The double-face technique
A garment with nothing to hide
Most coats have a secret: the lining. A layer that conceals the seams, covers the joins, disguises what the fabric cannot show. Double-face has no such secret — because it does not need one.
In a coat crafted using the double-face technique, the fabric is worked on both sides without an inner lining. The inside of the garment is as carefully finished as the outside. Every seam, every join, every detail is resolved with the same precision as what is visible from the outside. There is nothing to hide because there is nothing to be ashamed of.
That is only possible when the raw material and the craftsmanship are equal to the task.
What is the double-face technique?
The double-face technique is a tailoring construction in which the coat is crafted from a special fabric formed by two layers woven simultaneously on the loom — with a perfectly finished outer face and inner face — joined together by a light binding weft. That bond is firm enough for the fabric to behave as one, and delicate enough for the two layers to be separated by hand at the seams and sewn individually.
The result is a garment with no lining, no industrial interfacings and no rigid shoulder padding. The structure of the coat does not come from added layers — it comes from the fabric itself. This is why an authentic double-face coat can be, at the same time, warmer, lighter and cleaner in its silhouette than a conventional coat of the same weight.
It is the historic technique of Italian tailoring houses. Maisons such as Zegna have been refining it for over a century. It is the construction that defines the Italian high-end coat of the twentieth century and remains, today, the most demanding technical standard a coat can aspire to.
How it is crafted
Double-face begins with the fabric — a cloth constructed in two layers bonded during the weaving process. But the technique itself begins later, at the sewing table.
Each seam of the coat requires a process that admits no shortcuts: basting a guideline along the full stitching line, manually separating the two layers of fabric with fine scissors, stitching each face individually with seam allowances of just 5 millimetres — against the 15 millimetres standard in conventional tailoring — and closing the seam by folding the fabric back on itself and finishing it by hand on the inner side. The same process is repeated at every edge, every hem, every dart, every join.
No machinery resolves the double-face seams automatically. It is the work of needle, thread and time. This is why a double-face coat requires between three and five times more hours of construction than a conventional lined coat. And this is why few brands produce it — because it is not industrially viable, and artisanally it demands a level of skill that cannot be improvised.
What is and what is not a double-face coat
This is worth clarifying, because the term has been used loosely in recent years.
A double-face coat is not a reversible coat with a faux fur or shearling effect inside. What is often sold commercially under the name "double-face" is a garment made of two different fabrics bonded or stitched together — one on the outside, another on the inside — where the inner fabric is usually a synthetic material with a faux fur or shearling finish. It is a legitimate construction, but it is not the double-face technique. It is, technically, a coat with two opposing fabrics.
An authentic double-face coat is built from a single fabric woven in two layers joined during the weaving process, with both faces noble and finished. There is no inner lining, no synthetic layer, no added effect. The two faces of the coat are the same fabric — the same quality, the same fibre, the same weight — and the technique lies in how those two layers are separated and rejoined at each seam so that the garment is clean inside and out.
A conventionally lined coat, in turn, is a coat made from a single layer of fabric to which an inner lining — usually viscose, cupro or polyester — is added to conceal the seams and simplify construction. It is the dominant construction in the market, perfectly valid, but in a different technical category.
The difference is felt the moment you put the coat on: in an authentic double-face, what touches the skin is the same noble fibre — virgin wool, cashmere or their blends — that is visible on the outside. There is no frontier between interior and exterior. It is a garment made from a single piece of honesty.
Why it demands noble fabrics
Double-face does not forgive the fabric. Without a lining to conceal the interior, the quality of the raw material is fully exposed — inside and out. A lower quality fabric would reveal its imperfections in every seam, every finish, every hem.
This is why at Murmells, double-face is only worked with Biella cashmere and virgin wool or pure virgin wool from the same mills of the Italian Piedmont. Fabrics in weights between 500 and 720 g/m², with the weight, consistency and finish required for the technique to perform at its full potential — and for the inside of the garment to be as beautiful as the outside.
What it brings to the garment
A double-face coat has a different presence. Denser, more structured, more definitive. The absence of a lining allows the fabric to drape more naturally and the silhouette to be cleaner — without the layered effect that a lining sometimes creates.
It is also a garment lighter than it appears. Because the structure is built from the fabric itself rather than from added layers, the weight is distributed evenly across the shoulders — without the concentrated rigidity of conventional constructions. The result is a coat with impeccable body and drape that, once on, feels like a second skin rather than armour.
It is warmer and more honest: by eliminating the synthetic lining, it is the two layers of noble fabric that are in direct contact with the body. The skin does not touch polyester or viscose — it touches virgin wool or cashmere. A difference felt from the very first moment you put the coat on, and one that does not fade with wear.
And it is more durable: without a lining that wears out, unstitches or deteriorates over time, the garment ages in a more uniform and dignified way.
A double-face coat is not just another coat. It is a statement of intent about how fashion should be made.
Double-face at Murmells
Every timeless coat at Murmells is handcrafted using the double-face technique. It is the technique that defines the collection, that demands the most time and the most discernment in fabric selection, and that best represents the philosophy of the brand: doing things properly, without compromise, with materials that deserve that level of attention.
The fabric comes from the historic mills of the Italian Piedmont — the same region that has supplied Europe's great tailoring houses for over a century. Construction is carried out in Spain, by hand, in intentionally limited production runs. Each coat takes between twenty and thirty hours of needlework on the fabric — a time that cannot be bought, only invested.
Discover our double-face coats
We are preparing new pieces in this fabric. In the meantime, you can explore our current collection. View collection