Winter is Coming

We hosted another great workshop on Nov. 7, this one focused on overcoats. I hope I’m not to blame for the early onset of winter, but, wow, was the timing right on for this workshop. Toronto was hit by its first blast of winter snow the following day

Craig demonstrating on a fur machine

We love making overcoats and, from what I’ve read on international tailor forums, we are pretty lucky that we get so many commissions every year. I give some credit to the Toronto climate for our specialization in this area. The need for a good winter overcoat in Toronto extends for almost six months out of the year. They are our favorite garments to create.

Variation on a pea coat from Fall 2008

OVERCOAT STYLES

One of the reasons we love making overcoats so much is because there are so many options. Yes, there are lots of suit styles as well, but our community seems to have a broader idea of what they like in a piece of outerwear, which means we get to have a lot of fun.

Craig in a Blanket Coat he made in the shop

Blanket Coats are as Canadian as they get. These simpler, long, wrapped coats – usually with a hood – are, you guessed it, made from blankets. We have created a fair number of them including the one pictured here that Craig made for himself from a vintage Swiss army blanket.

Brandon in a Town Coat made in the shop

Town Coats are the opposite of a blanket coat. They are made to wear over a blazer, can range in length from knee to mid-calf, and can be single or double breasted. They almost always sport a structured shoulder, a roped sleeve and can have a peaked or notched lapel.

Peter in a Pea Coat made in the shop

A Pea Coat’s origin is in the navy, and they are traditionally navy blue in colour. These coats are usually cut mid-thigh and double breasted with a higher break, a wider lapel, and collars that are rounded at the corner. While you can’t go wrong with a classic version, there are many possible variations of this style.

A Chesterfield with a leather collar instead of the traditional velvet

A Chesterfield is tougher to define. I see them as single or double breasted and in a variety of lengths. The main feature is a top collar cut in a different cloth, usually in a black velvet but, in the case of the coat pictured here, leather works too.

Philip in Car Coat made in the shop

A Car Coat is my personal favorite coat style. Cut to shelter you, these long loose coats accommodate many layers and are meant to keep you warm for extended periods in the cold. You might also sometimes hear them called stadium coats, in reference to historical illustrations showing them being worn at outdoor sporting events in colder weather. They were originally made for cars that did not have enclosed cabs. They are also usually double breasted with an even wider, pea coat-style collar, usually with back belts that let you cinch in extra material when you aren’t wearing as many layers. The one pictured here is my own, made in the shop. It is my personal favorite item of clothing. It gives me something to look forward to when the temperature goes below minus-20.

Andrew in a Balmacaan Coat made in the shop

Balmacaan Coats are named after a place in Scotland. They are usually made of tweed cloth in slightly lighter weights than some of our heftier deep winter overcoats and are usually only partially lined. Key features of a Balmacaan are its raglan sleeve and convertible style of collar. Did you know that a raglan sleeve is named after Lord Raglan, who needed a coat sleeve that was easier to put on after losing an arm in battle. This sleeve style was developed for him to make a coat easier to put on and take off.

Philip in an oversized “fashion” coat

I could go on. At the talk, we also discussed duffle coats, work coats, capes, cloaks, opera coats and fashion coats, all of which are items we produce in the shop

PRACTICAL DETAILS

Back Belt on a Car Coat

There are many other practical details that we put into overcoats. Storm tabs are common elements at the cuff or collar of an overcoat, allowing you to button up at the neck or tighten things up at the sleeve to block wind. Collars that pop are something a client should request. We can shape wider under collars so that the collar still sits neat and high to the back of the neck when worn down, but when popped it fits around the back of the head and chin. Back belts are great ways to nip in the waist or to let a coat out in the waist as extra under layers are required in colder weather. Another practical detail is a button in the back vent that can be done up on a blustery day.

OVERCOAT CONSTRUCTION

Tom demonstrating how to baste in a canvas

Tom delivered a great demonstration of how a canvas is basted into a coat front and we discussed the variety of weights of canvas that can be used to increase or decrease the weight of an overcoat. We talked about the Canadian-made, flannel-backed Kasha linings that we add to coats for extra warmth, about flannel lined pockets and suede backed liners that keep the wind off your kidneys.

