The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

You are here: Home / Forum / Clothing Thread location please

Clothing Thread location please

by 95 Comments

On a thread this year – possibly only since March, there was a discussion which involved several quality mens jacket/shirt/trouser suppliers.

The thread itself, was not about clothing originally but I think people like @pencilsqueezer joined to post clothing suppliers they went back to.

Of course I meant to note down the companies involved at the time and now cannot find the thread. Could someone who perhaps posted – definitely painter style jackets were involved – point me to it and I’ll definitely note down this time.

0

Comments

  2. I can give you a short list.
    Service Works.
    Urban Industry.
    Jeanstore.
    Uskees.
    Percival.
    Vectra.

    You’d better get a move on as I think the summer sales are nearing an end. I’ve been taking full advantage needless to say.

    • Hmm … I’ve never heard of Vectra.
      Do you mean the French workwear brand Vetra?
      That’s a terrific brand: I’ve got a Vetra jacket, and I like it a lot.

      On the other hand, I suppose there could be a brand called Vectra as well…

      • Yes I meant Vetra. This is what happens when one is posting in a rush as you try not to miss a bus! I used to pick up used Vetra jackets in the Paris flea market for next to nothing back in the 70s. So there current pricing for new is a bit of a shock. Great jackets though and I guess as is always one pays a premium for quality and authenticity.

        • My sister in law spends a lot on shoes and her view is if you spend £250 on a pair of shoes and wear them a lot and love them it’s much better than a cheap pair you don’t like and don’t wear. I think that’s pretty sound.

          • Better constructed shoes cost more but are repairable. I have a pair of Loake shoes that needed soles and heels. £100 or so got them fully rebuilt apart from the uppers and they look like new. They were 12 years old so it works out at about £10 a year. Bargain.

            • I agree. My father always maintained that one should never buy cheap coats or cheap footwear. Sadly I have expensive tastes so that philosophy extends to everything. I have nobody to leave anything to, no wife, no children and the sands of time are running out so I unapologetically spend my money on the things I want while I can still enjoy them. My bills are paid, I’m carrying zero debt so bugger it why not?

                • My Dad, a proper Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, always used shoes as an example of the inequalities of the world. “A poor man spends a pound on a pair of shoes and if he is lucky they last a year. A rich man pays five pounds on a pair of shoes and he is still wearing them twenty years later “

                  • Famously adopted by Terry Pratchett as Sam Vime’s Theory of Sociology-Economic Unfairness.

                    The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

                    Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

                    But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

                    Men at Arms

  4. As some might remember, I sell vintage clothing as my semi-retirement hustle, and these jackets continue to be one of my biggest sellers. They look fab, are very versatile, and can be paired with almost anything. Some people actually prefer them to have the odd paint or oil splash on them, which I guess shows their authenticity! Of the new ones though (if that’s what you prefer) those made by Service Works and Universal Works are terrific. But a really good one really shouldn’t be breaking the bank.

    • I’ve got several from various manufacturers including a couple from Service Works, I dig their chef’s pants too, baggy as hell and damn comfortable. I like Uskees overshirts, great colours and they offer lifetime repairs on their garments which is a nice touch, the fit is good too if you order correctly. I go on pit to pit. I’m done with clothes shopping for a couple of months now so I can concentrate on the latest rabbithole I’ve fallen down…watches.

            • Well @fitterstoke last month I bought a Hamilton Khaki Field Power Reserve black face and I’ve got my eye on a Seiko dive watch for around a grand along with a chronograph from Studio UnderdOg. I’m also thinking of buying a Phantom by Abinger but that won’t be available until next year or a diver from Unimatic mainly because I really dig their industrial almost brutalist aesthetic.

                • Probably. I like quirky micro brands. I’m a bit bored with all the Rolex Submariner homages and I don’t really have much need of a dress watch but I’d love a Nomos Glashütte Tetra. I dig minimalist watches or tool watches mostly.

                • Abinger are a British micro brand and Unimatic are an Italian micro brand. Both make really good GADA watches in my opinion. Aesthetically right in my wheelhouse.
                  We can discuss NATO straps too if you want. I’ve got a couple more of those on order from Watch Gekko…

                  • The watch I am wearing right now has a NATO strap. A self winding Seiko with a clear back so you can see the mechanism. It loses a few minutes a day so has to be slightly adjusted every morning but I don’t mind that. I like its old fashionedness.

