Enamel – Water is added to a fine glass powder to make a thick paste. This paste is laid into the piece by hand, then fired and polished.
French Seam – A French seam is a seam that closes all raw edges with in itself. This gives the benefit of enclosing any rough edges that may be irritating to the skin and offers a stronger finish to stressed seams.
Garnet – A number of semi-precious stones sharing a similar structure and composition make up the garnet family. Colour varies greatly, though the most popular is bright red.
Gunmetal – This type of plating uses black nickel, and means that the finished hardware has a darker, more antiqued look.
Jacquard – A method of producing patterns in fabrics. The design will appear in relief on the underside and long threads will show where they are carried from one part of the design to the other. These are called floats.
Lacquer – A clear or coloured coating that can be applied in layers to give the illusion of “depth”. It can be highly polished, making it ideal for use on cufflinks.
Moire – This is a silk ribbon that has a “moire” or water effect on it, to give it life and individuality.
Mother Of Pearl – The iridescent substance that forms the shell lining of some fresh-water and some salt-water molluscs. It is usually white, although it can be found in darker shades. Where we have pink or blue versions, we dye the Mother of Pearl.
Palladium – A plating that gives an excellent hard "white grey" finish that is often mistaken for "white gold". It has high tarnish resistance making it an ideal plating for both jewellery and leathergoods hardware.
Pique – A fabric with a raised surface in ribs, squares, diamonds, etc. Cotton pique is stiff and absorbent, very hard wearing and washes well.
Poplin – A fabric made of fine warp yarns with ribs running crosswise, it creases in wear but is hard wearing, comfortable and absorbent. The filling is what gives this material its character.
PU – This is the abbreviation for Polyurethane. We use PU on the inside of some of our leathergoods to increase functionality and durability.
Quartz Amethyst – This is a cultured quartz stone that is violet in colour and can be transparent or opaque.
Resin – Originally a term used exclusively for the secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees, resin is excellent for use as varnish, and for creating durable and colourful pieces. The term is also used for synthetic substances that have similar properties.
Rhodium – A plating that provides excellent tarnish prevention. Its white colour and high reflectivity makes it a perfect finish over silver or nickel items to eliminate discoloration.
Shagreen – This is either Stingray or Shark skin, though we tend to use the former. It is a very resistant leather, and requires great skill and craftsmanship to be worked correctly.
Shirt Cuff – The cuff of the garment is finished with a classic neat hemline. Generally found on polo shirts and knitwear.
Slip Thread – Piece of thread running down the back of the tie, giving elasticity to the tie allowing the back seam to recover to its original length.
Sodalite – A stone that occurs naturally in volcanic rock, with a blue colour that has white inclusions to give a marble-like effect.
Spinel – A vibrant, cobalt blue semi-precious stone that is found in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Afghanistan and Russia.
Two Piece Construction – Used on collars and cuffs describes how a canvas interlining, is floating rather than glued, giving the collar a softer, more natural look.