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Review: Holden and Green Shoes

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New shoe companies seem to be popping up all the time these days. The market today for Goodyear or Blake-welted shoes in the $200-400 price point makes the days of hunting for decent-looking Allen Edmonds Seconds seem like ages ago. Into this mix has entered a new UK-based company, Holden & Green. I received a complimentary pair of their shoes to review for Styleforum’s Journal, and commenced wearing them regularly for a month to get a feel for their quality, fit and value.

First, let me get something out of the way: while the shoes were given me for free, the opinions below are my honest thoughts.

Initial Impressions

My initial impression of the shoes was very positive. It is evident from the first that the construction quality is very good, with a fit and finish that shows very close attention to detail—no stray or crooked stitching hastily trimmed off, no varied discoloration. The construction strikes me as akin to some “mid-tier” bench grade shoes I’ve owned and handled—something along the lines of Crockett & Jones or Alfred Sargent.

The leather of course looked great out of the box, but even the cheapest shoes out there look great brand new, so a month of wear would help in determining its quality. The last shape is an attractive, elongated, European silhouette. And the soles feature a beveled waist and red-painted channel-stitched sole.

Some Background on the Brand

H&G is so new that you can scarcely find anything about them on the Internet. I reached out to the owner and founder of the brand, Frank Clune, to get some information on the company and the product they make.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to work in the West End shoe world for the last five years and to meet some of the legendary characters—genuine one-offs who seem to be disappearing from the world of work, who thrive in this business,” he says. He has no shoemaking training himself, but worked at legendary London bespoke shoemaker Foster and Son, where he met Terry Moore and worked with John Spencer, Emiko Matsuda, Emma Lakin and Lucy Smith. Frank owns the brand, taking guidance and advice from some of the people in the business he met during his time there.

Before starting Holden & Green, he started an eBay business selling overstock from UK retailers. The experience there taught him which styles and colors sell well (black outsells brown, for instance). Once he launched H&G, the aim for the brand was to make “quality at a good price, which means European-tanned leathers and excellent making,” he says. But to hit the price point he wanted to hit (below £300, or about $400USD), “it also means that we need to use non-European makers. This has been the most interesting and challenging part of the process to-date.” The shoes are made in two workshops: one in the Far East (not China, he says), and the other in North Africa. “We cannot speak highly enough of their attention to detail and their responsiveness,” he says.

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The shoes I was given to try are definitely outside the typical business wardrobe of most non-menswear-enthusiasts. If the split toe and elongated last don’t catch your eye, the red painted sole and beveled waist just might. However, the rest of their models, which fall under what they call the “City collection,” are a bit more conventional for a conservative business dress environment (albeit with contemporary, European silhouettes). That conservative design bent, alongside the lessons learned from his prior overstock business, may mean the average antique museum calf-obsessed Styleforum member won’t find much to get his heart racing. But from Frank’s perspective, “getting City-Boys out of their curly-toed abominations feels like the right thing to do morally; for every City gent in his Henry Poole suit and Edward Green’s, there are two dozen others who need more than a little help.” All told, the niche he’s aiming for “is a retail price point beneath £300, using European leathers and tanneries, and getting the right maker to work with the best lasts we can find.”

Impressions After One Month

I kept a running mental checklist of how I felt about the shoes, typing occasional notes, over the course of a month, wearing them 2-3 times per week. At the end of that time, I treated them sparingly using Saphir Renovauteur, and a polish. I personally do not like the shiny fresh-out-of-the-box look of shoes, preferring instead a nicely broken-in and freshly polished look. I wanted to see how the leather reacted to a polish.

First, I was pleased to find the initial new-shoe stiffness disappeared very quickly—within the first two weeks. They still aren’t completely broken in, but that uncomfortable period of new leather shoes is gone.

Second, the leather’s appearance maintained its attractiveness. The factory-new shiny finish didn’t completely go away by the end of the month, but it had dissipated somewhat. I can’t speak to how well these will age over years of wear, but my experience in the time I’ve had them is positive.

