Trunk Clothiers: Catch up

We last covered Mats Klingberg and Trunk Clothiers in September 2010. Back then it was a new store and a new concept for London – classic casual clothing from the best brands that Italy, Japan, Sweden and a few others had to offer. Largely not stocked anywhere else in the UK.

Six months on, things are going well. Business is good, there are Trunk-branded sweaters and holdalls (some now retailing elsewhere), and Mats has more brands pitching at him than he can handle.

Indeed, it now seems odd that the model didn’t already exist. Britain’s department stores are so dominated by fashion brands and sportswear that there are few places for small, craft-driven companies to sell to a discerning public. And there are so many great small companies in Europe, Japan and the US to pick from.

Some brands have proved so popular that there is a waiting list system – for Incotex trousers, for example. Nearly all 32 and 34 inch models have sold out and the man who walked away disappointed while I was in the store was apparently only one of many. Let’s hope that these brands don’t just use Trunk as a stepping stone to a wider market in the UK – Incotex is already being sold on the new Mr Porter site.

In the end, though, Trunk is about discovery, and its strength over the past six months has been the ability to shift between brands and bring in yet more gems that men in the UK have previously been deprived of.

Avon Celli, for example, a brand of knitwear that was apparently favoured by Picasso and is still traditionally made (Trunk is stocking polo-necked sweaters in cotton for Spring/Summer). Or ts(s), a brand designed by Takuji Suzuki, the brother of Daiki Suzuki and who used to design for Woolrich Woolen Mills until they changed recently (he also designs Engineered Garments). ts(s) will be replacing Woolrich from Autumn/Winter this year – another way in which Trunk is evolving. Tomorrowland has also been added, with a range of striped sweaters.

My favourites are Boglioli’s jackets and Trunk’s own sweaters. Boglioli does simple, unstructured jackets with an eye for great tailoring – though perhaps a little short for those with a taste for traditional bespoke. The Soho, a navy blazer in jersey picquet cotton, has already sold out and is being replaced; a favourite of mine from Autumn/Winter (and now on sale) is the Wight, a jersey grey herringbone; and new for Spring/Summer is the Coat, in a khaki cotton canvas. Something for every taste.

As for Trunk’s sweaters, they are made by John Laing of Scotland. Simple crew and V-neck cashmere models, in navy, grey and natural biscuit. It’s amazing how hard it is in London to find sweaters that fit slim and aren’t made by a fashion brand. Traditional manufacturers nearly always make their sweaters too square; fashion brands add on needless details and are hideously overpriced. Trunk’s sweaters, designed by Mats himself, fit right in between.

The Avon Celli sweaters can be seen in the pictures here, while the window shot shows the Boglioli Coat on a model’s shoulder.

What the bathroom is for

Using the bathroom (toilet, WC, pick your euphemism) in an old gentleman’s club is an absolute pleasure. Rows of sparking sinks, toiletries laid out and every sort of brush imaginable – for hair, shoes and clothes. Having made use of all the conveniences, you walk out feeling pampered even though these are all things you have in your own home.

There is a lesson here. Just because a modern bathroom doesn’t have any of these facilities doesn’t mean you can’t use it to refresh and primp yourself. It is what the bathroom is for.

Few things make dress look more affected than a man playing with his pocket handkerchief. It punctures the impression of nonchalance. Elegance requires an ease about one’s clothing that is undermined by consciously arranging it. So do it in the bathroom.

After you have relieved yourself, take the time to wash your hands in warm water, dry your hands thoroughly, and make use of any scents or moisturisers. Then make sure your handkerchief is sitting properly – the key is that it is touching the bottom of the pocket so it will not fall down inside. Pay the same attention to your tie – often a little tightening of the rear blade (holding the knot horizontally) is helpful. Check, if you feel inclined, the laces on your shoes. And walk out into the restaurant/club/living room feeling refreshed and self-assured.

As Patrick McDonald said, we are all blank canvases when we get up in the morning, and we paint ourselves. There is great pleasure in taking time when you get dressed in the morning. There is also pleasure in taking time in the bathroom. It is how one achieves the simple, satisfying neatness that is the essence of elegance.

