I’ve written a lot—probably too much—about Spier & Mackay, so I’ve waited to post about their new arrivals. But this season does feel a little bit different for the company whose Neapolitan-cut jacket caught my attention 2 years ago. So far, they’ve made several drops, with more to go, and each one has felt a little bit like an earth quake with after-shocks that actually grow in intensity.
The season’s goods, for menswear fans like me, feel a bit bolder, more confident, and maybe more adventurous. While the Neapolitan cut itself is somewhat adventurous for a clothing company in this price range—and president and founder Rick has specifically offered bolder fabrics in that cut for the crowd who appreciates it more—this season represents a step up even from previous season’s offerings.
There’s the Fox Brothers brown glen plaid jacket to start. Fox Bros. is a British mill has gotten lots of attention online the last few years (though they’ve been weaving for centuries) for their cloth, probably due in large part to great Internet marketing and the excellent style of managing director and co/owner of the mill Douglas Cordeaux. Usually, you see men wearing his cloth as made up by bespoke tailors. To see it on a garment under $500 is unique, and quite frankly exciting.
There are the Harris Tweed jackets, in two very different but equally versatile and attractive patterns: a black and gray herringbone, and a green multi-check. They’ve done lots of tweed in the past, but Harris Tweed is the grandaddy of all tweeds, and the particular cloths on offer both feel classic yet contemporary (in no small part due to the Neapolitan cut, as mentioned).
Then there are the high-rise, single pleat trousers made up in covert twill from Vitale Barberis Canonico. Covert and cavalry twill are heavy, hard-wearing alternatives to flannel that drape superbly—they are excellent choices for trousers. Derek at Die, Workwear! wrote about them last winter, and Spier is offering them in three colors: navy, stone and mid-gray. All three colors are fantastic, and would pair well with the tweed jackets mentioned above.
Outerwear-wise, they’ve taken the Polo coat silhouette introduced last year, and used a grayish-teal barleycorn cloth as well a burgundy herringbone which will look great dressed up or down over knitwear and denim.
And finally—at least so far—are the new line of shoes. Rick has experimented with shoes in seasons past, but this season’s offerings are clearly meant to appeal to the same crowd the Neapolitan cut is (where as before, they were more conservative business dress-friendly): double monks and penny loafers in calf leather and suede join cap toe balmorals in black and brown calf. Rick headed off comparisons to similarly priced Meermin (whose boots, in particular, I am a fan of) by stating why his prices are about $40 more: They’re made in Portugal (Meermin is made in China, with finishing in Spain), and use Weinheimer leather.
All these join the prior releases, including my favorite sport coat of the season so far, this brown/gray check sport coat (which reminds me a little of an awesome Eidos jacket I owned for a while but sold for various reasons a couple years ago), which would pair incredibly well with dark denim and chocolate suede chukkas. Plus an Abraham Moon gun check jacket, an Abraham Moon donegal jacket in oatmeal, and an emerald green herringbone jacket that looks like an excellent simulacrum of one of my favorite Eidos jackets.
I asked Rick, founder of Spier & Mackay if he’d done anything differently this season. “We approached this season as we have in the past. Keep our eyes and ears open. Listen to what customers are asking for, look for items that catch our eye and look at thousands of fabrics and follow our gut.
“With past success with fabrics from EThomas and Hardy Minnis we knew that we could introduce more premium offerings like Harris Tweed and Fox Bros. Though you will see those options are very limited as well to test the waters.
“A lot of people don’t realize we’ve only really started selling a full season of sportcoats in 2016. Before that it was just a couple of random pieces here and there. The entire brand direction has evolved in just the past 3 years.”
Check out all the new arrivals here (of which there are more to come, including more mass-market friendly things like normal-rise flat-front flannels, not to mention a launch of the long-awaited online made-to-order tailoring feature, soon).
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