Third, the completely subjective matter of fit: these are the best-fitting leather-bottom shoes I’ve ever owned, and are far more comfortable than any other leather shoe I’ve owned. Around the same time I received them, I purchased some Crockett & Jones-made Peal & Co. shoes from Brooks Brothers—they are much more to my liking stylistically, but fit-wise they don’t hold a candle to these.

Fourth, the other completely subjective matter, which is of style and design: I personally find these ugly. Their “City collection” designs are better, more along the lines of something I’d wear. The red sole and beveled waist are a nice, but a purely aesthetic touch, and aesthetic appeal is of course in the eye of the beholder.

Speaking of the differences in design between the channel-stitched, beveled-waist shoes I received and the more prevalent City collection (with neither of those aesthetic features), Frank says they are both of the same quality of make: “We’d say that they’re very good benchgrade shoes.”

All said, I’d say they are a good value for the money. They come in slightly higher than mainline Meermin, which I own and think are an excellent value. But for that extra $100 or so, you get considerably better construction, and noticeably better leather quality. Compared to more-expensive Crockett & Jones or Alfred Sargent, you get comparable quality at a much more attractive price—assuming H&G makes a style you like. They currently sell five styles, with ten more slated to be released in time for the holiday season.

This is not sponsored content. To read Styleforum’s review policy, please click here.

Holden & Green shoes are for sale on their website www.holdenandgreen.co.uk.

Yellow Hook Shirts Review

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My grandfather grew up in New Jersey, the son of Ukrainian Jews who’d emigrated to escape prosecution and worse and found a new life running a grocery store in the city. Until he died and my grandmother moved to a smaller house, my family and our collected relations would converge upon my father’s rambling ancestral home with a sort of semi-irregularity dictated by holidays and the globe-hopping travel schedules of my always-moving grandparents.

My grandfather, a man of whom I have fond but few distinct memories, had a study that I found fascinating, decorated with objects he’d collected from innumerable journeys abroad, smelling of  – retrospectively, at least – a combination of cologne, pipe smoke, and mothballs. It’s that smell – as indistinct and hazy as it may be now, sixteen years after his death – that I most associate with him. It followed him when he came to visit our family, followed him when we joined my grandparents for a family reunion in the South of France one year, and was as much a part of him as anything else he was.

Strangely, I also remember his shirts. One shirt, in particular: white, with plain black stripes, a buttoned collar, and a mighty roll. In my mind’s eye he’s either wearing that shirt or he’s lounging in a chair in a pair of faded navy blue shorts in the Provençal sun; not quite Picasso but not that far removed in the mind of a ten year-old.

Perhaps that’s why I find the shirts that Yellow Hook makes so compelling. They put me back in a mindset where I’m just a child, face buried in my grandfather’s shirt, wondering when I’ll be big enough to wear one like it. The smell is a part of it – out of the box, Yellow Hook shirts smell like a tailor’s shop in New York or New Jersey, like my grandfather’s study; but the cut is a part of it too. At almost thirty years old, I’ve finally gotten big enough to wear shirts like these. They’re roomy across the back with a very handsome taper through the waist, and a collar that looks like the collar on my grandfather’s old shirts. They fit well. They fit like a shirt should fit.

review of yellow hook shirts review yellow hook review styleforum

The Shirts

As you may have gathered from what I’ve written about Pitti and about other brands, it can be hard for me to separate people from product. That’s as true for Yellow Hook as it is for many of my favorite brands. Rob Rossicone, one half of the husband and wife team who run Yellow Hook, is a man I’ve only met twice, but one whose heart I can firmly say is in the right place. Of particular pride is his Italian ancestry, which he’s keen to share through the pieces he makes with Yellow Hook, but in conversation with him he comes across as equally invested in America’s multicultural heritage. He and his wife are both public school teachers, and in my eyes bring a similar earnestness to what is really their chosen labor of love.