                    • This is entirely the correct attitude. I like stuff that requires slight adjustments, watches, wedding tackle, my neighbours stupid politics, badly hung paintings…

                    • Adjusting/fiddling with a mechanical watch is part of the appeal. I understand that the overwhelming majority have no interest in what can be fully appreciated as a ball ache of setting a watch every once in a while.

                      I was fussed about accuracy initially now I don’t really care. As long as it gets you to the station in time for your train it doesn’t need to be an atomic clock. It just needs to be an interesting and aesthetically pleasing machine.

                  • My favourite UK microbrand is anOrdain, from Glasgow.
                    My two favourite watches of theirs are:
                    – the Model 1 Fumé with the enamel dial in plum
                    – the Model 2 Porcelain
                    Both beautiful pieces.
                    Naturally, I’ll never be able to afford either of them, but it doesn’t hurt to check out the website …

                    https://anordain.com/collections

                • The undercover finance bro section of the Afterword is finally outed!

                  Though full disclosure:
                  Garmin 45 – the most basic sportswatch imaginable, but the sub-2 hr marathon guy was wearing its slightly more modern cousin, the 55, when he broke the record. So good enough for parkrun.

                  Mondaine swiss railway watch – travelling watch. Love it but replaceable.

                  My grandfather’s Omega manual – 100% heirloom, lovingly restored by Omega (see threads passim). Worn when I know I’m not taking it off and will end the night at home.
                  That is really enough watches.

                  • I’ve got a Mondaine, the classic white face Swiss railway. It’s a great daily beater. Keeps good time too. I’ve only had to hack it twice and then it was just a couple of seconds out. Great face, simple as all hell and legible across a room.

                    • When it comes to watches, less is more. I’ve hit an extremely plain Sekonda which I like because it’s so easy to, erm, tell the time on. Or something.

              • Squeezer, if you ever visit the Studio Underdog HQ and showroom then drop me a line. It’s about 20 minutes walk from me. Fun Fact: the very same address was vacated by another Watch brand, Christopher Ward last year.

                Speaking of the latter, I have one of their C65 Super Compressors. A beautiful sun Ray blue dial and a white internal bezel.

                A Seiko SKX 009, several other less glamorous but defiantly automatic Seiko’s, a handful of Swatch chronographs bought for me by my beloved wife, and a swathe of g-shocks. A Seiko Flightmaster chronograph and several Omegas, some of which were given to me by now late brother who passed in May. I tend to wear his/my Speedmaster almost exclusively at the moment.

                Though there is always room for another mechanical watch. Currently looking at a Wolbrook Skindiver. Wolbrook being a French brand that was killed off by quartz in the late ‘70s but has now been revived by a tranche of French watchmakers. Their military spec watches look magnificent.

                • Sorry about your bro. I was looking at some Omega only today. The ‘Speedy’ is iconic. Out of my price range but it costs nowt to look. I like Christopher Ward but I haven’t seen one yet that says “buy me”. I know of Wolbrook but I haven’t had a deep dive into them yet. I’m not sure what I’ll end up with next tbh. I think it will be either a Seiko or a micro brand oddity.

                  • Omega and other mid tier luxury brands have been royally taking the piss on pricing, certainly since the covid lockdowns and online sales went skyward.

                    I could never afford brand new. My brother bought the Speedmaster about 25 years ago. Still an expensive watch but attainable for average blokes like me and him. It’s due another service.

                  • My post on watches back up there comes across a bit snarky, as if I was disparaging those who love their watches. It wasn’t meant to be like that, soz. I just like plain watches!

                    • No it didn’t. You were expressing a perfectly valid opinion. It so happens that it’s one I agree with hence my affection for tool watches, especially field and pilot watches.

                    • Yes, they’re allied to another French brand, HPG, which build monnin case mil spec dive watches. I say build, they use Citizen Myota movements so they’re put together and regulated in France rather than crafted by hand for weeks on end. Reflected in the prices so they’re very affordable,

  6. It always surprises me when people say they don’t particularly care about what they wear. Clothes are your primary method of presenting yourself to the world, often the first thing that people notice about you and consciously or unconsciously judge you on; look at how many writers introduce a character with a description of their outfit.

    You can choose to be flamboyant, or you can opt to be anonymous, there’s no foolproof way to present yourself, but in the act of getting dressed each day you are making a statement. You can plough the same theme for years – Paul Weller – or you can reinvent yourself constantly – David Bowie – but it *matters*. And if you wear the same outfit for decades on end, you’re doing it wrong. In my 20s I basically cavorted around like I was on Carnaby Street in 1965. I don’t do that now because I’m fatter and balder, and while I still have a few mod-friendly items in my wardrobe, I’m now more mindful of body shape, and plain dignity, and what works for me, rather than what I’d like to be.

