Where did the story of Sartoria Tofani start?
Sartoria Tofani was founded by my grandfather Aristide Tofani in the hearth of the historical neighborough of Naples, in 1954.
He started apprendicing at Vincenzo Attolini’s, whose name is a guarantee and who represented a crucial figure in his path. Thanks to his inclination to perfection he suddenly became a known and respected name. His main accomplishment was transmitting his passion to my father to my uncle and then to me.
What is your background and how did you get into this business or what/who was your inspiration for starting it?
I’m born in a true craftsman family, my grandfather was a master tailor as my dad and my uncle, I always looked at the bespoke world and always had an huge interest for my family business, I still remember when i was 12 and I used to visit our tailoring everyday to “play” with fabrics, needles and sewing machines. So as soon as I ended my studies, i started to work in our family tailoring and I hope to keep alive our family tradition and to become a master as my grandfather and my dad. I also want to keep our tailoring as it has always been, a small family business, I don’t want to fall in industrialization, I just want to share our work with the world trough social media and social marketing.
Who or what is your biggest influence in tailoring?
My biggest influences in tailoring and in life are my grandfather and my father. They both followed their passion, and they both transmitted their passion to their sons. My grandfather was the first of 8 sons, they were really poor and he had to work 12h a day at Vincenzo Attolini’s tailoring when he was only 11 to maintain his family. He passed trough a lot of difficulties but he managed to become a really good and respected master tailor.Thanks to his sacrifices I can afford to focus 100% on learning this wonderfull job.
What has been the most satisfying moment as a business so far and why?
I had a lot of satisfying moments during these years, when you love what you do, every kind of compliment can make you really happy and satisfied. The best moments have been during our worldwide trunk shows in New York, Hong Kong, Paris and Zurich.
Describe your typical client for us.
Our typical customer is, first and foremost, a real gentleman. He is a man with a discerning taste for well-made bespoke garments. But of course, most of our customers are avid lovers of the real Neapolitan tailoring, which through generations and time, has been maintained and never changed.
What happens after a client steps through your door – tell us about the process of creating the perfect suit for them.
The process of creating the perfect suit for a customer is different for every customer, we like to accomplish their desires at our best. Everything starts with a good talk and a good while the customer can have a look at our fabrics, we have bunches of the best companies in the world: Harrison of Edinburgh – W.Bill – Fox Brothers – Loro Piana – Caccioppoli – Vitale Barberis Canonico – Holland & Sherry – Scabal and more. Then it’s time to take the measures of the body so we can organize a first fitting of the garments in a few days.
What is the Tofani jacket/suit like?
Our jackets or suits follow the traditions of the true Neapolitan-styled garments. All our garments we make right here at this ‘sartoria’ and by hand; nothing is outsourced. The typical Tofani neapolitan jacket is really soft and light, and it “wraps” around the contours of the body like a shirt or cardigan. It also has the typical elements of a true Neapolitan jacket, like the “manica a camicia” which is recognisable at the sleeve-head. This a unique style which is the result of lots of knowledge, experience and secret passed down trough generations.
What are you favourite fabrics?
I personally like a lot of kind of fabrics, I really love squares patterns, heavy english flannels and mohairs.
What are your favorite places in Naples?
There are a lot of beautiful places in Naples and it’s hard to chose a favorite one. I think that one of the best place to visit is the Castel sant’Elmo, if you reach the roof you will have a 360° view of Naples and during good days you will be able to see Capri.
During the last 5 year , Aristide shared his handmade works and suits on Instagram and he was able to build an huge network of fans and followers who simply love the quality of his bespoke suits.
Don’t forget to follow him on Instagram