Styleforum’s “While You Were -apping”–April 26

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Title courtesy Jian Deleon.

Neighborhood‘s spring/summer 2012 line editorial from stylist Stephen Mann and photographer Neil Bedford. Put em on the glass! (stephenmann)

Panta gets the GQ treatment from Stephen Pulvirent. No mention of spaghetti? (GQ)

The Smiths may be reuniting. Tuck some flowers in your pocket and Mozzen up that hair. (Pitchfork)

Michael Williams visits the new IWC boutique on Madison Avenue. More window shopping for us Seiko-wristed plebes. (ACL)

NYT’s the Moment blog defends the short sleeve button front shirt. Sort of. (NYT)

SW+D classified of the day: Florsheim by Duckie Brown for Brooks Brothers longwings. Why not throw McNairy in there.

MC classified of the day–ties and pocket squares from Drake’s, Marinella, others.

 

Styleforum Swag Bulletin–April 24.

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Woolrich introduces the Woolrich Elite Concealed Carry line. Bulge only in the places you want to. (NYT)

Cucinelli IPO oversubscribed! I don’t know what that means! (Reuters)

The eloquent and esteemed Reginald Jerome de Mans discusses the value of character via a pair of someone else’s bespoke shoes. Careful, there’s some big words in there. (A Suitable Wardrobe, pictured)

The debut of a men’s focused London fashion week in June will include Oliver Spencer, Tom Ford, Tautz, Aitor Throup, J.W. Anderson, Richard Nicholl, and Richard James, among others. An opening event will be hosted by HRH the Prince of Wales. OMG who will he wear?

Yoox takes 20% off a bunch of stuff, including tons of Italian shirts and suits and some smaller selections of Nigel Cabourn, Our Legacy, Rick Owens, Margiela, etc. (No code, prices marked)

SF10: Learn your numbers in Italian with Peter Watkins of Sette.

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Sharp! Peter Watkins and Robert Jensen of Sette.

Styleforum regulars won’t need a primer on terms like seven fold and bartack, places like Como, Italy, or names like Robert Talbott. Them’s tie terms. Sette specializes in limited runs of handmade ties—not everyday ties, maybe, but neckwear you can reach for when you need your “closer.”  Fok talked with Peter Watkins about Watkins’ luxury neckwear line. Sette will be a vendor at Styleforum’s 10th anniversary showcase and party in May.

Fok-Yan Leung: Could you tell me a little about your background and the genesis of Sette?

Peter Watkins: I lived for a time in Italy while I was in college and have always wanted to find a way to do business there. I worked in politics and spent 5 years at the White House in various press aide type of roles. One time, during an official White House trip in Rome, we had a free afternoon, so I wandered along some streets and stumbled on a very small shop which sold only neckties. On the walls were photos of the proprietor and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, among other dignitaries. At the time, I was intrigued by anything custom made for a head of state for obvious reasons. It sort of opened my eyes to an entirely new echelon of neckwear that I’d never really thought about. I’ve always wanted to have some type of business which would give me a reason to be in Italy, and neckwear seemed like a logical product.

FYL: When you went to Como, Italy, what did you say? “I want to make ties for titans of industry…and the president?”

PW: Ha. It shouldn’t be lost that titans of industry and presidents are expected by us to hold to a higher standard in their wardrobes. I would argue heads of state and industry drive neckwear trends because a necktie by its nature is a “power” accessory. You’ll be hard pressed to find a shop in Italy, especially the reputable ones, who don’t boast of having someone like President Clinton, Tony Blair, the King of Spain, or whomever else with power as a customer. If I were selling t-shirts or jeans, I’d want Justin Bieber or Timberlake to be my brand ambassadors. But for ties, give me people with real or perceived power. I heard a story once from a major neckwear manufacturer who said they sold out of light blue neckties when President Bush started wearing the color with more frequency. There was even a hypothesis that his advisors suggested the color was a political calculation in order to try and have a “calming” effect on the country in the aftermath of 9-11. (I doubt it was that calculated, but a fun story.) So our goal in creating a product was to aim for a standard in fit for a president.

FYL: Did you have a clear vision of what you wanted to accomplish from  the beginning?  Did your vision change with your visits to  talk to tie makers in Como?

