Luca Rubinacci

He has a passion for beauty. He loves sport. He’s a keen sailor. He was a professional sailor until he was 20 years old. With the experience he gained, new horizons opened up to him, because the sea and the competition system for sailing helped him understand that things were only possible with an open mind and teambuilding. Working as part of a team is just what Luca Rubinacci values most, as well the opportunity his father gave him to be part of the third generation working in tailoring. The company is based in Naples, along with the team of 45 tailors. The company has an atelier in Milan, the city where Luca lives. It has another in London, in Mount Street, where his sister Chiara lives and works. Rubinacci is the largest tailor house in Europe. 

You are a businessman...  
Our business is about giving people suggestions about what they should wear. We are not working with numbers, we are working with clothes, with artisans, and with people that dress for the pleasure of dressing. That’s why we need to be at total peace in our mind. 

What is the origin of Maison Rubinacci?
Everything started in 1930, when my grandfather Gennaro, who was an art dealer, was selling art to the king of Italy, who reigned over the southern part of Italy when Italy was divided in two. He was selling art to very high society and they were always asking him who his tailor was because my grandfather was a very well dressed gentleman. When the king started to ask him to bring his tailor to the house he brought his tailor along. It was the king’s belief however that the good suit he was made was not only down to the tailor, but also down to the knowledge of my grandfather. So that’s why, in 1930, my grandfather opened a laboratory. He called it the London House. He filled it with all the best tailors he could think of in Naples at that time. He started developing this laboratory like a passion, like a hobby. In fact, in the 30s, my grandfather was the first person ever to deconstruct a jacket. Without even knowing it, he was inventing the Neapolitan jacket, which today is famous all around the world as a deconstructed jacket. He deconstructed it because his client had asked him for something more relaxed. He take out all the padding in the shoulders, and to give the jacket a softer cut. Then, there was the time of my father. My father changed the name of the business to Rubinacci. He started to build up the Rubinacci tailor house in the 50s. Making Neapolitan tailoring a statement not only in Italy. Then the third generation arrived, which is me. I began working with my father in 2000. I tried to bring Rubinacci to another level, to make it more of a global tailor, a company that is able to satisfy any customer, because today Rubinacci doesn’t only dress Italian gentlemen, we dress the world. We dress Kazakhstanis, Americans, Chinese, English… So every client has a different background, and every client needs to dress differently. 

You are very well known all over the world and dress some of the most famous people…
When I was 20 my father sent me to London. I was a child, with nothing, besides my experience of sailing and my three suits. My father sent me to London not only to do an apprenticeship in English tailoring but also to learn to speak better English. He gave to me three suits: one blue, one gray and one sports jacket. And he said with these three things you will be able to dress all through your internship in Savile Row.
On that first day, I didn’t really know much about my father’s profession. When I went to the first day and went into the store, into the tailor house in London, all the tailors put me in the middle, and they started to make jokes about my jacket. The main tailor started to ask me what this «funny shoulder was, why my lapels were so soft, why my jacket had such funny wrinkles on the sleeves?!». They were all telling me that this suit was not as well made as English suits are made. So I went back home and I called my father in Italy, and I told him: «You made me the wrong suit; My suit has been criticised a lot by the English tailors today. I don’t understand why you did this to me and I want to come back!»
My father was very happy. And so I asked: «Why are you happy?» He started to tell me all the differences between English and Neapolitan tailoring. So the next day I went to the head tailor and I explained to him just what this «funny shoulder was», «…this is the spalla camicia and this is our signature!» And I started to tell what the Neapolitan jacket was. He just stared at me, as if saying to himself: «Look at this twenty-year-old guy, trying to teach me something». He was around 60 at that time. He then said to me: «Luca, you know what, this chair, this table stood in front of the wall is supposed to be your table, but because you’ve done this to me, now I want you by my side throughout the whole internship. I want to teach you all about English tailoring and at the end, I would like you to tell me which is the best, your father’s or mine».
At the end of the seven months, when I came back home, I told them: «look English tailoring is very good; Neapolitan tailoring is very good». The difference between them is they don’t speak the same language. So that is what I bring to Rubinacci. A global house that is famous for its Neapolitan tailoring, but which is able to satisfy everyone. And this is why I am then able to say to my father that «I will be the face of our brand». Today, whatever store you go in to, whatever brand you visit, everywhere you go, you find good quality and good products, but you don’t find the man behind the brand. This person always remains unknown. So that’s why at Rubinacci, when you go and ask for a bespoke creation at Rubinacci, you deal with Luca, you deal with Mariano, that’s my father and you deal with Chiara, that’s my sister. This is what gives a brand a priceless appeal.
Rubinacci doesn’t only dress Italian gentlemen, we dress the world.
How do you feel being part of the third generation of this highly successful brand?
My father never taught me how to do things, but he taught how to have good sense. Being a tailor is like being a psychologist. As soon as you interact with a client, the client will be with you for the rest of his life. I’m happy to make other people happy when I dress them. Our work it’s more about clothing, touching the fabrics, looking at the body shape of the clients from an architectural point of view. 

What are the advantages of buying a tailored suit over an off-the-rack suit?
In a prêt-à-porter suit it’s the client that has to fit into the suit, because the jacket is already made. So, if it fits well, the jacket is good. But otherwise the jacket isn’t right for you. The bespoke suit is made for you. It is made to your measure. It is made for your kind of body. So, it fits you like a second skin. Usually the bespoke garment is something that you cannot find in a ready-to-wear line, you know what I mean, because prêt-à-porter follows the trends, prêt-à-porter follows the fashion. Bespoke is made for you. 

What is your relationship with digital media?
I love digital media because I’m from the new generation. Social media like Instagram, for example. I don’t like to see a static page. I think that social media can be used in two ways: you can use it in a good way, or in a really bad way. So, if you use it for your personal use, keep it for your personal use, otherwise if you use for a public use, try to give something, and this is what I do with my page. Just posting pictures, showing a way of dressing, of dressing well, to post videos. I started to post videos to let people know little tips, how to dress, how to combine colours, how to be a gentleman… By giving these little tips I open the world of our men’s wardrobe to everyone, for people who are part of the new generation.
My day-to-day work involves doing fittings for my clients, giving them suggestions. So for me to give up two hours a day to social media is a big thing, because I don’t really have the time and sometimes I have to do it late at night. There have been times when I haven’t posted a picture for two or three days and I get messages from people on Instagram asking me: «Luca, are you on holiday? You’re not posting a picture». And I’m working… that lets you understand just how great the potential of social media is today.

You are an influencer and people follow you and your ideas…
It’s incredible. There is no men’s tailor house bigger than us on social media.

Rubinacci doesn’t limit itself to tailoring. What other products do you create?
We create almost all the ready-to-wear wardrobe, but this ready-to-wear is more like a capsule collection; it’s made completely differently from our bespoke. It’s made with quality in mind, always. There is no suit, there is no tuxedo, there are only sports jackets, trousers, casual shoes, ties, shirts, casual shirts, who are unable to wait for bespoke garments, who cannot afford bespoke. I want to be able to satisfy all kinds of people, not only a niche of very few luxury and lucky gentlemen around the world. We can only make around 1200 suits per year, bespoke suits, that means very limited numbers. With the ready-to-wear collection, with accessories, with the online store, on our website, this gives people who are not travelling to Italy the opportunity to buy some Rubinacci. 

What is the type of Rubinacci customer?
Today, with accessories, ready-to-wear and bespoke, everyone can be a Rubinacci client. The Rubinacci client that comes for bespoke is someone who is looking for something new, something that has a great quality and that can express the style he has inside.