In 2012, Alessandro Sartori took the reins of the century old French shoe house Berluti, and added a clothing line, presented with some of the most extravagant staging in Paris amongst taxidermy at the Natural History Museum. Now Berluti shops around the world – starting with London’s Conduit Street, where we meet today – are being remodelled into exclusive gentlemen’s clubs. Whilst the smell of leather replaces cigars, a whisky can be enjoyed in their patina bar while being measured for a pair of shoes or a double-breasted mohair blazer. Who wouldn’t enjoy that?

Lars Byrresen Petersen: Tell me a little bit about this new store…
Alessandro Sartori:  So this store has been the Berluti store for a long time, about 20 years, it was very cosy. When we wanted to relaunch the brand in London, we were thinking about where the store should be. We needed a bespoke space, a shoe space and a ready-to-wear space, but we still needed to be ourselves. So we thought that maybe we could make the London store bigger. There were offices on top of the store, but little by little we were able to buy all the floors. Now this townhouse feeling is exactly what we’re giving the customers.

LBP: How have customers reacted to the new Berluti?
AS: Everybody has been curious to see how we translated the leather into our clothes. Some might have been intimidated at first, but they all felt quite touched when they discovered that we had respected the brand’s values. The Berluti magic is behind the love of the people, the work and the craftsmanship. It’s the experience of seeing a 25 year old tailor working with a 72 year old tailor. Or a 65 year old bootier teaching a young student. What’s interesting is that the average time spent in a luxury menswear store is about 15-20 minutes per visit. But the average visit in a Berluti store is almost one hour. So if you consider that, it means that people are interested.

LBP: Age is important at Berluti?
AS: Si, of course. I like young men, but I also like men with wrinkles. I normally work with men between the ages of 21 and 72. One of the models I used for the first show was 72! Nobody was doing this before Berluti. I like to present the collections on real men. Of course, I use models as it is hard to find 45 characters, but I prefer variations for this maison. A beautiful man stays a beautiful man.

LBP: Haute couture is notoriously extravagant, and your tailoring is said to be the male equivalent to that…
AS: Berluti is the type of quality brand where the craft is an element of the design process. Actually the craft is part of the design. I know that the construction is made with an enormous amount of work, so I that I can use fabrics, fabrications and design details that would otherwise be impossible. That’s why the craft has to be part of the design. On top of the ready-to-wear collection and shoes, we will start a bespoke clothing atelier. We’re aiming our bespoke wear at men with special needs. Either he’s very tall, needs special size shoes or wants a special leather. So we started the design process and we’ll be ready in September with 25 outfits including shirts, pants etc. But we’ll also do outerwear such as bomber jackets, raincoats and peacoats as well as denim and knitwear.

LBP: And everything will be handmade?
AS: Yes everything will be handmade in the Atelier in Paris. When you enter our house you’ll have your measurements taken, you’ll pick your fabrics and then you can see a sample and sketches of what you want. Your garment will then be handcrafted in Paris. A Berluti suit made for the ready-to-wear collection takes 19 hours to make and a bespoke suit takes 72 hours. As far as the bespoke shoe you can say exactly what you want – you can basically design your own. The first time you have a shoe fitted it takes about six months for the finished product to arrive. But after the first one, it’ll be much faster and easier, about 2-3 months. We archive all prototypes for future fittings and for future shoes to make the process quicker.

LBP: Where does your love for tailoring and craftsmanship come from?
AS: It’s a funny thing, but not a joke: my family name is Sartori, that means tailor in Italian. My mom was a tailor for 50 years and I grew up in Biella, which is the place where most Italian fabrics come from. So it was natural to do this work. As a kid I played a lot with fabrics, prints, fabrics and colours are part of me.

LBP: What’s the most important thing in a man’s wardrobe?
AS: It’s a thing, not a product: the time to dress properly in the morning. I don’t like to rush when choosing what I’ll face the day in. I like to take the time to recognise my feelings. Talking clothes, I’m a crazy collector of jackets – a blue double breasted mohair blazer is a must.