Picture: Murdock Barbers, Liberty

J Panther: Dedication to detail

A few weeks ago a happy coincidence meant that I was able to meet Johnny Diamandis from J Panther Luggage. Although it is a US brand, based in New York, Johnny is English and was swinging through London on a visa run. The same thing happened with Mes Chaussettes Rouges, who emailed me while I was in Paris. Funny how these things happen.

Meeting Johnny meant I was able to see a few of the J Panther products, which is a bonus. Several companies that make great leather luggage in the US have come to my attention (I would also mention Lotuff & Clegg, who appear to do very nice work), but without the opportunity to see the product myself, I couldn’t recommend it.

Particularly with leather bags, you need to feel the leather (the tanning process is only the first step) and the hardware, as well as pick up on the little construction details that really make a brand stand out.

For example, the J Panther aviator – a versatile little bag named after the part-time pilot who makes it – has a lovely detail on the leather rings that support the straps. Given the amount of stress these little strips come under, they will always be the first place to fray and eventually give way. To avoid this problem, Johnny had them reinforced on the inside. Few people would ever notice, and certainly wouldn’t realise that other people don’t make luggage this way, but it means the bag will last years longer.

Although the aviator is nice, my biggest recommendation would be the ruc tote (above). Johnny was carrying one that he had used for a couple of years and it had worn wonderfully. The luggage-grade, 21-ounce canvas has a way of ageing that is almost comparable with leather, particularly given the light way it is waxed. And I liked the simple genius of the straps, which shift from shoulder carrying to backpack just by slipping through their leather loops. The aviator is similar – it can be carried in at least three different ways, as there are three (reinforced) leather rings as well as a wrist strap.

The attention to detail is obvious from the diagrams on the J Panther site – one reproduced above. These are not Esquire-type diagrams where the arrow is just a means to tell you that this overcoat is a classic design. The arrows here demonstrate the ways in which Johnny and his team have tried to make the pieces more practical and versatile at every turn. The tote took two years and nine prototypes to get right. I recommend checking out the ‘process’ part of the site for good images on the traditional dying at Horween and the Singer-sewn construction.

The ruc tote and aviator (in leather) are both $590.

Altan shoes: primary colour

Altan is a small bespoke and ready-to-wear shoemaker in Paris, with three locations across the city. Old Mr Altan, the father of the boys currently running the business, trained with Berluti and Lobb. He still does bespoke, and makes some lovely models – some of which you can see below.

But the ready to wear is possibly more interesting. For around €350 you select one of 25 designs of shoe, find the right fitting by trying on a version made of white leather, and then choose how you want the shoe coloured. This can lead to some rather extreme choices, as you can see in the pictures at the top. But it can also produce subtle, personal patinas (below). 

Starting from white makes a greater range of colours possible. Shoemakers like Berluti can create very personal patinas, but they all start from a base of black, brown or tan, so bright colours are difficult.

Altan’s style is quite slim and pointy, though there are rounder-toed models. As Mr Altan told me, “we’re about halfway between the English and the Italian”.

Bespoke starts at €2500, with knee-high boots only €3000. Interestingly, Altan also makes bespoke women’s shoes, which in some ways is a harder discipline given the amount of leather involved and the pressure created by a high heel. [Also pictured below - bespoke boots in elephant skin.]

Tweed jacket from Cifonelli

As you might have sensed in a recent post on Parisian tailors Cifonelli, I was rather taken with Lorenzo's stylistic details. That led to a commission for a Harris tweed jacket including his slash pockets, five-button front up to the throat, suede undercollar, suede reverse to the cuffs and suede tab on the breast pocket.

Tan/green tweed with some nice flecks of colour. One fitting in Paris using an old piece of flannel, a basted fitting here in London and then finished for delivery in a couple of weeks. With the option of a few tweaks later in the Spring when Lorenzo is in London again. Pretty speedy.

Hemingway Tailors, dates in North America

There was quite a lot of interest among Permanent Style readers last time Toby Luper was touring North America, so here are his dates for the next trip. Toby will be with shirtmakers Harvie & Hudson and shoemakers Alfred Sargent in the US, but in Canada on his own.