Rob sent me two shirts to look at: one of his Napoli spread collar shirts in summer-weight pinpoint oxford, and a red chambray button-down collar. Fit, as Yellow Hook is keen to point out, is subjective, but the shirts are both slim (no darts), comfortable, and far from tight but very flattering. Rob cites various makers as benchmarks: Borelli, Finamore, Turnbull & Asser, Charvet RTW – but the fit is not as skinny as most of the Neapolitan RTW shirts I have tried, and are much more ‘American’ in style: the pinpoint oxford spread features side pleats, the chambray a single box pleat and locker loop, and the style is both comfortable and comforting. That was the goal from the beginning: provide an American-made product to compete with imported luxury.

review of yellow hook shirts review yellow hook review styleforum

And it’s all made in America, too: the shirts are all single-needle stitched in the New York metro area, as are the ties – Yellow Hook’s first product, originally sewn by Courtney Rossicone herself. Full details of individual shirts can be read on the Yellow Hook website, but single-needle stitching is standard, and Yellow Hook produces limited seasonal runs in selected fabrics, which means that stock is always limited and rotating.

It’s hard to claim that anything in 2017 is honest, but Yellow Hook shirts feel honest in a way that so much clothing – even nice clothing, even clothing I love – doesn’t. Part of that is because Yellow Hook is itself a celebration of American multiculturalism; the shirts showcasing the founder’s Italian ancestry as seen through the the melting pot that is the New York area. These aren’t shirts that are pretending to be something else. They’re American in the best way; inspired by global heritage and traditions and made for everyone.

How they Look

Yellow Hook has become most known for their collar roll, which is the exact kind of collar roll you could have found on my grandfather’s shirts: soft, buxom; a size and shape that’s as psychologically comforting as it is physically, and is large without being overwhelming. Similarly, the cuffs are minimally and tightly lined, making them both comfortable and easy to roll (messily, like me). I also like the the signature yellow contrast gusset, which lends a workwear bent to the product – even if it’s not a detail that will often see the light of day.

 

The fabric choices for these two shirts are also well-considered for the summer months. Pinpoint oxford makes excellent warm-weather shirting, but I’m particularly taken with the hand on the red chambray button-down, which is lightweight and breathable with a texture that has really grown on me the more I’ve worn it. I’m showing it here with the sleeves rolled up, but it also looks right at home under a jacket.

I’d like to note that the red chambray shirt is shown on the Yellow Hook website with yellow contrast stitching; the stitching on mine is tone-on-tone. Additionally, the neck on my pinpoint oxford was enlarged slightly at my request, and these are both details that could be requested via Yellow Hook’s not-really-advertised MTO program for a $50 surcharge and a lead time of 6-8 weeks. For the time being, I’m not sure how focused Yellow Hook is on their MTO program, nor do I know the extent of what’s on offer, but if you need a special size that’s a very modest price increase given the product you get in return.

To return to the issue of fit: subjectivity aside, these aren’t the only Yellow Hook shirts I’ve seen, and I do think that the fit really nails that “sharp, but comfortable” line. I mentioned the American-ness of the style, and these are shirts that work with a tie and a jacket or at a barbecue with the sleeves rolled up.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for shirts that give good value – and who isn’t – it’s hard to argue with Yellow Hook’s offerings. New, the summer pinpoint spread collar runs $200 (although it’s currently on sale for $135, and Yellow Hook’s retail prices have now dropped to $135-$155), and the chambray button down retails for $135. Given the single-needle stitching, limited production runs, and entirely human-driven construction, I feel that’s a great price, although it also means that the number of options available at any one time is limited. However, when you add in the intangible qualities I’ve tried to describe above, which will certainly vary in relevance from person to person, I think that you’re left with a product that is, again, honest both in how it what it advertises and in how it wears. That’s hard to come by, and in my mind makes Yellow Hook a very attractive purchase.

I don’t get excited by brands that tout “American Made” as their only selling point, and I don’t come from a school of thought in which the only measure of a garment is the fineness and perfection of the cloth and stitching. In the case of Yellow Hook, being American Made isn’t so much a feature as a backbone – and it supports a product that’s American not by exclusion of outside traditions, but by the inclusion of histories both foreign and domestic. That these are nice shirts is not in question, but as is so often the case, it’s the abstract qualities that, to me, make clothes worth wearing.

