanned toscana leather dress mountain shoe by Giuseppe Rebesco for GBS.
The CVS04 was made exclusively this season for Cathedral in Osaka and Ginza (Tokyo), Ripe Ark in Utsunomiya,
Carrefour in Jiyugaoka (Tokyo), Hues in Fukuoka, Ink in Hong Kong and Hirshleifer's in Manhassett New York.
Coming up next: the Piacenza Sublime supertrouser.




(to be continued)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

CVP06 "Sublime" Piacenza super 140's supertrouser

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A FEW years ago somebody on SZ commented on this thread, that "GBS was all about process and not about creative design."
Our view is that process is design, you cannot separate the two. And without total control and knowledge of your process you cannot innovate or control your art. Like Picasso stated "an artist is only as good as what he (or she) knows."

Further to that, if you have great process you will have great design with substance. Without it, you are creating mediocrity- no matter how pretty you can try to dress it up. It's like those super expensive celebrity chef restaurants that serve you plate presentations that look great... but once you put their "work" or "product" into your mouth- it's nothing worth the 250-300 bucks you are being asked to pay for it. That's what Marco Pierre White calls "The Big Lie" in fine restaurant dining these days. And you know what? Fashion and clothing is no better (indeed this writer would say it is worse).

The majority of "designers" have virtually no control over their processes--let alone know anything about them. Put 99 percent of the current DJ-fashion-designer-artistic-director-artisan-whatever-they-want-to-call-themselves in front of a 5000 stitch per minute industrial sewing machine or on a cutting table with a 20-inch steel pair of real cutting scissors and they will be lucky if they don't maim themselves within the first 3 minutes of trying make their "brilliant ideas" in real life. Yes dear readers, this industry is full and bloated with fakers posing as geniuses. And Covid is giving them a good run for the money.

I argue that process is everything in art. Anybody who knows art history will tell you so. Just look at the story of DaVinci and the Flemish when they started to use oil instead of water to paint their pictures. Or Cimabue and Giotto when they started to use perspective. Did the impressionists think about their processes? Hell yes they did. Real artists are always obsessed with process.

But in an age of hype, some circles think that such things don't matter anymore--or that nobody can tell the difference. We beg to differ. If we ask ourselves where are going? What do we want our art to envision and emulate: Da Vinci or Jeff Koons? I think most human beings after looking over the life works of both will see and appreciate the difference.

So yeah, we are committed to expanding, developing and perfecting our processes. It's an obsession.

Because that is the heart and soul of our art and our creativity. And at this time in the world and this metier, no designer or firm other than ours has invested more time, money and human organizational effort across 4 decades into the focused building of making clothing by hand better and better than GBS. So our designs work because of our obsession, they have substance and value- in addition to creativity and beautiful aesthetics- they perform when you wear them. They are not a lie and the pandemic brings out the best in them- because during real crises people's clothing becomes far more important than before. Just look around the world today. As designers and more importantly as tailors, we have a responsibility to provide the best clothing in the world for our customers. an our community. The CVP06 supertrouser is no exception and its process, provenance and resulting aesthetics are exceptional for an industry today focused on hype, lack (or downright skipping ) of process, ugly (as a concept), and overpriced lies. May we suggest a better solution...





CVP06 Sublime Piacenza super 140's supertrouser








The super limited edition CVP06 trouser design was made by hand from our classic button-fly front,
relaxed leg military trouser pattern developed from our extensive tailoring research using a Super 140s
"Sublime" mini-herringbone weave luxury wool suiting cloth woven in Pollone Biella by the oldest
woolen mill still operating in the world today and the world most reknowned maker of fine wool fabrics
Fratelli Piacenza 1733... then individually washed and treated by hand in our studios for extra aging,
softness and drape...






The design features an all hand tailored concealed button fly-front, impeccable clean-finished French-seamed
interior construction, and uniquely balanced cut, fit and design, exquisite horn and leather buttons created
exclusively for us by Claudio and Cinzia Fontana in Parma Italy, and our signature real hand sewn buttonholes
in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Milano Seta Reale threads (which required at least 8-10 minutes to create
each one)...






