Loro Piana could sell more. Arnault has chosen not to.

There was an interview in the Financial Times this month with Frédéric Arnault, who runs Loro Piana. The headline was about a thousand euro loafer. The substance was about restraint.

He said the house could be selling far more of them and has chosen not to, because a shoe on every foot stops being worth having. He talked about building the knowhow properly rather than at the pace the market is asking for. Arnault said what he does now is not for the next quarter or the next year, but "for decades".

I read that and recognised something in it, because restraint is how good tailoring has always worked. Proper cloth cannot be rushed. The fibre takes what it takes and the finishing takes what it takes. Push the volume and the quality goes, and once it has gone the reputation follows it out of the door. Most of the industry runs the other way. Make more, sell faster, put it everywhere, then wonder why nobody wants it in three years.

However, he is not saying they cannot make more loafers. He is saying they could, and have decided not to, so the shoe does not end up on every foot. That is not a production constraint. That is scarcity marketing, stated openly. He said it out loud.

Most houses would never put it that plainly. The usual move is to let the waiting list do the talking and imply the constraint is in the workshop.

It has become more and more prevalent. Hermès has run on it for years. Matthieu Blazy's first collection for Chanel was one of the hardest things to get hold of all season. Walking into a shop and buying the Rolex you actually want is harder than it used to be. Can't get hold of the thousand euro loafers? Damn. Now I need a pair.

And it works.

So is it a problem? I don't think it is, as long as the product stands up when it finally arrives. Restricting supply to protect a thing people genuinely want is a decision about brand. Restricting supply to manufacture demand for a thing that would otherwise sit there is a decision about marketing.

Arnault also ruled out pushing prices harder than the product can justify, which is the honest version of luxury and rarer than it should be. Plenty of names have spent the last few years raising prices faster than they have raised standards, and are now finding out what happens when clients notice.

We offer Loro Piana cloth at Salt Bespoke, alongside other mills we rate. It is very good and it earns its reputation, and I will happily put my name to a suit cut from it

However, I am still undecided on whether I need the loafers.