Update 7/7/2017: the article has been edited to reflect Yellow Hook’s updated pricing.

 

Yellow Hook is a Styleforum affiliate. If you’re interested in learning more about the brand, you can do so here.

Photos by Ian Lipton
@ian_lipton_photo/

This is not sponsored content. To read Styleforum’s review policy, please click here.

Peter Nappi Review: The Julius Basso Boot

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Back at Pitti 91, Arianna and I had the pleasure of running into Phillip Nappi, who’s the head of Tennessee-based footwear brand Peter Nappi. I can remember reading about the brand in its early days, and coming back to it occasionally over the years due to what I thought was a pretty handsome offering of un-fussy workboots. It fell off the Styleforum radar for a bit, but there’s always been off-and-on interest in the boots, and the brand’s been reinvigorated with a new push, a new adventure to Pitti, and even a new brick and mortar location to support its Nashville flagship store. I’ve circled back continuously, which made it particularly fun to talk to the owner.

As is the case with most brands I end up liking, part of my interest came because I liked Phillip a good deal – he’s earnest, straightforward, and very evidently in love with what he does. That last part encompasses a bit more than just overseeing a shoemaking company, since Peter Nappi is part of what I think is a pretty interesting Southern-US garment and craft movement (along with other brands like the underrated Shockoe Atelier), and their store in Nashville is as much a community space as it is a showroom for shows and events.

You might not be surprised to hear that, after all of this, I was pretty happy to have the chance to take an extended look at a pair of Phillip’s wares, in the form of a some extended wear and review of the Julius boot, which is their flagship model. Specifically, I looked at the “Julius basso” boot in Snuff. I happen to be a fan of lightweight work boots, and of light, versatile boots in general. I’ve owned many different brands in many different styles, and boots that can more or less stand in for sneakers have always had a place in my wardrobe. These fit that bill, both in the way they look and the way they feel.

Silhouette and Style

In the case of the Julius basso, the larger, rounded toe, tapered waist, and short heel give the boot a very handsome silhouette – the toe isn’t so upturned as to resemble Carpe Diem and its descendants, but it’s also enough to make the boot noticeable. According to Phillip, it’s based on a 20th century Italian work boot model, and I think it strikes a really nice balance between being handsome, eye-catching (I’ve been wearing this pair for a little over a month, and for whatever reason they seem to get noticed more than my other footwear), and easily wearable.  As is, I think it’s a good alternative to a more standard chukka boot, while not demanding heavy workwear styling – it’s more at home with light jeans or fatigues than, say, a pair of Redwings, while also feeling a bit less precious (and a bit more versatile) than the Styleforum favorite that is the sleek side-zip boot (think Margiela).

They wear very similarly to sneakers as well. This model is unlined (though others are), but it’s also due to the low heel that wearing the boot doesn’t feel any more, well, taxing than wearing a pair of sneakers, aside from the lack of rubber sole. However, in this particular case the thinness and flexibility of that sole (more on this later) makes the boot what it is, and the unlined upper that this particular model features makes it a good option for summer. I often get very sick of wearing sneakers, but heavy boots are, well, heavy, and the low height and breezy construction mean that I feel pretty good about wearing these in the 80 degree heat.

This year, Peter Nappi has introduced a “Julius Due” model that is, according to Phillip, very similar to the standard flagship but with a slightly narrower toebox. Phillip told me via email that the Due model “Was really a test to see how the market responded to it,” which I take to mean that the standard Julius isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Construction:

This particular boot is constructed with a Blake-stitch, which I understand will concern some of our readers who are concerned about potential quality trade-offs. However, this is at its heart a lightweight workboot, and the slimmer sole looks very nice with the silhouette of the shoe. I’ll point you to Permanent Style’s dismissal of concerns over Blake stitching, but I’ll also say that if the thinner sole concerns you from a comfort perspective – this is not an issue in my experience – the addition of a rubber sticker sole will solve all your problems (and is something I do to all my boots anyway).

When I asked Phillip why he opted for Blake as opposed to Blake rapid, he told me that the brand originally began using the Blake stitch, and that last year they experimented with Blake rapid to make the boots look more “Beefy,” but that in the end, the brand is known for its lightweight, Blake-stitched construction, and that’s the route they’ll be going.

