Canvas is the interfacing inside your custom jacket, which is the inner structure that gives your suit jacket its shape. It’s the layer placed in between the cloth you see on the outside of your tailored jacket and the lining you see on the inside. Although the suit canvas itself is hidden from view, it is integral in giving balance and structure to a suit.

Our Westwood Hart suits canvas is made from a horsehair. And because horsehair is a natural fiber, it can easily be manipulated using pressure, heat and humidity, to help create and retain shape of the suit. Additionally, horsehair is very light in weight, and yet very durable over time.

As you wear our canvassed suit, over time the canvas itself begins to conform to your body’s shape, becoming a better fit the more you wear it. The canvas structure also increases durability of the garment and helps to create curvature in the chest.

The chest piece, widely considered the most crucial part of the suit jacket, is where the canvas, is sewn to the domette (soft felt-like fabric). The soft felt is applied as a barrier to prevent the hair fibres in the canvas poking through the outer cloth and scratching the wearer.

The canvas is then hand pad stitched to sit between the outer cloth and the inner lining of a suit jacket. This gives beautifully soft and elegant 3D contouring. Hand pad stitching is also applied to the lapels and collars, where the cloth is rolled while stitching to achieve a soft and perfect curve on the lapel and top collar.

Simply put, no. Some, usually lesser quality suits, are fused (glued) inside to the interfacing. This is a cheaper option used in tailored suits that we wouldn’t suggest, and this is why on some suits that have been dry cleaned, you may find bubbling occurring around the chest area.

Some suits offer a half canvas suit construction, which starts the canvas at the padded shoulder to halfway down the jacket body. A half canvas suit is certainly better than a fused.

At Westwood Hart, we use horsehair canvas in all of our custom suits, which is applied through the full length of the jacket front (from the top of the shoulder to the hemline).

A full canvas suit is stitched to the inside of the lapels in such a way, it allows the canvas to free flow throughout the jacket, allowing its overall finish to look much softer and smoother.

A full canvas is also weightless and moulds to the body better over time due to its construction process. Since the canvas runs from the top of the suit jacket to the bottom, it provides a cleaner, crisper appearance. This helps provide a longer lifespan and a fit like no other – perfect shape, feel, comfort and silhouette which only improves with wear.

With a half canvas suit, you can see a break between the chest canvas and the rest of the jacket, whereas with a full canvas this does not happen. In our full canvas suits, the overall finish is much softer, providing a clean, elegant look.