Talking Manchester and Menswear | Private White V.C. (A Continuous Lean)
“As far as menswear is concerned, the British invented most of it, the suit, the overcoat, the sports jacket, the button down, the polo the wingtip brogue, the chino, etc. Many styles have been adopted by the rest of the world but as Brits we can be quietly confident with our status.
The global woven cotton trade was also founded in Manchester with Lancashire mills doing the weaving. These mills still weave our wool and cotton, and we make it up. We are the very last factory to operate like this, we are the holy grail. A heritage as powerful as this needs to be treated with respect, it needs to be nurtured, fed and moved into the sun at certain times, I like to embrace heritage, but introduce any useful and relevant technology, I call this “Techno-Retro.”
Collars Just For Tie Wearing (Put This On)
“Medium length points are great for casual and formal settings, so if you don’t wear a tie often, or don’t want an excessively large wardrobe, they’re a great style to stick to. If you do wear ties often, however, or don’t mind spending a bit extra on clothes, try a fuller collar. They can admittedly look a bit too aggressive on first sight, but once you throw on a tailored jacket and put on some neckwear, you’ll notice they can give much more appealing proportions.”
Untrueisms III (A Suitable Wardrobe)
“While it’s true that there are good tanneries in France or Italy, not all leather from a particular place is the same. Nor is it clear whether the originator of the untrueism above means to refer, say, to leather from French tanneries like the Tanneries du Puy or, instead, to the source of the raw material, the “French alpine calf” that a few brands refer to the way that Ricardo Montalban referred to the (meaningless) “rich Corinthian leather” of the 1970s Chrysler Cordoba. But as anyone who’s tried a mediocre Champagne from France, a mediocre shirt from Jermyn Street, or a mediocre Parmesan from Italy knows, origin, especially branded origin, does not determine quality. There are other sources of quality leather besides France and Italy, including certain German sources (IIRC) as well as English tanners like Stead or (a favorite #appallinglyvulgar name) Crack & Sons. The Glaser Designs bag in the photo uses American hides. A salesperson definitely wouldn’t know which tannery produced the leather for an item or what degree of quality leather from that tannery went into the item.”
The Appeal of Japanese Simplicity (Die, Workwear!)
“The key is to not think of nylon as a “cheap” material, or get hung up on price, but rather to think of design as a whole and how often you’ll use the case. Nylon here makes for a wonderful casual fabric. It weighs much less than leather or cotton canvas, which is useful if you have to schlep your belongings for several miles. It’s also more water resistant and keeps to a fairly casual sensibility – great if you, like me, are often trying to make sure you don’t look too formal or stiff. And while I hate to invoke the utterly hackneyed “think of this as cost per use” adage, it’s true that the price is considerably less painful once you find yourself reaching for a Porter bag every day. Plus, these things are just so handsomely designed. They have the same pared down simplicity that make other Japanese products, such as those from Muji and Uniqlo, forever appealing, but are made to a high-quality standard.”
The post Weekly Roundup | Private White V.C., Collars For Ties, Branded Origin appeared first on Bespoke Man.