There aren’t many branded cloths with their own cult following. Harris Tweed from the Outer Hebrides is one, revered for its rustic, handwoven charm. Airy, open-weave wool Fresco is another, offering hot weather breathability for over a century. Perhaps the most distinctive of these connoisseur’s cloths is Solaro — a wool twill originally designed for military service but long beloved for its unique elegance.

Woven for generations under patent by the venerable British cloth merchant Smith Woollens, traditional Solaro combines red warp threads with a greenish tan weft to create a subtly iridescent khaki herringbone twill with a reddish cast. (The reverse side features the opposite colours.) It was initially developed around 1905 for military use by the Italian-born Louis Westerna Sambon, a lecturer at the London School of Tropical Medicine who held a theory that red pigmentation afforded protection against harmful UV rays in sunshine.

Although Solaro’s “scientific” rationale would soon be debunked, its exotic appearance appealed to British civilian elites, who popularized the cloth for wear in warmer climates. By the 1950s, Solara had become a staple summer cloth among fashionable dressers and was a personal favourite of Italian style icon Gianni Agnelli.

Today, Smith Woollens has expanded its Solaro offerings to include blue and green-tinted weaves, regular twills, and even lightweight cotton versions, but the original has never gone out of style, whether worn as a classic suit or an odd jacket. (It pairs very nicely with denim.)

This summer, New & Lingwood invites you to join that club with our made-to-measure Solaro promotion. Drop by our Jermyn Street, Eton and New York stores to receive a 20% discount on any newly commissioned Solaro garment.