Last night the gentlemen from Odin and Duckie Brown held a small cocktail party to toast their new collaborative men’s line Edward. The capsule collection, which was on display at the gathering, is a desirable mix of goods that would fit any modern man’s wardrobe. From the fatigue green waxed M-65 jacket to the woven shirts with their micro-collars (as Eddy Chai described them), Edward is firing on all cylinders. And the best part about the modest 17 piece collection is the value for money. Nothing in the Edward range retails for over 500 bucks and all of it is made in America. So tell me, who can’t use a new pea coat for fall, or a nice tweed sport coat? And anything military inspired in waxed canvas just goes without saying. The good news is you won’t have to wait five months to get this stuff, actually you won’t even have to wait until the announced November 1st drop. Our sources tell us the line will be in Odin stores this coming weekend. If you head by look for us, we’ll be in line.

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Impatient shirt lovers rejoice! The good people at Hamilton — America’s oldest family owned shirt maker — today unveiled Hamilton 1883, the Texas concern’s new collection of ready-to-wear men’s wovens. The 1883 range is a casual and comfortable compliment to Hamilton’s custom shirt making operation which has been turning out high quality American made shirts in Houston for over 125 years. While the custom route is always a wonderful journey, the styling and details in the 1883 line are a welcome new addition to the company’s line-up.

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With New York fashion week within arm’s reach, The Observer’s Joe Pompeo reports on the decidedly non trendy trend of Trad. The article gets some great analysis from two very honorable gentlemen, namely John Tinseth from The Trad (which is one of my favorite reads; Tinseth has amazing taste and is a helluva story teller) and David Wilder of J. Press. I have had the pleasure of talking shop over spirits with both gents on several occasions and can say without reservation that few do it better. When I worked with David at Press I would joke that he was sent from central casting. David possesses an insane knowledge about Ivy League style and WASP culture. Many thanks to Joe for including me — this is the kind of style coverage that I love. Read the article here.

J. Press suit and Blackwatch sport coat. Photos by Lee Clower.

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The name GANT is synonymous with East Coast prep. Founded in New Haven, Connecticut in 1949, the company basically perfected the American shirt by making private label for J. Press, Brooks Brothers, the Yale Co-Op and many more. By the 1960’s (one could say the Take Ivy era), GANT was the shirt for students, popularizing the button-down on college campuses all over America. Since then the company has changed hands several times and has had its share of ups and downs, but recently it has been all ups, no downs.

A more recently focused GANT has established a great presence for its casual Rugger line (which the company launched in the 1970’s) everywhere from Scoop to Barneys Co-Op and in the process become one of the great revivals of the American heritage look. For spring / summer 2010 GANT looked to one of its own designers, Mr. Christopher Bastin, to further develop the Rugger range. Bastin (who possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of classic American sportswear) literally combed through the company’s archives (not to mention vintage dealers and eBay) to infuse the collection with historically accurate detailing and fabrication. I stopped by GANT’s offices last week to get a sneak peek at the new offerings, and ultimately found out exactly what I’m going to be wearing next summer.

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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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Carhartt is one of the things on my wish list this holiday season. The Duck Coat is a classic and one of the few items that is still made in the U.S. It requires more effort to make sure you get an American made version, but places like the Wisconsin based Midewest Workwear offer them online as do a few others. Another Carhartt jacket that I like is the very nice looking 3-in-1 Parka in black. The coat adds a technical twist on the more traditional products the company offers and reminds me of the Carhartt European collection. More of my favorite Carhartt pieces after the jump.

Carhartt 3-in-1 breathable parka

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If you have spent any time on Reference Library you know that the guy at the controls, Mr. Andy Beach, knows a thing or two about finding cool stuff. A lot of what makes up RL are treasures found on eBay, often items Andy didn’t win. Starting Friday November, 28th Reference Library will come to life at the progressive SoHo store Kioski for a week long pop-up shop of the good things you would normally only see on the blog. The difference now is that everything will be available to be purchased right then and there. Andy sent a sneak peak at some of the offerings which I have posted below. Be sure to stop by Kiosk to show your support and pick up some goodies.