    I think I’ve just written a manifesto…

    • I couldn’t agree more. I probably spend far too much time considering these things but I enjoy it and for me it has become a matter of self-respect and pride. I’m seventy and after my mobility hassles where a sedentary life had caused me to put on a few pounds I’ve got myself into pretty good shape for a seventy year old bloke so I’ve taken the attitude of there being life in the old dog yet. I’m not going out with a whimper. I’m gonna rage and for that I need to look my best.

    • Absolutely this. Weller is an interesting case in point isn’t he? I think a lot of 55-65 age males view him as a style icon but in fact he has subtly adapted over the years and now looks nothing like he did in, say, 1980, whereas a lot of these blokes keep wearing the Fred Perry polo etc like they always have done. Weller has always maintained a very slim frame (the bastard) so it’s not always a flattering look for the, ahem, more mature male figure! And don’t get me started on the Weller hair copyists, or “Wellends” as we ought to call them…

    • I would agree, but a visit to any British high street suggests that most Brits really don’t care what they wear or what they look like. Beyond these shores, pre-Covid, I regularly attended high-level European gatherings of all sorts of highly-paid senior executives, politicians, academics and so on. While they wore conventional suits / shirts / ties for most of the time, when it came to the informal events (usually on a Saturday morning), the vast majority looked as if they’d been dressed by their mothers! Shocking knitwear, tragic trainers and ill-fitting chinos. By contrast, the female attendees were dressed to the nines throughout.

  7. I’ve always liked clothes and have been acutely conscious of what message they appear to send about me to other people, so have chosen with care. I always used to wear a suit and silk tie at work even though it wasn’t compulsory. Trouble is, I’ve never had the cash to dress as casually and stylishly as I’ve wanted to, and have often worried about looking like a prat. There are some brands I shall explore further amongst those mentioned upthread, some I was already familiar with.

    Online is my favourite way of clothes shopping. I don’t use High Street retailers much, but I do like Seasalt even though I’ve seen their clothes described as middle class garments for people who like to be seen walking their dogs along the beach. I’m a sucker for corduroy *(style police alert) and they do a nice line in cord shirts and smock tops, and some nice heavyweight jumpers. Since retiring I’ve indulged my clothing allowance to the limit, and have cupboards stuffed with shirts, jackets and other stuff I’ll probably never wear.

    • Go for it. I’ve always worn what I like. I’ve never given a damn what others think of my clothes, I wear what gives me pleasure, although my background as an artist maybe has given me a little grace to express myself and my little eccentricities. I’ve never wanted to look like anybody but myself. In fact the thought of blending into the background makes me shudder.

    • Mrs Moles is a big fan of Seasalt, has more of their stuff than probably any other brand.

      A friend of ours who was a Deputy Primary School Head once said, when talking about the annual Christmas present round from children (ie parents) ‘If I can’t eat it, drink it or put it in the bath I don’t want it’

      I think what she was saying was that things she could use and ultimately use up, rather than objects that sat there forever, was what she wanted.

      As I get older the things that sit there forever just get a bit more difficult to contemplate. Whereas clothes are absolutely there to be used and ultimately used up – though they are also the most prone to purchase and hoarding. I’m about at the T-shirt limit where I probably wear each one I have about 3/4 times a year, and like CDs need to implement a ‘one in one out’ policy whereby one is downgraded to sleepwear if a new one is bought.

      The changing climate is definitely impacting clothing – the short-sleeved shirt, canvas shoes (Superga, never Converse anymore) and shorts are a much bigger part of my wardrobe than five years ago. I can remember summers where outside of the summer holiday shorts barely got a wearing. This summer barely out of them.

      Yes, absolutely, clothes have meaning. To our friends, to the postie, to work colleagues they are the ultimate social signifier, endlessly layered in codes and meaning, from ‘never brown in town’ to the all-black Northface ensemble they express us individually and in society.

  8. I’ve never taken much interest in clothes and I’ve always worked jobs that were either grubby or that damaged clothing. Now I’m more or less retired, I’m banned from wearing black, unless I’m going on one of my infrequent jobs for someone else and I’ve bought some new clobber in different colours. Still mainly jeans and t shirts though and why is it that I always find myself between two sizes? Tops too tight or baggy, jeans sliding down constantly. I may have to invest in braces.

    For those in the South East, there’s a better than average outlet at Ashford, Kent.
    https://www.mcarthurglen.com/en/outlets/uk/designer-outlet-ashford/stores/#u

Leave a Reply