PW: We knew we had to be different. We wanted to combine a few things which we haven’t seen altogether in one necktie. 1. Make true seven folds. 2. Give each necktie a name and a number and stick to it. A few of our ideas caused some head scratching with the manufacturers. For instance, we wanted to have any and all labels woven into the silk. No after-market tags. It’s nicer. It’s personal. But it makes it very difficult when constructing a seven fold, because the weaving has to be exact. I’ve heard rumors of products being labeled, “Made in Italy,” only to learn just a portion of the product was made there, and the label was sewn on after the fact.

Also, we had to decide whether we would be a true seven fold, and run the silk the entire width of the blade in the back, or if we would “cheat” as you see in some seven-fold ties, where the folds just sort of touch in back. We wanted our bar tacks to take on the shape of the number “7” (as Sette means seven in Italian)—a simple touch, but it’s painstaking in the manufacturing process. It all has to be done by hand, which speaks a lot to our brand I think. So far with our first runs of designs we’ve stayed true to this vision. But it hasn’t been easy.

FYL: Tell me a little bit about how you came to partner with Robert Jensen, and describe the creative process between the two of you.

PW: Bob is a legend in the industry. He has more than 30 years of experience in neckwear alone. It so happened his daughter and son-in-law were friends of ours from school. Bob was transitioning from Robert Talbott, and the timing worked great for us. Bob created the designs and colorways, as well as oversaw the manufacturing. I’m responsible to help get the word out and tell the story.

FYL: Could you guide me through the details that make Sette neckwear “worth it”?  What is the value that you offer your clients?

PW: We are the first to admit a Sette is not for everyone. It’s not meant to be. We make a finite number of each design and will never repeat it. If you own “#4 of Brilliant Blue with Stars,” the point is, you become a part of a club. When you take a look at the construction of a Sette, you’ll see we use an awful lot of silk. The finishings and construction of silk are second to nobody. There is a rush you get when you tie a knot with a Sette, that a necktie with a cotton or wool liner won’t have. My perspective is, when you need your very best results to come from your wardrobe, when you need  your “closer” tie, you will reach for your Sette. When the occasion demands respect (a wedding, funeral, job interview, etc.) you want to show that respect with your best tie. Enter a Sette.

FYL: What is the retail climate, both online and off, for a new brand, in 2012?  Are the purchasing habits of your clients affected by the economy, even?

PW: We are too young to give a wise answer to this question. That being said, I sleep well at night knowing I have a great product. It’s well made. It’s different than anything out there. It has a story. I feel confident there will always be a market for people who “quest for the best,” as the great Stanley Marcus put it.

FYL: I know that you cater to “titans of industry” and “heads of state”,  but there are only so many of those.  What do you offer to the rest of us?

PW: I consider informed readers of Styleforum to be “titans” of good taste. 🙂 [Editor’s note: wait til you meet us.]

FYL: How do you see Sette neckwear in 5 years? 10 years? Do you plan to offer other accessories?  Shirts?  Zen gardens?

PW: We plan to stay simple. Scarves, pocket squares, and other accessories are certainly on the horizon. When we launched Sette, we wanted to stay true to a few goals. 1. Do something fun. 2. Do something in Italy. 3. Try to leverage the professional network to achieve #1 and #2.

FYL: I’m sure that there is a question you wish I’d asked.  Can you tell me what that is, and answer it?

PW: You forgot to ask how to buy a Sette. Online of course! www.setteneckwear.com  Also, don’t forget fathers’ day is coming up.

The Styleforum Daily Mentioner–April 23

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“Never underestimate the power of what you wear. After all, there is just a small bit of you sticking out at the neck and cuff. The rest of what the world sees is draped on your frame.” –Oscar Schoeffler

The Styleforum Portmanteau–April 19

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Expert Shoe Care With Nick V.

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Nick with some very nice shoes (although I spy a stray Ugg)

Nick V., owner of esteemed shoe repair outfit B. Nelson Shoes, NYC, knows his stitch. And his welts, and his vamps from his throats. He knows shoes. He takes abused, worn-out kicks and recrafts and resoles them–rehabilitates them. In an ongoing series, Nick will be answering some of my questions to help you treat your footwear better.

Pete asks: What’s the number one most important step a guy can take to keep his shoes looking better, longer?

