Tom Ford

The house was founded in 2005. Its tailoring dates from a licence signed with Ermenegildo Zegna in February 2006, and Zegna has produced it since, predominantly in Switzerland and partly in Italy. Estée Lauder acquired the brand in April 2023; Zegna acquired the operating company the same day under a twenty-year licence.

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Tom Ford Sport Coat — Navy Windowpane — 100% Silk — New With Tags — Size 52R (Sold)

€1.255 €5.400

The ownership history matters here more than the founding date, because it decides what you are holding. Tom Ford founded the brand in 2005 with Domenico De Sole. The tailoring arrives in February 2006, with a licence to Ermenegildo Zegna covering men's ready-to-wear, made-to-measure, suits, shirts and shoes; the menswear debuted with the Madison Avenue flagship in 2007. Zegna has made the tailoring throughout, predominantly in Switzerland with some in Italy.

In April 2023 the two halves separated: Estée Lauder acquired the brand and all its intellectual property at a $2.8bn enterprise value, and on the same day Zegna bought the remaining 85 per cent of the operating company for $150m and took a twenty-year licence. The clothes did not stop — ownership and operation simply parted. Haider Ackermann was named creative director in September 2024.

The thing nobody else does at this price is the combination: a factory suit mixing bespoke-grade handwork with machine work. A hand-worked Milanese lapel buttonhole over gimp with no visible knot, taking about an hour, sits on the same jacket as machine-made front buttonholes. That mismatch is the signature.

How it wears now: heavy and stiff against a Brioni, with far more internal shaping than a normal factory suit. The cut dates it — short skirt, narrow lapel, low-rise wide-waistband trousers put a piece in roughly 2012 to 2016. Ready-to-wear, so the sizing is effectively final.

Reading it in the hand

What gets looked at before a piece is catalogued, and what you can check yourself. Nothing here depends on the label.

The lapel buttonhole is hand-worked Milanese; the front buttonholes are machine-made. That mismatch is the signature.
A barchetta breast pocket — curved, with the outer corner rounded right off. A southern Italian detail on an otherwise Savile-Row-derived coat.
Trousers have no belt loops — slide-buckle side adjusters, a wide extended waistband, side seams curved forward at the hip so the on-seam pockets lie flat, and narrow straight legs.
A straight roped shoulder that is soft to the touch: very thin sleeve wadding, a thin pad, and haircloth trimmed out of the top four to five inches so the line collapses slightly. Big shoulder line, small shoulder content.
The made-in is split and both are correct. "Made in Switzerland" and "Made in Italy" both appear on Zegna-era pieces, with Switzerland predominating. A Swiss origin here is the default, not a warning.
Model names: O'Connor — roughly 7 cm (2¾ in) notch lapel, gently slanted pockets, single vent, made for Skyfall. Windsor — fuller, peak lapel, and the base for the one-button dinner jacket.

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