3rd to 5th March 2011 – New York (Intercontinental Barclay)

7th to 8th March 2011 – Washington DC (The University Club of Washington)

10th March 2011 – Chicago (The Mid America Club)

11th March 2011 – Chicago (The Fairmont Chicago, until 3.00pm)

12th to 15th March 2011 (until mid afternoon) – Montreal (Omni Mont Royal)

A couple of delectations from Cleverley

Some lovely new styles here from Cleverley - a midnight blue bespoke model, featuring burgundy laces and a burgundy layer of leather underneath the upper, so you can see the colour through the perforations. The lining is in burgundy too.

And secondly, a new ready-to-wear design, a lace-up which also features an elastic leather-covered gusset on one side. A design by George Glasgow junior, it proved very popular on the recent trunk trip through Asia.

Brooks benchmade saddles

Brooks leather saddles are next in our cycling series. Unsurprisingly, the construction has much in common with benchmade shoes. Old, iron machines, worked by hand and crucial details finished by hand at every point.

The leather saddle is pressed by machine, with the edges worked up by hand around the edges rather like a lasting machine. The copper rivets – used on the more expensive Brooks models – are hammered to the shape of the saddle by hand. The copper rivets have bigger heads, reducing the chance of the leather being exposed as it pulls away from the rivet. But a bigger head has to be rounded to the seat, in order to remain comfortable.

Another aspect done by hand is the chamfering, similar to skiving, where the edge of the saddle is thinned off. Like the hammering, it’s delicate work that can easily ruin a saddle. You can see the production process on a couple of YouTube videos Brooks have made, the first part of which is here.

If you’ve been to Northampton, you’ll instantly see a similarity with the shoemaking factories. Brooks’s springs are made by two machines – one German, from 1954, for the left spring, and one British, from 1949, for the right. Not bad, as heritage goes.

The leather is from a mature cow, rather than calf, and mostly from the butt of the hide. Racing saddles, which use less leather, are cut from nearer the butt as the skin tends to be harder. Upright saddles are cut closer to the middle of the back.

Leather is much harder than foam or gel. When you first sit on a Brooks saddle it feels hard. But that gel is only a thin layer sitting on top of a solid plastic base. A leather saddle, by contrast, has no base at all – it is simply skin suspended within a metal frame. Almost like a leather hammock. So not only will the seat mold to your bum over time, it will soften and allow you to bounce on the leather.

As you’d expect, leather needs feeding and rewards wax-based attention. This is particularly true of the Brooks saddles – it certainly makes a more difference to your comfort than on the upper of a shoe.

A leather saddle will always sacrifice something in weight compared to other racing saddles, but it can actually be lighter than the casual, gel-based versions.

As you can see from the comments on the Brooks website, it has been criticised for making its leather bags in China. The company professes that it can't find anyone in the UK that can make them to its standards, and has tried several manufacturers. Apparently that may finally be in the process of being solved, with new canvas bags and the D-shape saddle bag (my personal favourite) coming back to production in the UK.

And while we’re talking about Brooks, check out the cycling jacket being made for them with Timothy Everest, here. Pretty stylish and made with ventile (silent, cotton-based waterproof, mentioned here previously in an Albam post).

My red socks

Jacques Tiberghien and Vincent Metzger discovered the small house of Gammarelli in Rome several years ago. Although only a small workshop, it makes all the outfits, from robes to mitres, for the pope, cardinals and bishops of Rome.

Jacques and Vincent were particularly taken with the red socks – worn, of course, by the cardinals. They bought 100 pairs, thinking several friends would like them too, sold the lot and went back to Gammarelli asking for more.

Although the tailoring house was understandably suspicious, it eventually agreed to let the young Frenchmen sell Gammarelli socks online exclusively. It was so successful that they became the worldwide agents and added bishop purple and priest black to the selection. The Pope, of course, wears white socks with his robe. There isn’t much demand for white, but if you want white then the boys can get them.

A more recent addition to the stock is Mazarin socks, initially green but now in a range of colours. The link to catholic hierarchy is that green Mazarin socks are worn by members of the Academie Francaise, the body that oversees the French language. Academicians wear a black tailcoat (made by old Parisian tailor Stark & Sons) with green olives embroidered on it. The socks match the olives.