Nick answers:

Actually, there’s two equally important steps, waterproof/polish and use shoes trees:

WATERPROOF AND POLISH: Apply two light coats of waterproofing to your shoes. Meltonian Water and Stain Protector is an easy product to find and very effective. It’s essential to use a non-silicone waterproof treatment on dress-wear, because silicone is oil-based. The oil can darken leathers. It tends to pick up dust and dirt. It also might not mix well with conditioners and polishes you may want to use in the future.

Polish and condition your shoes regularly.

USE SHOE TREES: Make sure that you have a pair of cedar shoe trees, AND USE THEM REGULARLY! Regardless of whether or not you think your feet perspire… they do. Cedar is a dry wood that absorbs even the slightest moisture. Insert them when the shoes are new and immediately after each wear. This will prevent any moisture from settling into the lining of your shoes. Moisture will cause decay of the leather.

In addition to keeping the liners dry, shoe trees help to maintain the original shape of the shoe. They also reduce the prospect of deep creases forming on the uppers caused by normal wear. The split-toe, claw-back style offers even tension vertically and horizontally. They are easy to install and remove. Leave the trees in the shoes until you are ready to wear them again.

The Styleforum Occasional Intelligencer–April 17

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In the U.S., today is the last day to file your taxes. So, you know, get on that.

The Styleforum Reader–April 16

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Lapo Elkann wearing Rubinacci in L’Uomo Vogue, via Rubinacci Club. Lapo is touching the ground in exactly half of the photos.

Hipsterpalooza: Mister Mort’s been posting Coachella style shots on his tumblr. Ladies in vintage Air Jordan teeshirts = HYFR.

Simply Refined’s Stephen Pulvirent talks ordering butterfly loafers from Ed Et Al shoes, a Singaporean custom shoemaker.

Wax/Wane gives some history on Mackintosh rainwear. Fun fact: The “k” actually stands for KFC; founder Charles Macintosh was a big original recipe fan (10).

The Corner is offering free express shipping through April 23. Get your Dsquared bathing suit in time for next weekend.

Men’s clothing classified of the day: Edward Green Dovers, tan scotch grain, recrafted, UK9.5.

Streetwear and Denim classified of the day: Alden/Steven Alan plain toe boots in suede, size 12D.

New arrivals from Cucinelli and Dries Van Noten at yoox.

SF10: Jack Knife Denim

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I met John Alburl and Nick Kemp of Jack/Knife Outfitters in their SOMA (San Francisco) workspace when a friend of mine was getting his jeans finished.  Tailors for the well-known SF shop Unionmade, and former tailors for Levis, John and Nick create custom jeans from paper patterns for individual customers.  While the styles I saw were in the “heritage” and “workwear” vein, they stand the idea on its head. Denim was originally an industrial garment, made purely for utility, and the very idea of unsanforized “shrink to fit” jeans was that a uniform garment could be customized post production.  The trend to buy raw denim, and watch it become personalized with wear, is a natural extension.  This is in stark contrast with the bespoke garment, a piece made for a specific customer, a one of a kind.  Jack/Knife Outfitters makes bespoke versions of uniform garment.  I got to ask John some questions.

Fok-Yan Leung: Could you tell us a bit about how and why you started Jack/Knife Outfitters?

John Alburl: Jack/Knife came about as a desire for us to be professionally involved in a space where the only focus was on quality.  In an age of instantaneous education, the modern consumer has become more savvy than ever—consumers are interested in the “story”; the who, what, where, and why of a piece made are questions the market demands answers to. Companies tend to make up a gimmicky story that ultimately, over time, loses dimension, but with Jack/Knife our pieces are the story.

All the pieces that have ever received a Jack/Knife stencil were constructed for a reason. The use of heavy selvedge denim came not because the blogs thought it was cool, but because it was the only material that wouldn’t keep ripping on motorcycle rides. Bandannas also were constructed for dusty trips on the motorcycles. Bags came to carry tools, and it grew from there. Consumers are losing interest in the workwear/heritage/vintage trends, but luckily Jack/Knife does not technically lie in any of those categories. The influence from decades past for us comes not in fit or design, but more in the quality of construction and materials used.

Now we operate in a work studio in the old garment district of San Francisco. We take pride in doing everything ourselves and taking our time to aim as close as possible for perfection. These days there are very few operations left that design, draft patterns, and construct all in-house like we do at Jack/Knife.

