# Thomas Mason shirts?



## Alistair (Aug 12, 2007)

A local menswear shop carries shirts with the Thomas Mason brand and "Bianco Nero" inside the collar. Also, there are shirts without the Thomas Mason label, but just Bianco Nero, yet the shopkeeper told me that these, too, are Thomas Mason shirts. The fabric is gorgeous and incredibly soft on all of these shirts, and they all are priced at $199.

I did a Google search for Thomas Mason, as well as these forums, but only got more confused. Is there a shirt/fabric guru who might help me understand what the deal is with Thomas Mason? 

Thanks!!


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## NoVaguy (Oct 15, 2004)

thomas mason makes fabrics. i'm not sure if they have a shirt factory - i suspect what is happening is somebody is making shirts with the thomas mason fabrics.


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## PJC in NoVa (Jan 23, 2005)

There are shirtmakers on the forum who can give you the full rundown (or more likely point you to threads containing it), but in outline the deal as I understand it is that "Thomas Mason" is a trade name, and not the original company, which IIRC was British, went out of business at some point, and had its name and trade dress bought.

That said, the fabrics are still quite good--excellent really.

You can get shirts MTM (either in person or ordered over the web) from Joe Hemrajani of www.mytailor.com made from Thomas Mason fabrics for as little as $125/shirt (minimum order of 2 shirts after your first shirt).

https://www.mytailor.com/showfabric.aspx

I doubt Bianco Nero is a designer or whatnot as the words simply mean "White Black" in Italian.


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## Sator (Jan 13, 2006)

NoVaguy said:


> thomas mason makes fabrics. i'm not sure if they have a shirt factory - i suspect what is happening is somebody is making shirts with the thomas mason fabrics.


TM is indeed an English maker of shirtings, although they now mill their fabrics in Italy. I suspect the shirt in question is like a suit with "Zegna" all over it and "Fabric by Zegna" somewhere in small letters.


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## PJC in NoVa (Jan 23, 2005)

It appears that the Italian firm of Albini bought Thomas Mason a decade ago:

https://www.lindauer-dornier.com/english/insider/insider_8/cotonificio.htm


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## Sator (Jan 13, 2006)

I have some of TM shirting and it certainly feels Italian rather than English to me. Acorn and Classic shirtings have more body and feel more tightly woven.


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## Freddy Vandecasteele (Oct 28, 2005)

Thomas Mason as many different qualities,so does Acorn,They are both good.
Freddy Vandecasteele


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## Sator (Jan 13, 2006)

But all in all Acorn have a much more English feel to their fabrics - much more body and tightly woven. SIC Tess amongst the Italians is even better than Tomasso Masoni. Tessitura Monti Spa have a high end range which is also nicer, but I have seen one or two regular offerings from Monti I think are as good as any Acorn I have seen.


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## Shirtmaven (Jan 2, 2004)

I do not think there are any weavers of high count cotton fabric in England.

Acorn is a converter of fabric, not weavers. they commision mills to weave to their specs.
Thomas Mason/albini does not sell shirts. they supply this shirtmaker with a label.


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## Sator (Jan 13, 2006)

Shirtmaven said:


> I do not think there are any weavers of high count cotton fabric in England.
> 
> Acorn is a converter of fabric, not weavers. they commision mills to weave to their specs.


But like H Lesser, their specs seems to be to a consistently high standard. I would be interested to hear if you feel otherwise but I am really relying on the opinion of my shirtmaker, Charles Nakhle, who holds Acorn/Classic in extremely high regard. He also says that the high count shirtings in the Acorn book are neither their speciality nor forte but that they are well done.


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## westhill (Sep 5, 2007)

*Thomas Mason*

Thomas Mason was founded 1796 and still going strong although since 1992 has been owned by a 135 year old shirting producer called Cotonificio Albini . You can learn all about Thomas Mason via the website www.albinigroup.com or 
https://albinigroup.com/en/i_brand/thomas_mason
Thomas Mason produce the higest quality shirting fabrics in the world with yarn counts up to 2/300s and sell in 70 countries of the world. The group also now grow their own cotton in the Nile Delta of Egypt.


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## Tonyp (May 8, 2007)

Freddy Vandecasteele said:


> Thomas Mason as many different qualities,so does Acorn,They are both good.
> Freddy Vandecasteele


I have had several shirts made by Freddy Vandecasteele. All the Fabrics are Thomas Mason that I selected. There are several levels of quality as Freddy states. Freddy makes a great shirt. But The shirts are not made by TM but rather a company using the fabric. J. Crew did this last year and made shirts for the store in their own style and fit. Make sure you like the style and fit before you think about the cotton used.


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