A sumptous, beautifully finished interior like no other and designed to last- so well thought out and executed, you might
want to wear them inside out- all the way down to the contrast Fratelli Piacenza 1733 Sublime super 140's birsdeye weave
luxury wool used to line the waistband interior...






Quality and performance at every corner- handcut pockets all reinforced and cut in the precious self fabric for both comfort
and durability, and generous large belt loops to accomodate any size belt...





More serious wardrobe collector's quality and performance: generous 2.5 centimeter seam allowances on all
major fitting seams for plenty of alteration capability to take in or let out (which allows its owner to wear them
over many years), exquisite striped jacquard weave taped hems made by specialists in Brescia all completely
sewn by hand requiring over an hour and half to masterfully execute...













Worn together, the CVS04 and CVP06 offer your client a multitude of elegant,
relaxedlooks and options and a world of comfortable style...






The piece also features our world leading pure silk label created exclusively for us by Mion SpA in Torreglia
which is the first label in the luxury industry to completely eliminate plastic polyester yarns in it, and comes
with a deluxe matching Piacenza "Sublime" super 140's luxury wool cloth GBS handmade triple filtration
tailor's respiratory community mask as standard equipment for ongoing Covid-19 pandemic protection wear.




Items were photographed with our ultra-
classic vegetable tanned Tuscan leather
RNZ04 wingtip brogue shoe handmade
by Giuseppe Rebesco in San Zenone di
Ezzelino for GBS.




For Evolution II, the CVP06 Piacenza super 140's supertrouser was made in a super limited series of only 9 pieces for the world- in Japan at Carrefour, Jiyugaoka; Cathedral Osaka & Ginza; Hues Fukuoka, and Ripe Ark Utsunomiya, in China at Void in Shenzhen, and in all of the Americas exclusively at Hirshleifer's in Manhassett New York.



(to be continued)

.

[Geoffrey B. Small]

CVJ07 superworkjacket

(continued from above)




AND now for the jacket.

It was made in the same Fratelli Piacenza "Sublime" super 140's luxury wool suiting as the CVS04 supershirt and CVP06 supertrouser pieces from above and it truly is a remarkable example of classic workwear design executed at a new level of sartorial excellence and superlux artisanal materials, details and technologies. If you appreciate work clothing be assured that virtually every aspect of this classic chore coat design is firmly respected and adhered to--what's totally different though is its impeccable fabrics, finishing and pure noble substance and sophistication as a garment that only GBS can do. It's impossible to tell where the work coat ends and the super luxury jacket begins...











The CVJ07 superworkjacket


The GBS Evolution II super limited edition CVJ07 handmade work jacket design is created from our original single-breasted 5-button, 4- pocket front “chore coat” pattern developed from our extensive tailoring research, and cut using Super 140's "Sublime" mini-herringbone weave luxury wool suiting cloth woven in Pollone Biella by the oldest woolen mill still operating in the world today and the world most reknowned maker of fine wool fabrics- Fratelli Piacenza 1733, combined with exquisite new jacquard weave design luxury viscosa linings by Ezio Ghiringhelli in Varese, then specially washed and treated by hand in our workrooms for extra aging and softness. The design features expert single-needle double- stitched tailored construction with a special Piacenza Super 140's "Sublime" birdseye weave luxury wool front interior placket, pocket fully lined interior, incredible real horn and leather buttons made for us in Parma, Italy by Italy’s greatest living button-makers, Claudio and Cinzia Fontana, and no less than 8 of our spectacular real hand-stitched buttonholes (that require at least 8-10 minutes to create each one) in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Reale Milano Seta threads. The piece also features our world leading pure silk natural hand dyed label created exclusively for us by Mion SpA in Torreglia which is the first label in the luxury industry to completely eliminate plastic polyester yarns in it, and comes with a matching Piacenza "Sublime" fabric GBS triple-filtration tailor's mask as standard equipment for ongoing Covid-19 pandemic protection wear.