FYL: Could you bring us through the process of how you work with a customer to get him the pair of jeans he wants?  How do you get him to the right denim, the right cut, the right details?

JA: Describing the entire experience for being fitted for a pair of Jack/Knife jeans would be a bit overwhelming to take in all at once. So I’ll give the “cliff’s notes” version:

The process for being fitted for Jack/Knife custom jeans begins with the first visit—a tour of our operations, a showing of our selvedge fabric selection, the machines, etc. The goal is to knock out fabric selection, thread color, rivets/buttons, pocket shapes, etc. There are myriad details to go over and each client is given the opportunity to bring forth their individual detail requests as well. Measurements are taken, and we also discuss with the client the desired fit of the finished jean. There is much more that goes into the first fitting, and overall this stage is the most comprehensive.

After all the necessary information has been gathered from the client during the first visit, we begin drafting by hand the pattern for the jeans. The pattern-drafting phase by far is the most time-consuming step of the overall process. Once we have your pattern, we construct your jeans, which you’ll try on during your second visit. When you come to try on your jeans in the second visit, there is no waistband yet. Trying on jeans with no waistband can be a a bizarre experience, but the second visit is simply for us to see how the jeans are fitting up to that point. Based on how the jeans fit during the second visit, we either adjust as needed or move on to the next phase.

Past the second visit, all that is needed is a waistband, belt-loops, and a final hem. We attach the waistband and belt loops once we are past the second visit phase. The final visit from you will be to try the jeans on one last time to confirm that you are happy with the fit now that the waistband has been attached. We also take a final measurement for your hem. The final hem is done during this last visit, as it only takes Nick about 10 minutes or so to hem a pair of jeans. And lastly Nick dates and signs the jeans at the very end.

FYL: Could you tell us a little about the details that sets your jeans apart?

JA: Aside from being completely custom—the entire manufacturing of Jack/Knife jeans is done using hand-worked, single-needle construction. All of our patterns are individually hand-drafted by us in our studio. We use a cotton twill binding on all our raw seams, because in our minds we would be cheating if we used over-lock or cover-stitches. We hand-hammer all of our USA-made hardware to Jack/Knife jeans. The fabric we offer is all selvedge fabric from either Japan or Cone Mills out of North Carolina. We also incorporate the use of selvedge details in the waistband, belt loops, out seam, and coin pocket. Each pair of jack/Knife jeans is hand inscribed, dated, and signed. Oh, and our jeans come with a lifetime warranty.

FYL: What if I have some really specific details I like on my pair?  If they are really dumb, how would you tell me?

JA: The only time I would intervene in someone’s design is if the idea lacked a functional purpose. We are all very honest at Jack/Knife, you would be able to tell if we thought an idea fell short of making sense.

FYL: On the other hand, there are guys who probably don’t really know exactly what they want.  How do you guide them through the process?

JA: Through a series of dialogue we can guide just about anyone through our custom experience. We try in every way possible to make this this process simple to understand. It is during that first visit that we take the time to play host and develop a sense of understanding of the individual’s lifestyle. There are basic design details that can alter the feel or styles of jeans. An example would be that dressy jeans are different in styling than workwear style jeans.

FYL: Everyone I know loves their Jack/Knife jeans.  What would you say is the secret of your success?

JA: Our unwillingness to sacrifice quality. We will always go the extra mile to make the best product possible. In these early days of Jack/Knife we have done everything possible to ignore the standard industry prompts of “selling out.” We have never outsourced. For Jack/Knife, we could never trust an outsourced entity to follow through on a project with the same passion as is practiced in our shop.

FYL: What vision do you have for Jack/Knife going forward?

JA: To continue growing. The introduction of Jack/Knife for women, a series of reproductions from the old mine finds of Mike Harris and Gang (author of Jeans of the Old West), a collaboration with Tellason, Jack/Knife limited edition pieces, and more are all happening just within the next 6months for Jack/Knife. For those coming to the Style Forum 10th Anniversary event, Jack/Knife will be unveiling a yet-to-be-seen limited edition cotton/hemp Japanese chambray shirt.

Thanks John!

Jack/Knife Outfitters
372 Ritch St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
[email protected]

 


The Styleforum Daily Collar–April 11.

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