Percival

'Designed and manufactured in london, percival uses lasting, honest fabrics in styles that capture a sense of boyish adventure with playful buttons and lining, but stand alone in their simplicity and fit.

Harris tweed, beeswax cotton from scotland, chunky lambswool, heavyweight melton from yorkshire and fine portugese cotton mélange make up the percival autumn/winter 2010 menswear range.'

They also have an online store now. At the moment there are not too many pieces available, but what they do have looks good to me, especially the shirting and the parka's.

Winter 2010 according to 45rpm

45rpm released their lookbook for the winter.







"While we are getting into the time of preparing for the winter, 「Badou-R AI 45」Winter Issue is up at last. There is a large choice of warm items in this season again. As the introduction of “Naimono-zukuri”, which tells you about our souls of making, we featured “Cashmere Hand-Spun Ponchos”, “Cashmere Hand Knit Cowichan Sweaters”, “Hand-Spun Tweed”, “Cotton Tweed Down”, and “Scotland Tweed”. We also introduce one of the most popular items, Eto Key Chain of 2011. What is the next Year of the Animals, anyways? Please be looking forward to them!"

Inazuma Festival 2010

Here it comes again: the one festival that makes you want to live in Japan, as it's probably too much of a hassle/too expensive to go there every year. Inazuma, held on the 3rd of November in Odaiba, Tokyo.

Visited: Tenue de Nîmes

Today I visited a store that was on my to-visit list for quite some time now: Tenue de Nîmes in Amsterdam. They carry amazing brands (especially for Europe) like Momotaro, The Flathead, Iron Heart, Tender and Tellason. Also, they have a chainstitching machine, so your hems will always develop some great roping.

Tenue de Nîmes has the same great, warm vibe a lot of denim shops in Japan do - which is something very, very rare in Europe.

I took some pics of the store - I didn't bring my DSLR, so my Android phone polaroid pics will have to do the job.


Yes, the pic is on it's side - Photobucket is being a bitch. Here you see some great goods, like jackets from Woolrich and Nigel Cabourn.


Above you see the patch on a pair of Momotaro jeans neither you or me shall probably ever own - these jeans take 18 days to create and will set you back €2000,- . Yes, that's not a typo.


The custom TdN bike hanging on the wall.


Apparently, it's not all fun and games at TdN.


Of course, I could not leave empty handed, so I got a copy of Michael Allen Harris' 'Jeans of the Old West: A History'. Which is a must have for all denim enthusiasts. Note the 'Journal de Nimes' booklet in the back: TdN creates it's very own magazine, and I must say that's it's awesome.

Aki

Interior suggestions for manly men

Paint a wall in your house in this colour. Or better, your entire house.

Put This On: Shoes & denim

Check out the video's by Put This On. The first is about quality shoes, what you need to know to recognize a decent pair and how to tie your laces. Yes, tying you laces. Because you're doing it wrong.

The quality is great, check them out full screen.



Second one is about denim and the guys of PTO visit Rising Sun, but since you're reading this blog, you probably are a Master of Jawnz already, and won't learn much, but still it's cool.

Levi's Vintage Clothing: 1917 501XX

A fresh pair of jeans arrived at the office yesterday: LVC 501XX, the 1917 model. It's made out of 9oz denim (12 oz post-soak, yet it feels a little heavier) from the Kurabo mill, backpockets with exposed rivets, plain, white selvage, a leather patch, crotch rivet, cinch and suspender buttons. Also, it came with a nice LVC tote and a fancy booklet by Lynn Downey, featuring the history of LS&CO and pics of some great archive pieces.

I know sizing a pair of LVC jeans can be a bitch, so here are the pre-soak measurements on a tagged size 30x32 (will update with post-soak later):

Waist: 16"
Front rise: 13"
Back rise: 16"
Thigh: 12"
Knee: 9.75"
Hem: 9"
Inseam: 33.5"


I love the shape of those early Levi's single needle arcuates


A close up of the denim


The leather patch (it folds around the waistband... strange!) and suspender buttons


The plain, white selvage

Tinker Tailor Project

Japanese brand Edwin has a great little thing going on: the Tinker Tailor project. Here's what they say about it:

'In the pursuit of the perfect denim wash Edwin will embark on a project spanning 12 months that will see modern day society's Tinkers to urban Soldiers live and breathe in their Edwin's.

Edwin reconnaissance staff will be diarising the ‘wear evolution’ through visual mediums from the Photograph to the Blog, giving the public access to the project and its prominent protagonists.

Selected Edwin styles worn by our army of individuals, specifically chosen for their diversity and ‘stand out’ qualities, will be featured with regular updates, thereby cataloguing the chosen ones lifestyles in a pair of Edwin jeans.'

Sounds sweet! Keep an eye on the blog: http://www.tinkertailorltd.com/

Red Wing - A Factory Tour

Complex.com made a special about Red Wing Shoes - check it out.

Red Wing 8130 x Vintage55

Got some new Red Wings yesterday. They're actually a collaboration with Vintage55, based on the 8130 model. The only differences I've spotted are the Vintage55 logo embossed above the Red Wing logo, and that they come with big, fat, black leather laces. Which is pretty awesome.

In these pics they're next to my other pair, the reddish brown 8131, which has about 3,5 years of wear into them. As you can see, I still haven't resoled them. Thanks for responding to my cobbler question though people, I'll pay the cobbler in Delft a visit soon!

The Art of Shoe Shining

Now go try it yourself.

Source: Garra.jp

One Jean To Rule Them All

Mark Westmoreland, a former designer at Evisu and Levi's, has created a pretty spectacular pair of jeans called 'The One'. It's limited to only 100 pairs, and it features all kinds of design details from all the good ol' big brands. The denim is 14oz, and produced by the Shiotani brothers in, of course, Japan. On to the details:

•Rivets are ‘washer & burr’ – an authentic piece of denim hardware – identified by the cotton threads poking through the middle.
•‘X’ stitched bar tacks on the back pockets are inspired by Lee.
•Pocket bags are 9 oz denim, inspired by Levi’s first jean, the Nevada.
•The fly is one continuous piece, inspired by Boss of the Road denim.
•To keep things as pure as possible, all sewing has been done by a single stitch machine, using cotton threads, with the exception of the belt loops which are from a twin needle.
• The waistband is one continuous stitch, tracking around the patch to the waistband – a Japanese standard.
•The back seam and yoke have been hand finished to produce a ‘french seam’ – a technically brilliant finish that’s rarely found in bulky fabrics.
•Arcuate stitching spells M W – the initials of designer Mark Westmoreland. •Slight knotting might appear in the selvage – a sign of the loom used to weave the denim being re-set.
•The heart shaped fly button has been produced by a reproduction company based on a old railway jacket button (that was originally used by Carhartt). Although only intended for the 20 pairs given away by the designer, it was loved so much by everyone who saw it that in the end it ended up on every pair. The unusual back was a suggestion by the factory.
•And finally, all jeans are sold in an old U.S Mint coin bag, with a Japanese one yen in the pocket. This is pretty awesome as I've always wore a one yen coin in my Skull Jeans coin pocket too!









It's available at 5 stores world wide, and costs about 345 pounds.