The GBS Evolution II super limited edition CVJ07 handmade work jacket design is created from our original single-breasted 5-button, 4- pocket front “chore coat” pattern developed from our extensive tailoring research, and cut using Super 140's "Sublime" mini-herringbone weave luxury wool suiting cloth woven in Pollone Biella by the oldest woolen mill still operating in the world today and the world most reknowned maker of fine wool fabrics- Fratelli Piacenza 1733, then specially washed and treated by hand in our workrooms for extra aging and softness...







The design features expert single-needle double- stitched tailored construction with a special Piacenza Super 140's "Sublime" birdseye
weave luxury wool front interior placket and details...







-incredible real horn and leather buttons made for us in Parma, Italy by Italy’s greatest living button-makers, Claudio and Cinzia Fontana...





and no less than 8 of our spectacular real hand-stitched buttonholes (that require at least 8-10 minutes to create each one) in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Reale Milano Seta threads...











-combined with exquisite new jacquard weave luxury viscosa linings by Ezio Ghiringhelli in Varese.











The piece also features our world leading pure silk label created exclusively for us by Mion SpA in Torreglia which is the first label in the luxury industry to completely eliminate plastic polyester yarns in it, and comes*with a deluxe matching Piacenza Sublime cloth GBS handmade triple filtration tailor's respiratory community mask as standard equipment for ongoing Covid-19 pandemic protection wear. Discover new dimensions in handmade elegant workwear design interpretations that are like no other. Only three examples of the CVJ07 have been made in the entire world, each exclusively for Hirshleifer's in Manhassett New York.


(next up: a key factor in what made the revolutionary GBS Evolution program possible...)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

(continued from previous page)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

Dedicated to Luigi Moretto part 1

(continued from above)



IN this game, some people who begin to get to a certain point in their career start putting their time, attention and money into big fancy retail stores, or big fancy houses for themselves, or foundations to make museums for their archives or personal art collections, home furniture collections, or even big fancy hotels in exotic places… as for me, I prefer to spend my time these days designing and building our factories and workrooms.


Don’t get me wrong, I can understand putting a priority on your stores -retailing your company’s stuff… but personal houses, furniture and hotels are often a sign that the clothing designer is no longer fully interested in being a clothing designer. Which I can get if your knowledge, passion and skill base is really not about the actual making and creating of clothes…


That’s not our view of the metier though—there is a whole universe of art that can still be done with clothing in my mind, that has still yet to be done at all. Like Auguste Escoffier said about cooking: "Cookery will evolve… as society itself does… without ever ceasing to be an art.”

Like Escoffier's view on creating food for people to eat, I firmly believe the same
argument applies to making real clothes for real people to wear in their lives.

And just like the internet these days, with so much bs, crap and fakery out there, I still believe there is a role for those who can still make real content in whatever medium they are involved in. So while our colleagues and competitors out there are throwing money into building stores to sell their stuff or into other temples and palaces to sell themselves—we are focusing on the actual creation of our clothes… and the tools, materials and technologies to do so with- better and better. As Emmert Wolf wrote, “a man is only as good as his tools.” And after more than 40 years, we are now able to design and build perhaps one of the most important tools of all— the workspace, plant and equipment in which myself and the exceptional people I have the privilege to work with each day are able to create and build our ideas for clothes to new levels of excellence, innovation and beauty.