MATERIALS

Overcoat materials on display

We talked about the various tweeds and woolens that are appropriate for overcoats but, most importantly, we talked about wool’s ability to felt. Melton, for example, is a cloth that has been woven and then boiled (or fulled) and felted. This makes a cloth that is very dense and heavy and blocks more wind. We also explored other fibres like camel hair and cashmere that make for luxuriously soft and warm overcoats.

FUR

A detachable fur liner in a coat

Craig shared a demonstration of how fur is cut with a special knife from the back side so as not to cut the hair. We also had a demonstration of how fur is pieced together and sewn to appear seamless using our vintage Bonis Never Stop fur sewing machine. We talked about how old furs can be recycled and the joys of accessories that can be added to an overcoat like detachable fur collars, mitts, gloves and removable inner fur vest.

If you want to know more about what your options for outerwear are, please book a consultation. There might still be time to create your perfect piece of outerwear in time for the holidays.

November Monthly Mood Board

Our Sample board has had an update, including our new monthly Mood Board where each month one of our tailors makes their top choice from our newly opened Ruby Room fabric library and proposes a potential theme and design.

Takuma’s November 2025 Mood Board

Takuma had the pleasure of giving our Ruby Room a final sorting and put together our first monthly mood board. For November Takuma chose this lovely heavier subtitle twill plaid with hints of green and lavender. Perfect for cooler temperatures.

Tailors Sample Board

Takuma’s illustration  proposes a boxy cut two button single breasted sack coat with a low gore line in an early 1920’s s style. The Jacket has large patch pockets with flaps on the foreparts and a regular welted breast pocket. The jacket back includes a yoke an  action pleat for more freedom of movement. Trousers are high waisted, wide legged with a narrow cuff, slash hip pockets and a strong crease for a sharp look.

Takuma’s Suit Illustration

October is Wool Month

October is wool month, which makes it the perfect time to revisit a question I get asked a lot. What makes a tweed so special?

Harris Tweed Samples

The answer starts with understanding how your clothes become a specific colour. Fabrics are often dyed their finished colour after they’ve been woven, but colour can also be added at other stages in the production process.

Garment Dyed T-Shirts

A “garment dyed” piece refers to when many garments are made in a griege or undyed cloth and then these finished garments are dyed a variety of different hues. This approach means that, at the end of the season, any unsold merchandise in a trendy colour can be dyed black for the next season (which is why blacks can be so tricky to keep black, especially at the fast fashion level).

Piece Dyed Textiles

Piece dyed is similar but, in its case, large amounts of undyed cloth are dyed solid colours, which can lead to a lack of depth and detail.

In yarn dyed textiles, the yarns are dyed different colours before they are woven. This is usually how stripes and plaids are produced, by interlacing yarns of different colours in a set pattern or repeat. Each of these processes add colour to cloth earlier and, as you backtrack, the costs increase because you are more limited in changing the colour or pattern later.

Yarn Dyed Fabrics

Tweeds are extra special because the dye is added at the earliest possible stage. For tweeds, fleece (or raw fibre) is dyed before its carded or combed and spun into yarns. Special yarn colours are blended by mixing different amounts of a variety of fleece colours. This produces a great depth and complexity of colour.

Dyed Fleece, ready to be carded and spun into tweed yarns

Tweeds are also traditionally made from wool, usually from the fleece of breeds of sheep that thrive in northern climates.

Cheviot Ewe and Lamb

Their wool is stronger and thicker and produces fabrics that wear well and will keep you warm and dry in cooler, damper conditions.

Sparks in a Harris Tweed Blazer

Back to Workwear

Back to Workwear event

We hosted a great workshop on Sept. 19 called “Back to Workwear.” Tickets went quickly and we had a full house. I am humbled by how much interest there is in what we do, how we work and why we source specific materials.

We spoke about textiles first and, specifically, what’s so special about Japanese selvage denim.