I find the sole and construction very comfortable, and there’s enough room in the boot for an insole should you choose. In fact, I think they’re very comfortable – it’s nice not to have to worry about crowded toes, but the silhouette from the top down really is well thought-out. I imagine that it would be nice to have a more cushioned insole, but that’s a  very personal preference and there’s plenty of room in the boot for an insole.

I should note that Peter Nappi also sells a completely hand-stitched Julius model that also sports a hand-stitched Goodyear welt (yes, you read that correctly).

Price, Quality, and Final Thoughts

First, I should offer a disclaimer that, except at the far ends of the bell curve, ‘quality’ is not generally a metric I pay much attention to. I have never had a pair of shoes fall apart on me (with the exception of a rubber heel coming off), and I am not easy on my belongings. In this particular case, I think it’s more important to note that some will no doubt find the thinner leather sole less comfortable than a more rigid sole would be, but it’s equally important to note that this is purely personal preference. If you’re used to wearing lightweight Italian shoes, Peter Nappi boots will feel very familiar. This is, I think, a big part of the charm – the boots are flexible enough to be “shoe-like,” which makes them feel versatile and wearable, especially in the summer as an alternative to sneakers.

As listed, the price for the model shown is $595, which puts it firmly in the “mid-market designer” category. That’s not cheap, but it is competitive with many of the many other brands in the price range, and Phillip told me that they’ve managed to lower prices (when’s the last time you heard that?) based on increased production, reduced fuel costs (the boots are still manufactured in Italy), and the relative strength of the dollar. As a result, the new Julius Due retails for $100 less. “We always aimed to be as approachable as possible,” Phillip told me.  “We want everyone to be able to experience what we’re so passionate about. After seven years, the tide is finally turning in our favor.”

That seems to me a better conclusion than any I could write: Peter Nappi’s boots are, in my eyes, defined by their accessibility. They’re easy to style, easy to wear, and they look damn good on the foot.

Photos by Ian Lipton
@ian_lipton_photo/

This is not sponsored content. To read Styleforum’s review policy, please click here.

Invisible Acts Workwear Jacket Review

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Although this review is unfortunately a bit late for our Fashion Revolution feature, I was still very happy to have the chance to discuss the venture that is the Invisible Acts workwear jacket, which is a one-off (for now) project from Nina Aganovich and Brooke Taylor, the duo responsible for the brand Aganovich. As opposed to a runway garment, Invisible Acts is the name for a Kickstarter-led production run of a high-quality, “Ethical” chore jacket (as Invisible Acts terms it), which “[Embraces] the slow fashion/co-op movement to tackle issues of quality, ethics and sustainability” in the fashion world. the resulting chore jacket is made entirely of organic, non-GM cotton woven in Italy on narrow shuttle loom machines (which should be familiar to fans of selvage denim), which is then constructed at a co-op factory in France.

It’s no secret that the world of fashion – and of fast fashion in particular – is the scene of some pretty damning abuses of both the environment and of human rights. That’s why, in addition to considering what you buy and why you’re buying it, I think it’s important to draw some attention to projects that are making an attempt to better the system. Of course, I think that it’s easy to be (understandably) dismissive of projects such as these, which have popped up occasionally in the world of fashion and menswear as attention- and marketing-grabs void of any real intent or meaning. Many companies have marketed new ‘lines’ of organic or fair-trade goods, which leaves more skeptical consumers wondering what’s happening with the rest of the main product. It’s a good question, and one worth asking. However, in this case Aganovich – a small design studio attempting, as we speak, to make the push into the couture schedule – are both nimble and hands-on enough that I thought the idea was worth another look.