But it's a fast changing new world with a new set of rules


While I have always had a focus on the design of our workplaces, a combination of ongoing changes in safety laws and building codes across the EU, the Coronavirus pandemic, and visits last February and March by both the Venezia VVF Fire safety and SPISAL Health Safety authorities to our workrooms at the Via Spalato in Cavarzere put in motion a new push to relocate our company and reach for a whole new level of facilities to do our work in. Our tiny Italian venture which started over 2 decades ago in the kitchen of our apartment with a Singer home sewing machine and an iron had grown to over 30 people at Via Spalato. Covid distancing rules and safety protocols changed the game overnight basically requiring any company to triple their floorspace dimensions for each employee they intended to keep working on site. Within a month after the virus hit Italy we were reduced to be able to have only 10 out of more than 30 working in our facilities at the same time. New Europe wide fire and safety codes for firms with over 25 persons also required a totally different type of structure and building than the one we were working in. By the end of March 2020, we knew the company had to move its entire operations into a different facility. Rather than lament about these laws, I embraced them— as a company that is built upon the human excellence and long-term building of a world-class organisation— the safety of our people can only be viewed as a number one priority and a fundamental key to success and competitive advantage at all levels of the game. While our competitors always view it is an “expense,” I will continue to argue that putting money into GBS people and the tools and places they do their work in is money in the bank. So we set out to look for our new home to make the best and most advanced handmade clothing in the world today.


To meet the growing demand worldwide for our unique work, we would now need a large industrial style factory space that would meet and exceed all regulatory safety, fire and environmental codes and norms now and in the years ahead. I felt the regulatory climate was not going to change, but only continue to get stricter. As an artisanal company this was especially challenging and a reality that had to be addressed. The small, tiny type of operations that we had started out with years ago… were no longer going to be legal or allowed to operate in the EU and elsewhere. And perhaps, rightly so. If not performed super carefully and managed very diligently, they could be dangerous. And since those days over 2 decades ago, numerous younger designers and artisanal brands have begun to emulate our story and approach and are now selling their work in many of the same stores as we do. But times are changing fast and I recalled the words of Henry Ford’s autobiography in the early 1900’s that I read when I was a young student discussing that period in history…”the only way for a small business to survive is to get big.” By investing and developing aggressively in a new type of plant and equipment specifically for a new way of making clothes for human beings, our way, I felt we could accomplish 2 major strategic things- 1st assure the continuance of our mission to elevate the art and science of making clothes by hand and at least provide for the building of an organisation to carry forward the metier as far as possible into the 21st century, and 2nd establish ourselves with an extraordinary competitive advantage versus the huge global corporate luxury industrial players that have no artisanal production system rival to our model, and smaller up and coming ones that more and more are operating illegally and outside the legal safety and environmental parameters of making and creating the products they are selling to stores and customers around the world. Far too many times, I have seen the pundits in BoF and other trade media claiming that neither sustainable or artisanal approaches as manufacturing concepts are scalable. They are wrong and I intend to prove them so with our company’s example and track record if no one else’s.


Just finding the space took almost a year...


Site location was a huge challenge and took almost a year. With Covid-19 raging and lockdown after lockdown taking place, I felt we had to stay put in the local Cavarzere area in order to keep our core team members working together and reduce complications for them that would be involved with moving to other areas farther away from their homes. And, inspite of all the ongoing changes in safety laws and building codes across the EU and Italy however, new industrial or factory buildings that can meet all the new codes are virtually non-existent today. With a key team of professional people who worked with me diligently during this entire period, we were able to finally realize a leasehold on a factory space in the new industrial zone of Cavarzere Venezia on the Via dell’ Artigianato involving an initial 300 square meters of workspace with future options to expand to 1400 square meters (about 15,000 sq ft). While the building was one of the area’s most recently constructed sites (built in 2004) it still had compromises in relation to current norms and codes that we would have to deal with and resolve over time. And it was not our building. As leaseholders a lot would depend upon achieving consensus and collaboration with the building’s owners. Nevertheless, I set out to start a revolution in factory design in the first 300 square meters in that building. And much of the planning had been underway already since last year…






N.B. This series is being dedicated to the memory of Mr. Luigi Moretto (inset right), who tragically passed
away this Thursday, 8 September- and without whom this project would not have been possible.




(to be continued)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

people and lessons...

