Still going strong after 360 years, M.J. Bale single-source weaving partner, Vitale Barberis Canonico, are Italian weaving royalty.

It’s on record that in 1663 Italian weaver Vitale Barberis Canonico (VBC) made a sale of woollen cloth to the Duke of Savoy. Today, 360 years on, it is VBC who are sartorial royalty.

Experts in the production of premium worsted woollen cloth, predominantly composed of superfine Australian Merino wool, the company is still run by the 13th generation of the Barberis Canonico family.

M.J. Bale has partnered with VBC on Super 120s and Super 150s woollen fabrics ever since our founding in September 2009. In 2015 we began working with VBC on our Kingston single-source collection of suits, tuxedos, blazers and ties. It has been an incredible farm-to-weaver-to-store collaboration. Out of the hundreds of VBC customers, including many of the major luxury menswear icons in Italy, UK and the US, M.J. Bale is the only brand in the world to work with the weaver on single-farm-origin wool.

This year the venerable weaver is producing Super 150s cloth from M.J. Bale’s world’s first methane-reduced wool, produced at Kingston farm in collaboration with Sea Forest.

Sustainability is not a new concept for this venerable mill located in Piedmont’s Valdilana commune. For decades the company has been striving to create the lowest environmental impact possible. All of VBC’s wastewater is purified onsite; 40 per cent is re-used within the factory, with the remaining 60 per cent released back into local water systems, purer than when it was captured. They are 100 per cent renewable energy powered and recover and recycle 97 per cent of all textile waste.

M.J. Bale x VBC garments include the wool Saunders suits and tuxedos in navy and black, the wool Eglinton suit, Kingston single-source wool Harvey suit, and Kingston single-source wool Hashimoto ‘Made in Japan’ suit.