Just a quick post today, as I wanted to post a few links to things I like as spring weather starts coming on.
First, a few picks from No Man Walks Alone. They’ve got a great selection of tailoring from Antonio Ciongoli’s final season as Eidos creative director (they will continue to carry Eidos in Fall, which is the first collection from Simon Spurr, and Antonio says he believes they’re going to offer the No Man Walks Alone and Ciro jacket cuts, and the high-rise Sal trouser cut, for two seasons as a transitional phase).
I am particularly drawn to this Solbiati linen gun club check jacket. I’ve learned that with checks such as this, when the base is neutral and the colors complement each other well, it’s not as loud as you might think. Check Greg from No Man Walks Alone in a similarly patterned jacket, made by Formosa.
My other choice is this rust windowpane jacket. In fact, I ordered the rust jacket just to see the fabric in person and it’s fantastic. It is very soft, which is a surprise since it looks like linen. The rust color strikes a perfect balance between bold and wearable. Red is a tough color to use in a sportcoat—too easily it can veer into being too magenta, too orange, too maroon, too purple. This jacket is none of those things.
It’s a run of custom fabric designed and commissioned in a group made-to-order buy last summer by Derek Guy from Die, Workwear! (probably my favorite menswear blog). NMWA bought a length and had Formosa make a run of sportcoats for them, and here it is.
I had considered ordering a length of the cloth to have my tailor in Cincinnati make me a bespoke sportcoat, but then I asked him what his price would be. Also, just handling the swatch Derek sent me, I wasn’t sure I loved it.
However, made up as a jacket, it is beautiful and amazing. The Sartoria Formosa cut is straightforward, middle of the road Neapolitan, with excellent construction and quality of make. I prefer the design of Antonio’s Eidos, but there is absolutely nothing to complain about with Formosa if you’re looking for a Neapolitan jacket and aren’t such a huge fanboy of Eidos like me.
The other primary thing I’m digging from NMWA this season is this Drake’s tie. I recently decided I want a raw silk navy pindot tie, and bam, here it is. Perfect.
Second, a few picks from Spier & Mackay, the Toronto-based company that’s aggressively trying to take on SuitSupply in their market. I decided in the autumn that their trousers are my new go-to, and also gave their Neapolitan-inspired jacket a try. I haven’t yet bought any of their jackets or suits, but have been very pleased with the trousers—I bought three flannel pairs in each shade of gray they offered, and recently got a pair of the navy flannels from a Styleforum member.
For spring they’re continuing the trend they set in the fall by bringing high quality fabrics typically associated with more expensive trousers to their lower price point. They’re able to do so because their manufacturers’ factories are in China.
They’ve got lots of stuff still in the pipeline, with factory setbacks delaying some of their products until mid-April. But so far they’ve released a run of VBC “Fresco di Lana” trousers. At $118 per pair, they are a steal in my opinion. Fresco is an appealing fabric because it’s wool, so it doesn’t wrinkle like linen, but it wears very cool. They achieve that by twisting the yarn very tightly, which makes it retain its shape, and then weaving it very loosely to allow airflow.
They sold through a lot of them fairly quickly upon their release (Styleforum guys were eagerly waiting for this), but there are some sizes left. My choice would be the mid-gray fresco (pictured above).
In the pipeline still are Fresco trousers from Minnis (Minnis owns the Fresco brand name, but a similar high-twist, open-weave construction is made by others including VBC), and cotton-linen blends from Sondrio. I’m particularly excited about the latter, because I tend slightly toward the casual end of the tailored-wardrobe spectrum. Cotton-linen is extremely versatile to me, particularly in trousers because they are usually machine washable, wear cool, and hold their shape better than pure linen, which wrinkles much too easily.
And I’ll actually say that the standard sport coat from Spier & Mackay has been made up in some pretty nice-looking fabrics I’d say are worth a look. Last I tried the Neapolitan (which is based on the same cuts—slim and contemporary—but in a different design), even the slim fit had a low armhole. They’ve made the armhole slightly higher this season, so I can’t vouch personally for it.
This Bottoli brown wool-linen jacket in particular caught my eye—in no small part because it might be a great high-for-low substitute to the Formosa Summer Tweed mentioned above, if that’s out of your reach.
Jackets cut in the Neapolitan style are forthcoming from Spier & Mackay. Once the rest of their stuff hits I’ll do a rundown of my picks then.