(continued from above)


BY the end of March 2020, many considerations had to be dealt with for the new space to be able to go forward and allow us to continue our now 40 year-old mission, to survive, operate and grow. First and foremost, we wanted to meet or exceed all existing possible safety and environmental norms, which would have to be tackled one by one as we started to put together a vision for the project… Covid, Fire, General safety, Environmental and then specific efficiencies for our unique handmade processes, production creativity and art- and the employee well-being that was required in achieving it. Never forgetting that the fundamental role of the facility was an artistic one at the highest international levels, my inspiration became Maranello- continuing the Ferrari model which I had been following for over a decade for our company.

While the mainstay of our team worked with me totally focusing on the survival of the existing Via Spalato operations under the pandemic and lockdown crisis, other key people worked with me on the new project. Avvocato Marco Brasiliani is a tough, smart lawyer who heads a law firm in Rovigo. Years ago, he had worked for one of our team members who referred him to me when we were facing a very tough legal situation and had already gone through a pile of other attorneys who had been ineffective to say the least. Brasiliani however, knew Italian law and was not afraid to fight when it was necessary, and that was the kind of lawyer our firm needed if it was going to grow into a major player in the Italian fashion production industry. He got us through that crisis and step by step, I began to give his firm more and more of our legal work. Indeed, it was Brasiliani who jumped and got things moving as soon as I notified our key people and outside advisors about the authorities inspections and findings in early 2020. In his view, after seeing the reports filed by the authorities on their visits to our facilities, something was wrong with our landlord, as well as the safety consultants we were paying to guide us and oversee these issues for the company. Every company in Italy has to hire one of these firms once it gets beyond a few employees. Brasiliani’s position was that they had been negligent in their obligations, and that our firm should never have been placed into the position we were finding ourselves in. This was all taking place right in the middle of the first huge lockdown for Covid, when companies had to shut down completely and nobody could leave their homes without written authorisation. But nevertheless within a few weeks, he organised a full site visit by a sharp fire safety expert and ex-firefighter named Giuseppe Polmonari of Gardenale Estintori Srl including a review of all of our safety code regulation documentation being overseen by the safety company, which confirmed Brasiliani’s opinion and much of the authorities positions as well to me in black and white. Perhaps I could chalk it up to being an American trying to build a company in a foreign country that is not the easiest to do business in (Italy) or a small company that didn’t know all of the ropes yet… but I have to say I was pretty angry, we had been misled by both our landlord and the company that we had been paying that was officially representing our firm for safety code compliance and now we were paying a huge price and facing challenges for survival because of it.

As Jensen Huang founder of NVIDIA says “part of being an entrepreneur is that you are always having to learn something new.” In my case, I can say that I remember starting out forty years ago to study and learn about design, and then very soon, I realised that if you were really serious about design—you needed to be able to control your production. So I set out to learn production, and because there was no industry where I was, I ended up having to teach myself on my own how to sew and make clothes, so that no matter who or how I ended up producing my designs with—I would know every single operation and stitch that would need to be involved and be able to control every aspect of it. That meant becoming a competent tailor, and it took me 10 years (actually it’s still continuing to this day but that is another story). During that time, I also began to realise that knowing about production also wasn’t enough, you needed to learn about business- the hard reality is that you can’t produce what you can’t pay for. So I studied business. And once you start that, you need to study law as well. Because you can’t win the game if you don’t know the rules. That was my formation in the first 20 years of my career in America. Then I went to Italy and very quickly had to learn more new things.

