Canali at Harry Rosen: A Tailored Legacy
How two third-generation family businesses with rich heritage continue to thrive in modern menswear.
By: Harry Rosen StaffDate: 2024-08-22
What started in 1934 as a humble tailor's shop run by two brothers in a small town outside Milan, Italy has now become a beacon of fine tailoring worldwide, employing over 1,400 staff and represented in over 100 countries.
Synonymous with quality, luxury, and timeless good taste, Canali’s ever-present influence in menswear is a testament to the brand’s consistent standard of excellence. For nearly 40 years, shared family values have allowed Harry Rosen and Canali to create a relationship through style that transcends multiple generations.
Canali at Harry’s
Our relationship with Canali started with a raincoat. In fact, from 1958 to 1968, Canali specialized in producing raincoats, constantly searching for ways to improve and augment their designs and experimenting with unusual materials like cotton, wool, and silk to great success. Between their high-quality construction, modern silhouette, and innovative materials, Canali’s raincoats exceeded most others in essentially every way.
However, men’s changing tastes in the late ‘60s caused Canali to shift its strategy away from raincoats and return to the brand’s roots in traditional tailoring and ready-to-wear clothing. Canali’s intrinsic focus on quality distinguished its clothing from other Italian designers at the time, allowing the company to grow exponentially.
Made in Italy
What does the term “Made in Italy” mean to you? Technically speaking, it’s a protected term that ensures a product is Italian made in its entirety, from design to manufacturing to packaging.
To Canali, it’s much more than that – it’s a promise of unwavering quality and responsibility, not only to timeless, sophisticated style, but also to one’s environment. “Keeping production entirely in Italy from A to Z isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it,” remarks Stefano Canali, current CEO of his third-generation family brand.
Every Canali garment is meticulously tailored, undergoing almost 200 sewing steps blending advanced technology with traditional artisanal skills. Only the finest fabrics and materials are used to craft each piece, carefully selected for their elegance and allure.
Canali aims for global recognition as a leader in discreet, sustainable menswear excellence. The brand's sustainability initiative, CAre, reflects its core values by focusing on minimizing consumption and emissions while increasing product durability.
“'Made in Italy' for us goes beyond the concept of beauty and craftsmanship; evolves into a broader concept of sustainability for two crucial perspectives. Firstly, from an environmental standpoint, an Italian-made garment with artisanal construction can be repaired and modified over time, thus lasting longer and causing less environmental impact. Secondly, from a human perspective, a product made in Italy is crafted by artisans who benefit from legal, social, and healthcare protections. This comprehensive ethos ensures that we remain a beacon of excellence, evolving with dynamic force to meet the highest standards of design, quality, and durability."
A View to the Future
Throughout Canali’s history, every step forward has been guided by the company’s innate ability to balance tradition with innovation to retain relevance in the modern market while continuing to stay authentic to the brand’s heritage.
Today, that includes an expanding product offering from luxury leisurewear to hand-crafted suits. Collections blend different schools of design to appeal to shifting demands, and Canali continues to make massive strides forward in production efficiency and quality.
Celebrating their 90th anniversary alongside our 70th this year, Canali now sees themselves as a comprehensive lifestyle brand, incorporating comfort and sophistication into every moment of a man’s life.