Dixies (Dixie Cup, Easton, PA) coveralls made by A. Rifkin & Co., Wilkes-Barre, PA

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Kiosk Mini-Exhibition #8: Reference Library

November 28 — December 7 // Opening party on Friday, November 28, 7–10pm

Kiosk
95 Spring St. (btw Broadway and Mercer) Second Floor

Buy It Now: Apparel, Architecture, Art, Bags, Beautiful, Bikes, Blacksmith, Books, Case Goods, Clever, Collections, Custom, Details, Display, eBay, Etc, Fabric, Family, Food, Friends, Furniture, Girls, Graphics, Handmade, High Bidders, Home, Industrial, Interiors, Items I Didn’t Win, Kids, Lettering, Lighting, Made in the USA, Misc, Music, Objects, Paper, People, Playthings, Products, Shopkeeping, Shops, Signs, Small Town, Storefronts, The Quality, Useful.

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Three makes a trend. Isn’t that what people say? Booth Moore has a nice article in the LA Times about the rise in popularity of workwear. This comes on the heels of both The Observer and The New York Times devoting space to the topic. I was excited to see that ACL was included in the article (thanks to Ricky Swallow for spreading the good word) along with two of my favorites Reference Library and Archival Clothing, not to mention many of my most-liked labels. The full article can be seen here.

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Since I have the Canadians distracted with American made goods, I thought it would be a good time to talk about one of my favorite Canadian companies, Mountain Equipment Co-op. The Vancouver based “Canadian Consumers’ Cooperative” was established in 1971 to sell outdoor gear and services to people that want affordable and ethical goods. Five dollars Canadian gets you a share of the company and the right to make purchases as a lifetime member of the co-op. Being a New Yorker, or even as an American, I love to buy MEC for two reasons. First, you won’t see it on every guy on the street and because MEC cares about people, the earth and not just about money. Not to mention that Canadian bad ass and survivalist Les Stroud used to rock MEC full-time on Survivorman.

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A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to swing by the J. Crew offices to check out the spring 2009 mens collection. The new range is consistent with what the brand has been doing as of late — putting together a top notch offering — while out-tacking every other brand in the category. A few of the choice looks are after the jump. (Additional photos courtesy of Mordechai Rubinstein)

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If you weren’t lucky enough to score an invite to the Band of Outsiders spring / summer 2009 presentation, don’t fret, the video presentation has surfaced just in time for you to yearn for warmer climates. The surreal video, which was presented on a rainy September Saturday this past New York Fashion Week, is exactly the kind of casual cool one comes to expect from Band. Plus, as an added bonus, I have also included a little (she is literally tiny in the clip) Kirsten Dunst for Boy by Band of Outsiders video. Enjoy!

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1751971&w=500&h=281&fv=clip_id%3D1806010%26server%3Dvimeo.com%26autoplay%3D0%26fullscreen%3D1%26md5%3D0%26show_portrait%3D0%26show_title%3D0%26show_byline%3D0%26context%3Duser%3A779626%26context_id%3D%26force_embed%3D0%26multimoog%3D%26color%3D00ADEF]

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Barneys had their Artisan Day this past Saturday at the Madison Avenue flagship. The event consisted of select designers hand crafting or customizing product throughout the store. The gentleman from Barbour were re-waxing coats live and in-person on the ground floor, which was cool to see. On the Co-Op level, the good people from Rogues Gallery were screen-printing custom tee shirts right in the middle of everything. The custom tee process was simple, grab a soft Rogues shirt in your size and color, then just select your favorite graphic from the menu of designs and place the order. Ever the patriot, I went with a navy blue tee with the blue printed flag. Check out Jay — the Rogues Gallery master craftsman — printing my order in the photos below.

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