To kick things off, we looked at the history of this cloth. The first denim cloth was made in the French city of Nîmes and was used to make sails for boats. It was a type of cloth called serge de Nîmes (the term serge refers to the twill or diagonal pattern that can still be seen up close on most pairs of jeans but, over time, the fabric would more commonly be shortened to de Nîmes). It could be more densely woven, and its structure provided some natural give, or elasticity.

During the gold rush to the Klondike, Levi Strauss, a German-American entrepreneur, popularized using denim fabric and dyed the warp yarns with what was, at the time, cheap natural, indigo dye. This is the era when American denim as we still know it today was born. It was during the second World War that Japanese culture was introduced to American denim via U.S. troops. At the time, Toyota (or Toyoda, as it was called then) was a loom manufacturer and it made improvements to the shuttle loom that was used to produce denim. Most notably, the Toyoda machine stopped automatically when its bobbin of yarn ran out.

The shuttle loom is key in selvage denim. It weaves much slower with yarn under much less tension than rapier looms, which are used in a lot of denim production today. I have posted a video below that shows the looms in operation at Kuroki, a denim mill in Japan’s Okayama prefecture, which I visited this past spring. In it, you can see a shuttle with a bobbin of yarn on it travelling back and forth. Its lower tension gives the fabric more elasticity across the body without the need to introduce synthetic Spandex, which stretches out over time and does not return to its original shape. This means a pair of jeans made from selvage denim will shape and mould to your body and come back to its original shape when washed. The other benefit is a beautiful, finished edge of the fabric, which is usually in a different colour and can be used as the finish on inside seams and in some subtle details in the garment. Incorporating a discrete selvage detail on a piece is appreciated by others who share a love for this historic cloth.

A Toyoda shuttle loom in action.

The contemporary rapier loom creates wider fabric under higher tension by passing the yarn back and forth off a spool using a sort of clamp. The yarns are cut each time they are passed through, producing a rough edge with loose threads, and the fabric does not have the same natural give around the body. Most contemporary denim is made this way. My video of a rapier loom in action is below so you can compare.

A contemporary rapier loom in action.

Today, Toyota no longer makes its special Toyoda looms and all the newest machines still in operation are from the late 1940s and 1950s. If a part breaks, a new part needs to be made from scratch. The care and skill that keeps them operating is another detail valued by fans of selvage denim. Despite all of these challenges, many mills in Japan are committed to continuing to produce denim in this way. In Ibara, there are still approximately 25 mills producing selvage denim for a domestic culture that’s still obsessed with vintage Americana.

A rare loom weaving a durable type of cloth that has clean, finished edges and natural elasticity is only half of selvage denim’s appeal. We can’t talk about workwear without also talking about natural indigo.

Gitte showing off the pocket square she dyed in indigo during our workshop.

Indigo comes from many types of plants. It is usually extracted from plant leaves by a process of fermentation, where bacteria eat all the plant matter except the indigo. There are many different processes for extracting indigo that have been developed all over the world. And while it was viewed as a cheap dye in the past, indigo production is labour intensive and is by no means affordable by today’s standards.

I have worked with indigo at an artisanal level for over a decade. It works much differently than other dyes. To get a deep blue, I dip into a stew of powdered indigo extract, fructose derived from boiled dates, calcium powder, henna and water and then expose it to oxygen multiple times. Indigo is not soluble in oxygen, which is present in regular water. When Indigo is dissolved in water, it’s actually a yellowy-green copper colour with a blue skin on the surface where it comes in contact with the air. It’s not until you expose a fabric dipped in indigo to oxygen that it starts to turn blue. Our workshop guests had the opportunity to try dipping their own pocket squares into an indigo vat I built and witness this process firsthand.

I was very curious to understand how this multi-step dipping and oxidation process worked at an industrial scale. You can see it in the video below where, at Kuruki, I was invited into the dye house to see their process of rope dying. Here, they are dying the warp yarns that will make up the length of the cloth by drawing them through a first vat of indigo and then raising those yarns 10 metres into the air. The yarns travel up and down this 10-metre span 10 times and then enter a second vat of indigo and continue the same “skying” process. The yarns can be dipped in one continuous process this way through up to 10 indigo vats.

