Material

A grand tour of British heritage menswear and makes

Trends do exist. Among those is the center stage positioning of British heritage menswear and manufacture in the last 18 months or so. Last year I wrote an entry on UK heritage menswear and designing an English sartorial vacation. Likewise, the observant folks at Esquire felt it was time to put the spotlight back on […]

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Kilgour update: Luxe Savile Row and rethinking cottons

As you may have heard, the classic Savile Row tailoring house Kilgour was recently acquired by new owners and new management often brings changes. One of them is a deliberate effort to go even more upscale in their bespoke and RTW offering. This has meant a couple of things. One is that Kilgour’s off-the-rack or

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Designing fabrics: A mill to consumer direct model?

Cloth mills rarely, if ever, work directly with individual consumers. They typically work with distributors or large customers. Less frequently, individual tailors may commission special designs and weaves just for their shop. The cloth is probably produced in a length of 20-30 meters and will likely go to several of the tailor’s customers for their

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William Halstead: Traditional English mohairs

When I was in Los Angeles recently, I also spent some time with a knowledgeable contact in the cloth trade and learned about a couple of fantastic new books by William Halstead, a weaver and mill based in Bradford, Yorkshire. Operating since 1875, they are perhaps most well-known for their classic English mohairs. Mohairs are

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Freddy Vandecasteele: The cool, unsung virtues of voile

I spent a few days in Los Angeles recently, which was well-timed given the recent heat wave on the East Coast and much of the eastern US. My intent was to visit my shirtmaker Freddy Vandecasteele and order a few more cool, lightweight summer casual shirts. In particular, my purpose was to look at his

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