My love of tweed is obvious to anyone who has browsed this blog. Brook Taverner use this fabric for a wide range of coats, jackets, waistcoats, luggage and a rather nice suit (we should all wear more tweed suits, and turn down the heating if necessary). Colours and patterns range from plain to checks which blend all the beautiful outdoor colours that we expect of tweed.
I would wear the tweed jackets with jeans, but a wide choice of trousers - cords, cotton and wool mix - are also on offer. Brogues and other footwear from Northamptonshire manufacturers have been carefully selected to match the other garments.
The cuts look fairly classic, so you won't find any Topman-style extremes of style here. Here are some of the items I would select. See their website for more. At present everything (except sale items) is 50% off.
Cordings and Pakeman Catto and Carter both do great traditional tweeds, although I fing the Cordings cut a bit boxy for me. Aubin and Wills have some lovely blazers at the mo, all from UK mills, in a more contemporary cut without being topshoppy. Am also very impressed with the tweed fabric from Timothy Foxx. For ultra soft herringbones have a look at Toast and Jigsaw, both are mostly known for womenswear but have great under the radar men's lines. And for a two button herringbone, I saw a lovely blazer in the window of T Burrows, a fab little men's shop round the back of Selfridges. I am on the search for a new tweed jacket you see!
ReplyDeleteSorry that should be find not fing above, for some reason I can't edit very easily on my iPad.
Thanks Robin, excellent and helpful information. I hope I'll be able to follow up a few of the leads you mention. In looking around for my Made and Designed in Britain month I'm coming to the conclusion that GB menswear is far from dead - and we do the classic stuff very well. GF.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, if anything there is a real renaissance underway at the moment. And that's not to forget (which I did) Barbour, especially their Japanese collaboration called Beacon Heritage or Tokito, Hackett and Ted Baker (see the new Tight Lines collection tho' sadly little evidence of UK provenance). Then you've got the Fox Flannels revival under the stewardship of the grumpy woman from dragons den (that's a Harry Enfield description not mine), the Northampton shoe makers (even Doc Martens make some of their shoes there again), leather goods from Danes and Hatherway, loads of authentic knitwear about at the moment too...plenty to keep you going. Is a month long enough we wonder?
ReplyDeleteThanks again, Robin. No, I've already decided that a month isn't long enough to show the best of British. It's going to be a regular theme of the blog in future. However, I don't want to alienate the majority of my readers from across the Pond, so will explore UK products in bite-size chunks thereafter - and it would be a shame to overlook all the good stuff from USA, Italy etc etc.. GF.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteThere is certainly a revival in interest of all things British, I am just coming to the end of a 6 week business trip to South Korea and Japan and in this part of Asia the traditional British influence is everywhere. Tweed manufactured by Moon is being promoted as if they are a brand on a level with Burberry, I have never known a manufacturer of cloth be advertised in such a way. British manufactured clothing and materials are everywhere in the shops and I have seen brands that I am unaware of in the UK, or only trade in the Asian market. Two companies I have seen which I understand are available in the UK are knitwear by Inverallan and Northsea Clothing Co, whilst to my knowledge Mackintosh Philosophy (part of the Mackintosh Group) and Griffin Hartland are manufactured purely for the Japanese market.
Other influences are the return to more formal clothing with tailoring becoming big, suiting, ties, gloves (Dents) and hats (by Lock & Co) are everywhere, not all British brands obviously, but with a strong British influence. The big European and American brands who are not copying this style are starting to dated and the skinny jeans tucked into high tops look were starting to look particularly out of step. Again this is just fashion, and in a few years they will have moved on to something else, but long may it last.
Enjoy your blog, keep it up
Regards
Phil
Many thanks Phil, I was aware that many of our most interesting designers and retailers (S.E.H. Kelly, Nigel Cabourn) sell well in countries like Japan, where classic British style and quality, coupled maybe with an Olympics Opening Ceremony style quirkiness, goes down very well.
DeleteHere in the UK, I get the feeling that brands like Cabourn aren't as recognised as they should be, and they probably won't be until we Brits become a little more adventurous in exploring our so rich sartorial heritage. GF.
You're giving me even more work to do here and I'm determined to continue this British-made theme. GF.
Hi Dave,
Deletethe reason that Cabourn isn't as recognised as it/he should be are really quite simple; you can't see them in the shops! To look at any of that sort of stuff you have to be really dedicated to tracking the item down and ideally live in London. The sort of shops that do stock the items are not exactly aiming at Grey Foxes either! The fact that many Cabourn garments are made in limited editions does not help which leaves mail order as the only option but I really do like to try clothes on not just for basic sizing but for the fit and quality of the item.
One other important issue is the price of the clothes. When faced with an off the peg lovely JL tweed jacket for say £250 or trying to track down an elusive Cabourn creation for three times the price, I know what I will invariably do (and just did).
There is one other elephant in the room and that is that after looking at Cabourn for a year or two many of his items I would class as more fashion than style orientated. He is certainly reinventing some classic British designs but do you really want to go out dressed in oilskins or parkers that time forgot? That Tenzing jacket you have is stunning but I think it is just about the only item I have seen by him that I might actually wear as it is classic and stylish and practical. Most of the other stuff is impractical (the true hallmark of fashion?) and of very limited appeal. Ah, now I see why it isn't readily available in the high street.
Regards
Gruntfuttock