It’s not surprising that initiatives such as these tend to come from smaller, more mobile companies – Aganovich, in this case, is intimately familiar with the labor-hours required for garment production in the way that a massive fast fashion chain simply cannot be. The company, and by extension the customer, is simply too far removed from the product. It’s equally unsurprising that there’s joy to be had from participating in what is, essentially, a GMTO project (a process with which I’m sure many Styleforum members will be familiar). I’ve never minded the idea, because it forces you to slow down and consider whether the product is ordering is actually one you want (need, in the world of clothing, being a relative term) and whether you’re willing to wait for it – overconsumption being, of course, one of the issues of which we as consumers both responsible and otherwise are now more aware.

You can read more about what and who, exactly, is behind the Invisible Acts project on their website, but the gist of it is that sustainable fabric and sustainable production result in a garment that’s both desirable and ethically responsible. Unfortunately, due to some hardware and scheduling issues, I wasn’t able to get my own photos ready in time for this article, and have used Invisible Acts’ proprietary photos instead. However, I find them accurate in their depiction of the product. 

The Jacket

The Invisible Acts jacket is based on a traditional French bleu de travail, although the pattern is mercifully more modern and the product is notably cleaner in finish than what you’d find from both vintage and (most) contemporary version of similar pieces. It’s available for both men and women, and instead of being a purely unisex piece there are some minor pattern adjustments between the two models. All of the seams are well-finished, the reinforced buttons well-attached, and the details well-thought-out: pockets are reinforced, an oft-overlooked interior pocket is present, there’s nothing about it that to me (who has owned and seen countless chore jackets) screams of wasted opportunity or wasted material. It’s also very much not a fashion product, which is particularly notable due to fashion’s current (and ongoing) obsession with workwear silhouettes and styles. It is, conversely, a decidedly functional – though well-designed – jacket. As Brooke Taylor, one of the duo behind the project says:

“As a design house, we could have added a few twirls, some conceptual weirdness – tried to make the jacket more ‘hip,’ to render a fashion interpretation of a workwear garment. We talked long and hard about this and decided ‘No, the starting point has to be simple solid and straightforward,’ it has to pass muster at being what it actually is.”

I’m always intrigued by declarations such as this, and in this case what the jacket actually is, is a very competent and surprisingly effective garment. The cotton drill used for the jacket is a 520g/m weight, which means it’s quite heavy but not oppressively so. For example, a good friend of mine who spends most of his free time in his basement machine shop in front of lathes and CNC machines was very impressed by the weight and mobility when he tried it on, and said that he’d be happy to wear it every day while working. If you’re attempting to make a manufacturer’s jacket, it’s a good thing if an actual manufacturer is happy to endorse it.

I have seen and owned many chore jackets, and most of them – including some of my favorites – don’t pass that test. In this case, the only deviation from a rigorous lack of extraneous detail is the visible selvage line that runs down the center seam of the jacket. It’s a detail I’m neither attracted to nor repulsed by, and somehow it feels unforced despite the ongoing preponderance of selvage-detailed-everything in the denim world.

The heft of the fabric also means that the garment will require some time to break in. I’ve only been wearing mine for a week or so, but it hasn’t shown much sign of softening yet – which is also just fine with me, as I’ve always enjoyed the process of wearing clothing into shape. Another plus is that the jacket is pre-washed, so you don’t have to worry about compensating for shrinkage. It’s also almost a mercy that the jacket isn’t made in indigo, since just about every other chore jacket these days is – the color on the grey model I received is very nice, and the coal black looks equally good. I should note that, according to Invisible Acts, the white model is a slightly lighter weight (250g/m) than the other two fabrics, if you’re after a jacket that drapes more easily out of the box.

I also happen to think that the jacket looks pretty damn good. The pattern is more flattering than it would be from a repro or purely workwear-focused company, and as already mentioned the details are well-considered. Fit-wise, a manufacturer’s bleu de travail was designed to sit close to the body, so that fabric did not catch in moving machinery. The Invisible Acts jacket is not tight, but rather slim and slightly boxy without much waist suppression. If you’re familiar with workwear, it will fit familiarly. 