Indigo” rope dying” at Kuroki

According to my host at Kuruki, Mr. Ii, most North Americans prefer a lighter indigo for a more blue jean that is dipped four times and most Japanese and Europeans prefer something darker that is dipped seven times. Dipping 10 times will produce an almost black-blue. Below is a video of yarns dipped four times and yarns dipped seven times to see the difference.

Comparing four indigo dips with seven indigo dips.

Why does natural indigo matter? First, it’s a plant and using it as a dye is not harmful to the environment. The water used in the process can also be recycled as long as the concentration of indigo is monitored and increased as needed.

From the perspective of wearing jeans, what’s special about the stain is that it fades. If you cut a yarn dyed with indigo, the inside of it will still be white. In combination with a natural cream cotton yarn that is woven as the width of the fabric, this causes the denim to streak and fade where you rub on it, fold it and wear it. The cloth becomes more mottled as it patinas and wears. This effect is so desirable that many jean brands achieve it using chemicals, enzymes and sanding so your new jeans look well-worn before even putting them on. We prefer the authenticity of a wearer putting their own unique mark on the piece we make for them.

Where do we as makers of garments come in?  Many of the details seen on workwear are related to the industrial sewing equipment that was developed to make it more affordable. Just like the Toyoda looms, a lot of that equipment is no longer produced and contemporary versions can often only handle lighter weight materials and more flimsy thread.

A regular sewing machine creates what’s called a lockstitch that does not have much flexibility under tension. A chain stitch, which is preferred when sewing denim, is created with a series of loops that have a natural give and allow the denim to mould and shape to your body. Below is a video showing the difference in these two types of stitches.

chainstitch vs lockstitch

At the shop, we have a Union Special felling machine that Tom demonstrated for our guests. This model folds over the cloth and produces the clean finished seams you often see on the back of a pair of jeans. It sews two or three rows of stitching.  It is not easy to use and requires a lot of training as well as adjustments for any change to the type of cloth running through it. It is more aggressive with pullers and folders than can manage the heavier weights of denim we normally work with. This is just one example of specialized denim equipment. We use at least 10 different specialized machines to craft one pair of jeans.

Tom demonstrating our Union Special felling machine

As durable as that pair will be, selvage denim does still wear out. When a piece of well-loved workwear that we’ve created returns to the shop to be mended, new stitches or patches add more character to the piece. Over years and, hopefully decades, the story of your denim slowly builds to become a piece that is entirely, uniquely your own.

A well worn pair of jeans made and mended in our shop

Thank you to everyone who came out to the event. Thank you to Takuma Kobayashi for the translation of emails and phone calls. Thank you to Seiko Kudo for showing up last minute to translate in person. A very special thank you to Mr. Naruhiko Ii for sharing your passion for the production of selvage denim with me, touring me through Kuroki’s faculties, taking me out for an incredible Japanese lunch and for driving and hour to take me back to the train. Thank you to the President of Kuroki Mr. Tatsushi Kuroki for opening up your factories to me.

Philip with Mr. Ii on the Kuroki weaving floor

Fall Workshops

We are recharged after a great summer and ready to head into the fall season. Starting in September, we will be continuing our studio workshop series. This fall, we have two great discussions planned: Back to Workwear and Winter is Coming. See the details below and get your free tickets. Space is limited.

On Sept. 19 at 6 pm, we will be hosting Back to Workwear. After an amazing trip to visit the famous Kuruki denim mills in Japan this spring, we will be sharing what we learned about selvage denim including a demonstration on dying with indigo. Join us for this 30-minute talk followed by a 30-minute conversation on all things selvage, indigo and workwear.

On Nov. 7 at 6 pm, we will be hosting Winter is Coming. Making overcoats is a specialty in our shop and is at the top of our list of favourite projects to work on. Overcoats offer more details and materials for us to play with than blazers. Winter in Toronto is way too long but a great overcoat is something that can help you get through it with style and comfort. At this event, we will walk you through the fabrics, details and design choices that can make a custom overcoat a lasting investment. Join us for a 30-minute talk and 30-minute conversation about how to stay warm in a well-tailored way.

