When it comes to suits, there are so many details and moving parts that most untrained eyes don’t even distinguish great craftsmanship from mass production. For us menswear enthusiasts, this isn’t the case, we want to learn how every little piece of a garment works, why it’s there, and how it flatters the wearer. The shoulder is one of those areas that take fine-tuned expertise to understand

Getting the right fit and style for your shoulders can make or break the sharpness of your new suit. Unlike conventional thinking, all shoulders aren’t sewn the same. They sport different designs & padding structures that serve specific purposes aimed to a certain demographic of gentleman. In this article we will be covering 4 different shoulder types, most of these are spin-offs of the traditional structured shoulder and made famous by Neapolitan tailoring houses.

The Structured Shoulder

First let’s start with the original shoulder structure, which is ingrained in British tailoring. The structured shoulder suits almost all body shapes and is great for those with droopy shoulders looking to square off their appearance. This is often more dressy and elegant and sports heavy shoulder padding to structure this area. Most off the rack suits you will buy come with this style of shoulder and it is by far the most popular of the 4 I will cover here.

The Natural Shoulder

The natural shoulder is sewn very similar to the structured shoulder just with less padding. This gives the shoulder less structure which is why it is also referred to as the “unstructured” shoulder. (Other names are the “soft” or “natural” shoulder) This style has been made very popular recently by Italian tailoring, as you can tell by the names this shoulder style has, it give the wearer a more natural shoulder line that smoothly transitions into the sleeve. This style is much more casual and should be worn as such.

The Pleated Shoulder aka the “Spalla Camicia”

This is a true Neapolitan staple in tailoring; essentially the sleeve arm hole is cut larger than the hole on the jacket, to compensate for this the tailor creates these pleats when sewing the sleeve on. This type of sew work was (and is) often used in dress shirts hence the name “camicia”. Italians argue that this is not just an aesthetical add on (which many menswear enthusiast see as a nice finishing touch) but also functional. The extra fabric in the sleeve area provides a greater circumference in the armhole – bicep area which gives the wearer greater flexibility and range of motion. I’m currently in the process of trying some out with samples I’m having made; if I like what I see and they truly are functional you can expect to see them in our Estuniga collection shortly!

Roped Shoulder aka “Con Rollino”

This shoulder style is also made popular by Italians. It consists of medium to heavy padding, and a roped end design at the tip of the shoulder. This is definitely the more bold style of the 4 and makes a statement when worn, kind of like “I’m a boss, I know what I’m doing”. This roping effect is due to the fact the shoulder line is cut just before the slope of the shoulder (so shorter than the other styles) and then the sleeve is cut a little longer so it can come up and compensate for the length. The sewing technique for this creates a bump around the shoulder hole.

Which on the 4 do you sport the most? I'd love to hear what you guys think in the comment section down below!

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Thank you guys for reading,

Jose Zuniga