It fits well, and it’s also a handsome piece, but it’s a two-and-a-half season garment that won’t see much use over the summer or in the depths of winter, unlike other options that might be made from linen blends or lined with sherpa fleece. That said, there’s plenty of room even in your proper size to layer, and you also have some leeway in terms of sizing – you can size up for a boxier fit, or down for a trimmer cut. In effect, it’s an obviously well-designed piece that’s not cutting corners for the sake of a marketing opportunity. Invisible Acts is also not a reproduction of a vintage blue de travail, so you should not expect it to be – it’s a modernized take on the same, which I think has its own charms.

Image via @Invisibleacts on Instagram

I could personally do without the iconography – the oversized brand logo on the interior of the jacket is the combination of a raised fist and a factory – which is also available on buttons that you can purchase separately. I’ve nothing against it per se, but it smacks a little bit of an undergraduate’s first reading of Marx. So does some of the campaign imagery, which I think is slightly misleading, and perhaps to the projects’ detriment. This is a very versatile garment, that I’ve been wearing both with wider twill trousers and with slim Japanese denim. Thanks to the color and inspiration (a chore jacket, rather than a Type 1 or 3 jacket), it doesn’t feel like wearing a denim tuxedo – it’s a garment that would be at home with either ripstop fatigues or faded jeans.

On the other hand, the more forgiving side of me – and, perhaps, the part that still remembers what it’s like to read Marx as an undergrad – thinks it’s just fine to let the imagination run a little bit, the way Aganovich obviously does when crafting its runway collections. After all, part of fashion’s charm is to take us to places we might not go, and part of the magic is that garments can become more than the sum of their parts.

Final Thoughts

The Invisible Acts jacket in Slate grey

At approximately 200$ (the Kickstarter price – the predicted future retail price is 518EUR), the Invisible Acts jacket falls within the same price range as some of the more affordable workwear and repro brands (think Sugar Cane or Rogue Territory), while the retail price would see it in line with a brand such as Mr. Freedom or Iron Heart), although it’s obviously dissimilar in looks. To me, that’s more than fair, and not out of line with what I’d expect. The jacket is available in Coal (black), Slate (grey), and Snow (white), and if you are interested in one, take note because the Kickstarter campaign ends this Sunday, June 4th, after which point the early backer price disappears.

As for the jacket itself, I’m a fan. It is, admittedly, not pushing any boundaries – although that was not the intention. Instead, it’s a quality version of a garment that most of us have or will have owned at least once. I’ll be interested to see if Invisible Acts goes anywhere after this Kickstarter, and Mr. Taylor says that, now that the project “Has established a base…it can go in all sorts of directions.” I don’t know if there’s room for a high fashion brand’s experiments in ethical workwear, but I suppose the market will let us know. At the very least I can say that there’s room in my closet for more projects such as this.

As is always the case with clothing, the question of whether or not you should buy the garment comes down to whether or not you yourself like it. For me, a person who likes chore jackets but has no real desire to wear denim jackets or look like a 20th century rail worker, it’s one of the relatively few options that’s both aesthetically appealing and, well, functional. And importantly, the fact that this is an ethically-made jacket doesn’t take away from either its form or its function – you’re not sacrificing quality or design by purchasing a garment made this way, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that instead, you’re gaining from it.

None of us are perfect. That’s something that Mr. Taylor is quick to point out: “Anyone that says they can get it all perfect is lying. Because no matter how ethical your garment may be, you’re going to deliver it burning jet fuel. As a former deckhand I have a dream of one day delivering by sailboat, but…well, I’m sure our customers would be overjoyed.” Even so, Mr. Taylor is also happy to declare that the project itself has been an educational experience, and that he hopes that by “Asking the questions, keeping up the conversation, challenging [our]selves, that it influences others to do the same.” We’ve seen, the past few years alone, a massive shift in awareness towards ethical manufacturing, and while it’s always difficult to get consumers to think beyond the pocketbook – and to keep that momentum going – and projects such as these are perhaps more important than any of us think.

For both Aganovich the brand as well as readers of Styleforum, we’re somewhat – somewhat – insulated from these concerns. However, during Fashion Revolution week we suggested that you ask both yourself and your favorite brands: “Who made my clothes?” In this case, it’s nice to know that the answer won’t keep you up at night.

This is not sponsored content. To read Styleforum’s review policy, please click here.