My Italian licensee that had signed me to produce and distribute GBS from Italy in 2000 soon informed me that in Italy you had to learn about taxes, because they were so high and so tough they could wipe you out. It wasn’t enough to design something, get it sold, produce and deliver it successfully with a profit—you had to watch the taxes too. In fact, every single decision you make would need to be made in consideration of its tax effect, and you would have to know what those effects would be before you even think of going ahead. For an American, this is another world of managing where tax rates can run as high as 75 percent of income. And I continue to argue with business folks that on a dollar for dollar basis, a CEO of a company in Italy has to be 5 times as sharp as one in the U.S. to make the same numbers. The level of the game is so much tougher. But there are some very good and real social reasons for all those taxes. Italy has national health care and education for everyone-and it works. It also has a lot of real employee and worker protections including safety, long term job security, paid vacations, sick and maternity leave, severance pay and retirement pensions that most U.S. employees can only dream about. You get what you pay for. No tax... no social service or net. Do or die and best of luck- you are on your own. In Italy, you pay taxes and you do get things for it, and in my opinion it is still one of the best places in the world to be an employee, if you get a full-time permanent position work contract with a viable company. Apart from world war 3 happening you got it made- to have a family and a life. You can get a mortgage with your pay stub, your health care is covered, your kid’s schools all the way through university as well, more time off than any US worker would imagine and a guaranteed retirement pension when you’re done. And that brings me to what I had to learn next. In Italy, once I learned about taxes, I had to learn about employing people. And that was big step, because for the first 10 years here, everybody I knew who ran a business told me not to hire anyone. Subcontract everything. Don’t even think about it. It’s too tough and too dangerous financially to have employees. But the problem for me was that subcontracting wasn’t cutting it… particularly for the level of design work I was aiming to go for and the market I would have to be targeting to buy it.





The financial crash of 2008 marked a turning point in the world in many ways, and a paradigm shift in the fashion industry where the growing disappearance of the world’s middle-class had been wiping out the majority of independent fashion operators from designers, to producers, brands, and stores. A growing chasm between high and low had been forcing anyone in the game to have to choose to work for a small but steadily growing number of very rich people or an even faster growing number of less and less well off people never before seen in history. There was no middle anymore. And what was left was getting taken over by huge financial corporations and coming down very simply to H&M, Zara and Uniqlo vs. LVMH, Kering and Hermes. For many reasons, GBS had to go for the upper market, there was absolutely no choice. And I knew we could do it. But not by subcontracting. It was going to have to be total 100% control of every aspect of material, process and design to create a product that would be a giant-killer. And that meant in-house vertical integration production—and the hiring and development of our own people to create our designs, and build a long term human organisation. Being in Italy, for me the clear model was the late Enzo Ferrari, and the company he founded and built. Ferrari has a ton of employees, and so, I decided to go against the grain, and after ten years of working tiny and subbing out— I set out to learn my next chapter in entrepreneur school—becoming an Italian employer: hiring, maintaining and surviving with employees in Italy. We hired our first real employee in 2013. By 2016 we had 20 and by 2020 we had more than 30 on our payroll, over 75% of them with full-lifetime contracts each one carefully and diligently trained and developed in a unique in-house philosophy and methodology, and our work was achieving unprecedented milestones for its levels of excellence and gaining the attention and patronage of the world’s most discerning designer clothing clientele. But the legal and financial ramifications were scary to say the least, and the personal liability of the employer would astound any US employer if they saw what I faced if anything went wrong. I knew and learned the hard way why everyone back then was telling me not to do what I was now doing. But I had no choice if I was going to compete with the biggest luxury names in the world for the patronage of the limited numbers of the members of a new ruling class. I had to build the best or die and that meant having and developing the best team of human beings I could find in the world to do it—whatever it would take.


(to be continued)

[Geoffrey B. Small]

Dear readers,

I would like to make a short post to apologize for not being able to continue onto next part of the story for 3 weeks now. It has become a very intense and busy time running the firm and taking care of our clients and I have been unable to write anything for the forum thread as a result. In the meantime, I do wish to give great thanks to Faust and Ahimsa for the podcast talk interview which is up on StyleZeitgeist magazine and various podcast outlets including spotify here....

https://spoti.fi/3AZKA5I

if you haven't listened to it already, please feel free to check it out. As soon as I can make some headway, will be back with next installment of the story.

With many thanks to everybody, Geoffrey