Mes Chaussettes Rouges come in some nice packaging – a handwritten note to the customer, a picture of the catholic fathers and academicians sharing a joke, and a little woven sock bag, all in a thick envelope with the customer addressed as ‘L’eminent’. (There is an ascending scale of titles, depending on the number of socks ordered. You are eminent if you order up to 10.)

Oh, and all the socks are over the calf, made with mercerised Egyptian or Sea Island cotton, on the small traditional looms in Rome, with a hand-linked toe.

A rather blurry MTBA dinner

Well, there aren't any pictures available from last night's MTBA annual dinner. Or at least none I could convince anyone to hand over. But readers would have been more impressed at the standard of dress than at the summer ball, I think. Edward Sexton's tailoring on himself, his apprentice and Anda Rowland was exquisite. John Kent was wearing some particularly natty tartan trousers in a cloth gifted to him by the Duke of Edinburgh. And the senior cutters were uniformly well, if conservatively, turned out in single-breasted black tie and waistcoats - Patrick Murphy and John Hitchcock amongst them. Angus Cundey did a great job at stepping in as chairman at the last minute. Get well soon Cameron.

A pair of Cleverley bespoke shoes were auctioned off for £2500, all going to charity, after a bidding war between the cloth merchants (sorry Douglas) and guest speaker Sir Tim Rice was impressive at weaving tailoring allusions into his Australia, cricket and Lloyd Webber-related gags. And I swear that was Brix Smith-Start from Gok Wan's Fashion Fix in the corner. Which was nice to see, given the amount she's done to highlight British craft through factory visits in that series.

Summer is here again

 

It must be summer. The Drake's spring/summer collection has launched, and I already want the complete set of 'lawn' handkerchiefs. If only the weather outside were suitable...

The very conservative Sir Tom Baker

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Tom Baker makes rock ‘n’ roll suits. After all, that’s what he’s known for, that’s what he is pictured wearing and that’s what you see if you look through his window on D’Arblay Street, Soho.

But about 70% of the bespoke is business suits. Blues and greys, worn by financiers, oil traders and the like. “Men like going to somewhere that isn’t the traditional Savile Row, somewhere with perhaps a hint of danger,” he tells me.

They also like to incorporate some of the innovative details Tom includes on his ready-to-wear suits (though RTW is only about 20% of business). These include collars with a point at the back, as shown in the baste pictured, asymmetric outbreast pockets and fancy linings. For the next step up in adventure there’s turn-back cuffs, covered buttons and asymmetric hip pockets.

While I was there Tom fitted an oil trader who came in on the recommendation of two friends. Both had their business suits made by Tom, though they had each also had more daring jackets made – one a tailcoat for his wedding and the other a black velvet jacket.

Rock ‘n’ roll is a great selling point, but it’s not what people are buying.

Tom trained at Hardy Amies, as a tailor, but today he does mostly fitting and styling, only getting involved in the cutting or tailoring when particularly unusual cuts need to be monitored to get the shape right. Having had upstairs premises on Berwick Street since 1996, he moved into this ground floor shop three years ago, which has helped with passing trade. And there’s room for two workshops downstairs, with other premises still on Berwick Street. Bespoke starts at £2200 and RTW at £650.

While most at Tom Baker is not to my taste, I can certainly see the appeal to men in their thirties looking for a different approach to bespoke. And if I was researching original details to add to a cocktail suit, I’d go and pick his brain.

Handmade belts: Equus Leather

I’ve been sent photographs of my things being made before, but never a video. This is a step up.

In case you can’t tell, it’s a bridle leather belt, being made to measure for me by Charlie Trevor of Equus Leather. Charlie kindly offered a few weeks ago to make me a belt to try out the service.

Stitching belts is pretty much the same as stitching the welts of shoes or the apron of a split-toe. You use an awl to punch a hole and two pieces of linen thread are pulled through in opposite directions. Repeat with each punched hole, so the threads lock around each other all the way along. Easier with a belt, as it is straight – and faster.

Charlie was trained in saddlery, hence the use of bridle leather. As I’ve written about in a previous post on Bill Amberg, bridle leather is cut thicker and contains more oils, making it hard wearing and water resistant. It is also treated to work well against the skin, as it is used as such in horse harnesses.

