Lima Tailors - Global Sales Mentor | Zach Selch

4 Aug 2020 · 3 min

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3:07

In this monologue, Zach Selch explores the rich heritage of Andean fiber and fabric craftsmanship, noting how pre‑colonial peoples created bridges, books, maps, and even royal robes from woven cloth and unconventional fibers like bat fur. He explains that lacking metalworking resources, these cultures focused their ingenuity on textiles. Selch then shifts to contemporary Lima, specifically the Miraflores neighborhood, where a cluster of high‑end tailor shops offers some of the best tailoring in Latin America, comparable to top Thai tailors but not quite at the level of elite European or Hong Kong houses. He highlights the availability of premium imported suitings alongside locally sourced baby alpaca and flannel, describing baby alpaca’s luxurious hand feel, sheen, and its popularity for jackets and blazers, while noting its limited durability for full suits. He concludes with a brief promotional invitation to contact his firm for expanding international sales.

Chapters

For thousands of years, people in the Andean region have done wonderful things with fibers and fabrics. They— when the Spanish came here, they found bridges crossing rivers made entirely out of woven cloth. They made books letters, maps, all sorts of things like that, records made out of knotted fabric. And they made fabric out of unusual things, like even from the fur off of bats' wings, they would make robes for their kings. So the skills they have and had for thousands of years with, um, with fibers and with cloth and with, with threads was really something very amazing. And what I've read Is that because they didn't really have the type of metal skills and, and, and metal and coal that they had in Europe, they had to shift their energy and their strengths into spinning fabrics and making fantastic fabrics. So I'm in Lima in the Miraflores neighborhood, which is where you're going to find a concentration of about a dozen high-end tailor shops that make really good stuff. I would say that you're looking at people who are about as good as high-end Thai tailors. They're the best tailors in my opinion in Latin America. Maybe not as good as what you're going to find in London or Napoli. Maybe not as good as what you're going to find at the very top end of Hong Kong, but pretty good. And I've gotten some really nice stuff here. Now they also have excellent selections both of high-end imported suitings, but also of baby alpaca, which is just a beautiful fabric, as well as locally made flannel, which is robust and not too expensive. Expensive and has a nice sheen and also beautiful cottons. Having a jacket made, a sports coat made in baby alpaca is really a luxury. It has a beautiful hand feel. I'll tell you that if you get a couple of jackets made in baby alpaca, people will be coming up to you and touching your arms and shoulders for the rest of your life because people love baby alpaca and they find it Just irresistible to touch. You don't get really suits or pants made out of baby alpaca just because it's not quite strong enough, robust enough, but it is really, really nice to make a jacket out of it. Some of my favorite blazers are made out of baby alpaca, and I also have a nice overcoat made out of baby alpaca. When you decide it's time to grow your international sales, call us.