Fashun

Provenance You Can Believe In >> Izzy Lane Wool

 

  

the milk man + the ice cream truck = something more than the sum of its parts

 

  

I’m rooting for this girl.  Mostly because I hope someday it will be a nationwide service so we can get some ice cream love out here in Cali. 

Provenance You Can Believe In >> S.N.S. Herning

Oh how I love a brand with a good story.  Who doesn’t, really?  Knowing the provenance of a brand makes all the difference in how you feel about a product, and I think it’s actually a brilliant marketing tool. 

With the return to traditional techniques, local materials, handmade, etc., I think people want to believe in what they’re buying and are turning away from enormous faceless corporations mass-producing things in who-knows-where.

S.N.S. Herning definitely fits the bill…

According to online boutique Gargyle…
 ”S. N. S. Herning was founded by Soren Nielsen Skyt. As a young man he made his living selling knitted garments to the fisherman of Denmark. In the 1920’s he started to explore new knitting techniques that would make his sweaters warmer. He knew that the fisherman of the Danish West Coast were in need of woolen sweaters to help them bear the rough weather at sea.  In 1931 he succeeded in making a sweater that would serve this purpose, today renowned as the Fisherman’s Sweater.

To this day, S. N. S. Herning knits are crafted in the same old manner, using the original machines, in the original factory. Production is very limited, and as a nod to this fact, every item is signed in hand by the artisan who makes it.”

 A cross-section of a machine with codes referring to each part in case they need to replace something.  On the website it says, “If we needed, say, a new handle, we would have to ask STOLL in Reutlingen for spare part No. 577.  The knitters use the handle when the machine needs to be started up manually after a halt.”

However, may I submit again that the menswear industry is doing a much better job of this than womenswear?  I feel like all the cool brands that are promoting their use of the traditional methods, local materials, etc. are all for men!  Why aren’t womenswear brands onto this trend yet?

Maybe it’s because menswear has a pretty limited range of actual articles and styles, and so they are more focused on craftsmanship as a means of differentiating themselves?

But still, women do wear button down shirts, sweaters, etc., so I think there is definitely room in the market for a womenswear company that does all these staples well like some of the menswear brands out there… until then, I’m tempted to just wear some of these ones for men.

See also: Apolis Activism and Stanley & Sons for more brands with great stories here , and Madewell for menswear vs womenswear debate here.

S&S Herning website.

On the Radar >> Stanley & Sons

 

S&S website here, products sold at Luddite in Brooklyn, and Save Khaki and Eleven in Manhattan.

Via Secret Forts.

Apolis Activism

a) get involved with what Apolis Activism company is doing  — creating high-quality, well-designed products that also have a positive impact on local economies
b) have a shop where I could sell products like this
c) travel to Nepal and take up road biking

Not only is the story inspiring, but the video itself is really beautiful and well-done.

TRANSIT ELITE from Dave Christenson on Vimeo.

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

What a cool company, right??  I absolutely love the idea of a company that makes great products that is also making a difference in the world.  We need more of them!!

Apolis Activism here.
Rapha here.
Filson here.

discovered via… someone really cool – thank you!

Downsizing (the good kind) >> Trends I Love, V. 1

Karl Lagerfeld’s Off the Record, his personal collection of photos he took from 1986-1994.

When I was little, I spent tons of time at bookstores with my dad.  (I asked my mom recently what I liked to play with when I was little, because I didn’t remember having dolls or anything, and she said “you liked to go to bookstores and read.” haa).  So I was genuinely sad when small, focused bookstores packed with hand-picked treasures old and new started to die off, and hence, I’m glad they are reemerging (slowly).  Compared to that kind of bookshop, there’s nothing magical about exploring a Barnes & Noble– it’s impersonal and sterile.  It’s like buying groceries at Walmart vs a farmer’s market.

In Williamsburg, High Valley Books is helping to bring back the small bookshop scene with interesting off-the-beaten-path books like these that have long-since been pushed off the shelves of B&N.  With a small selection, you’re more likely to find these gems…

In general, I have to say I love the direction the world is going in as regards mass production (or rather the demise of its popularity).  Everything became SO available (any food any time of year at the grocery, any book on Amazon, etc), and now things are shifting back to local, antique, and handmade.  And stores that focus on curated, carefully selected collections of things. I think I could have a happy life based on farmers markets, old books, and antique textiles, furniture, etc.  Maybe next I’ll get into vinyl records?

So back to the bookstore, it’s actually not even really a bookstore, it’s better than a bookstore.  It is one guy’s personal collection of books about art, fashion, architecture, etc., many of which are out of print or signed, and he has his inventory listed online.