To relax, some people play golf or some people go sailing; I like to visit factories. Maybe it was all those Mister Rogers “how it’s made” segments I watched as a child. Or it could just be my insatiable curiosity about what goes into things. Provenance and all that sort of good stuff. POST OVERALLS started making its own line of work wear back in 1993, well before anyone ever thought about reproducing authentic American goods like chore coats, dark denim jeans and chambray shirts. Long before people were arguing about dressing blue-collar on the internets. Respect and credit is due to Post for paving the way for all of the work wear brands that are out there today.

Items from the POST O’ALLS autumn / winter 2009 collection.

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With men’s market week going on in NYC, a lot of people are in town and much is happening on the news front. On Tuesday I had a chance to meet up with the gentlemen from Beams+ for cocktails at White Star. Once the Absinthe arrived we quickly got down to talking shop. Seeing as Beams+ is my favorite store on earth, I take their recommendations seriously. One of the things that came up is a new limited edition line from the esteemed UK brand Barbour. The eight piece outerwear collection — designed by Japan’s To Ki To — is a hybrid of classic Barbour from the brand’s archives and modern technical outerwear. I took some time at the Collective trade show to investigate further. After coaxing the Barbour people to show me the line I was blown away by the collection.

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The canvas bags from the Japanese maker Superior Labor seem to consistently rise to the top. This Enginner 2Way tote from Utility Coop is especially nice. How could you argue with a “Product by Handmade Superiority.”

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I like the way the magazines work in Japan. The focus is generally on still-life product pages and not on cluttering up the layout with pesky stories. I had a chance to make it to the bookstore and pick up some new magazines from Japan. Since I am feeling crunchy these days, I really enjoyed the outdoor product pages in GO OUT. A lot of The American List brands are represented throughout the book. Enjoy!

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These Amaort boots would have come in handy yesterday as I attempted to navigate the sloppy, slushy New York night with my friend Johnnie Walker. Amaort is another one of those Japanese companies just doing its thing, turning out great looking boots without a care in the world. I would wear these with jeans or with a nice tweed suit from Freeman’s. As long as they are warm, they could be deployed all winter long.

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My thoughts on the Japanese retail scene have been pretty well documented, but I could resist posting some slightly out-of-reach items from MAPS. The men’s shop is another one of those amazing stores where I would buy most everything within arms reach. The classic styling and attention to detail get me every time. With that being Japan and this not Japan, the only consolation is the internet — at least you can look at all of the cool things you can’t buy. That is, unless you have a friends in good places. So the moral of the story here is, get yourself a friend in japan. Some of my favorite items from MAPS are after the jump.

Engineered Garments green duffel

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As it turned out, I was one of the five people to score a Workers x Reference Library denim apron. When I went to Kiosk today to claim my coveted purchase the girl said to me. “You’re lucky, those sold out so quickly!” Now that is my idea of a Black Friday victory!

Don’t be discouraged, there is still a lot of great stuff up for grabs at Mini #8: Reference Library.

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The August, 2007 issue of Free & Easy includes one of my all time favorite articles from the Japanese publication, a buyers guide for dogs. I can see someone like New York Magazine doing this sort of feature (actually my pal Rosecrans wrote a much more logical piece on the topic in 2007), but not with the endearing absurdity that only Free & Easy can produce. After seeing this issue it became clear to me that the magazine is just a guide-book to living like an American. That was also the same day that Free & Easy — with all its quirkiness — became my all time favorite magazine, after Vitals of course.

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