That’s one reason most of the Equus belts can be single pieces of bridle leather, hand stitched in the same way as the Lined and Raised model you see here, but only around the buckle end where the leather is folded over and stitched together.

The Lined and Raised comprises three pieces of leather – a front, a back and a lining. The front and back are stitched together around the lining, requiring over 1000 stitches. Hence the difference in price: £150 rather than £35. The sandwiching of the leather lining between the two outer pieces is what gives the belt its ‘raised’ look along the centre.

Cheap belts are usually made with very thin pieces of leather on the outside (often corrected grain, so sprayed in plastic, if they’re very cheap) and a lining of board or a leather substitute to give them bulk.

Good dress belts are often made with two pieces of calf leather, and no lining. These are much softer, smarter and more flexible than bridle leather. I have a beautiful example from Hermès. But they will never last as long as bridle leather, which should last a lifetime and will mould to your hips whilst retaining its curved shape. What it gives up in smartness it gains in robustness – you wouldn’t wear it with a suit, or any worsted, but it goes very well with denim or tweed.

The images here show the belt being cut, from a square hide – created when it has its neck and sides cut off, before being split at the spine to create two ‘butts’ from which the belts can be sliced. The initial slices are done by hand, but then a plough gauge (the white roller in the shot above) is used to get precise widths. And a heated tool is used to mark where the holes will be punched.

The Lined and Raised belt is noticeably stiff when first worn. It is a beautiful object, definitely reminiscent of saddlery; but harder than you’re used to, even uncomfortable. Within the first few days it softened slightly, and Charlie says it will soften a lot more over the first year. Rather like a Brooks saddles, about which more later this week, it is a question of wearing in tough cowhide using nothing but your soft human flesh.

Equus is a small family business based in Northumberland. Charlie used to make a living making bespoke saddlery (and by riding) but the market for it has been destroyed by imports from Asia. So now it’s just belts, Equus being a new venture that was only started a couple of years ago. Good luck to him.

Expansion and melting shoes at Corthay

Pierre Corthay’s little atelier is growing, with a bigger space for ready to wear, an office across the courtyard and a new home for the workshop just across the hall. Add to that the underground caverns that house the lastmaking and last storage, and you have a beautiful little warren of rooms dedicated to all aspects of shoemaking.

Most excitingly for English readers, Corthay shoes will be stocked in Harrod’s from April and a new Corthay store will hopefully open on Mount Street towards the end of the year. The ready to wear has been limited both by volume and geography for too long. I bought a pair of Wilfrids at Leffot three years ago, which I love, but other than those I haven’t laid eyes on a pair of Corthay since. Although Pierre says the growth will be slow and cautious, this expansion is very welcome news.

On visiting the newly decorated store in Paris, I was particularly taken by the display pieces pictured. They are both entirely handsewn, around the drips on one model and bar on the other. Pierre says he broke several needles sewing the latter. It is supposed to be a moment in the creation of a pair of shoes, as one splits into two rather like an amoeba. On the melting shoe, the heel drips are also made with little pieces of heel stack, glued together and then filed into shape.

One day these will be in a museum.

A jacket to ponder in

Sober and still not solemn on Sunday

Esquire, January 1935: "The sobriety of black and white afternoon dress does not necessarily imply the solemnity of the mourner's bench. Relieving touches that keep you from bending over backward with unwonted dignity are afforded, in this case, by the striped blue soft shirt with white cuffs, the blue and white Glen plaid patterned Macclesfield silk tie and the yellow carnation worn in the buttonhole of the lapel.

"This outfit, including the carnation, is typical of what the Prince of Wales has been wearing most frequently during the past London season. (Any time you get tired of our spying on him you have a perfect right to tell us so.)

"The double-breasted jacket has a natural lapel roll to the bottom button. Just to mix you up and remind you of fashion's perversity, the cheviot trousers grow cuffs at the moment when suits for informal business wear are beginning to discard them. Note the wide spread collar."

So many English histories are full of references to the Duke's influence on American fashions. Interesting to hear it in evidence here. I'm struck most, though, by the beautiful calm of the title, which suggests a tranquil pondering on poetry having returned from church. And that sober stillness I associate with the lovely stroller he wears.