Paul Trible, our Co-founder and CEO recently escaped the Virginia winter in favor of the slightly more hospitable climates of Northern Italy. This trek was more for business than pleasure; and while away, Trible kept a travelogue to document his trip. Now back in the office, we caught up with Trible and asked him to share his notes and the experience with us.
One of the greatest perks of this job is that a handful of times a year, I get to head to Europe to meet with our suppliers and visit factories, and I’m reminded how much I love what I do.
Last week, it was back to Milan for Milano Unica, the seasonal fabric show where our European mills present their Spring 2015 collections. I also took some time to stop by our tie and sweater factories to wrap up Fall 2014 production. Like always, I kept a travelogue as a reminder of how the time went by.
February 9, 2014 Depart RIC / Delta rejects me from JFK flight due to a soon to be expired passport / Alitalia to the rescue / Landed in Milan / Got a smile and a nod from Italian customs / Train to Como / Good to see the sun shining after a month of rain in Virginia / February 10, 2014 Early morning at the factory / Working on Fall 2014 Necktie Collection / 4 rooms of tie swatches / 8 hours of work ahead / Lots of wovens / Lots of grenadine / Heavy on geometrics / Still not loving stripes / No time for lunch / On to knits / Knits! / I have an unhealthy obsession with knit ties . . . I hope our customers do too / Lots of mélange / Plenty of dots . . . you can never have too many dots / Done for the day / Ties are done for the season / Dinner at Erpiu -- great fish, good wine / Sleep / February 11, 2014 On to Milan / Blazer production for the day / Finalizing Fall 2014 / Lots of windowpane / Finally a camel hair / Lots of cashmere / Getting excited about cashmere for fall / February 12, 2014 Next morning Milano Unica -- fabric fair with nearly all of our textile mills / Great to see old friends / Monti / Albini / Thomas Mason / Canclini / Albiate / Went through 10,000 swatches, 4 paninis, 6 waters and zero espressos (bad time to give up caffeine) / All in all a good day / Ran on the canal afterwards / Watched Winter Storm PAX descend on the East Coast / Sleep / February 13, 2014 Morning with sweater factory / Finalizing Fall 2014 / Reviewing samples / Excited about yak wool / Putting zippers on sweaters for the first time . . . I think we can pull it off without looking like a track suit / February 14, 2014 Back to Unica / Reviewed prints at TCS Fabrics / Bought 240 meters of teal poplin with Costa Riveria’s on it / Talked tennis and Neil Young with one of my favorite Italians before one last trip to Albini / Talked buttons with Gritti before calling it a day / Dinner with Monti at Al Pont de Ferr / Devoured bone marrow polenta while debating Springsteen . . . sounds gruesome, but delicious / February 15, 2014 Woke up / Train to Bergamo . . . home of Albini / Finished blazers / Fall 2014 Collection complete / Camped out in Città Alta / Ate more polenta / Celebrated with a glass of Borolo / Sleep / Plane / Home / - Paul Trible *Photographs via Instagram Captions: 1. Too many ties. Room 4 of 4 / 2. Field testing the Dwyer Garment Bag / 3. At the Milano Unica textile fair / 4. Spinning knitted ties / 5. Como, Italy