If there is another topic you would like us to create a workshop around in the future, please email us tailor@philipsparks.com with the subject line “topic” and your suggestion.

Welcome Back: A Formal Introduction

It's been a long time since I wrote a blog post. Recently, I found the business's original Blogger account. The first post was in April 2009 and my last post was in April 2015 when we made the full switch over to bespoke and started to focus more on building one-on-one connections with our amazing clients. A decade later, there are so many ways to stay in touch, including our mailing list and Instagram and Youtube accounts.

This March will mark 19 years since I started the shop. I'm always humbled by the incredible team of people I have working alongside me and shocked by the amount of time we've haunted our Junction studio. I've realized that as we've grown as a team and evolved, we have more stories to tell and some of them are better suited (pun intended) to a format longer than a photo caption. We're going to keep things light here, posting once a month, often to support a calendar of in-person talks the team will be planning to help you understand the world of bespoke better.

For my first post back, I'd like to formally introduce you to the team. The website has been refreshed with this information and you can now book a consultation with more members of the crew.

Philip Sparks Tailored Goods Inc. has been producing the highest quality tailored goods in Toronto since 2007. We have a passion for the history of tailoring but our strength is our flexibility and an openness to evolve with new technology, trends and clients. We produce all patterns and garments in the same Junction neighbourhood studio where you’ll visit us for your fittings, allowing us to accommodate all genders and body types and offering a truly custom and collaborative experience. 

Our specialty is in heritage tailoring with a Canadian perspective, blending British, French, Italian and North American tailoring schools as well as workwear techniques from Japan and beyond. We prioritize fit and the artisanship that goes into perfecting it. Advanced hand-sewing techniques are complimented by our collection of rare and antique machines. We offer exclusive suiting and shirting textiles from European mills, jacquards woven to order and workwear cloth that is still produced on vintage looms with natural dyes.

The Philip Sparks team values developing relationships with clients to build a wardrobe – sometimes in a single season, sometimes over years of appointments – and maintain its quality and fit, as well as individuals that seek out our expertise for life’s most special occasions.

Craig Renaud is a senior tailor in the shop. He oversees complex construction projects and guides apprentices through their journey of building technical expertise. Renaud, who holds an advanced diploma in fashion design, has been with Philip Sparks Tailored Good Inc. since 2013 and has been engaged in garment construction since 2008. Renaud’s interests are historical garments and construction techniques, with a specialty in Victorian and 14th century fashion. If your piece has a period influence or complex detail, chances are it will pass through Renaud’s hands. At the studio, Renaud also leads our annual Blanket Coat Project, where volunteers come together to sew coats for the unhoused in Toronto.

Tom Symonds is an apprentice tailor starting his cutting journey. Tom arrived at the shop in early 2021 with a passion for garment making and learning, and has been with us ever since. With a strong interest in British tailoring, Symonds enjoys merging formal garments and workwear. He is developing his skills on the complex denim-specific machines in the shop while becoming well versed in the deep catalogue of denim textiles and workwear style details. Through Symonds’s apprenticeship, he has been perfecting his hand sewing skills while also learning how to mend garments in a creative and aesthetically pleasing fashion. 

A former student of Sparks, Takuma Kobayashi has been with the shop since 2022. Kobayashi’s dedication to his craft is expressed through his passion for the smallest details and creating a balance between historical and contemporary design and construction. You can often find him practicing handsewn buttonholes or mastering our 19th century free motion embroidery machines.

Philip Sparks specializes in creating garments for a wide variety of body types and genders. Whether your preference is a more body conscious fit or a boxier silhouette, Sparks has the experience to ensure you feel confident and comfortable in your new pieces. He has been working in fashion since 1998 and his training includes an advanced diploma in fashion, a master’s degree in design, apprenticeships at the National Ballet of Canada and the Canadian Opera Company, and design work with the Stratford Festival of Canada. Today, Sparks also lectures on pattern cutting, tailoring and textiles with a focus on presenting and publishing creative work that explores concepts of fit and fitting in.