From Squalor to Baller

Out And About: a chat with Gustin Denim

If you’ve been paying any attention to new developments in the men’s clothing industry then you’ve probably heard mention of Gustin - the kickstarter success story that shocked everyone when they introduced high-end denim at a pricepoint that seemed revolutionary (until they told us that it’s what we should’ve been paying all along).

For those that are not familiar, Gustin is run by two Bay Area men (Josh and Stephen) that have been producing and selling their denim at boutiques across the country for the past few years. Each pair is made in San Francisco out of high-quality selvage denim from top notch mills. Earlier this year they abandoned the retail game and began crowd-sourcing their products at the wholesale price. What has resulted is a wonderful rainbow of high-quality selvage denim for the price of a pair of Levi’s. 

I recently stopped by the Gustin headquarters to say hello and talk shop with Josh and Stephen. In this instance, I use the term “headquarters” loosely; in typical startup form they’ve set up shop in a friend’s living room and run their operation with a few laptops and iphone cameras. Nonetheless, the two keep a close eye on every pair of jeans leaving in the mail and are always looking for new and exciting fabrics for their limited-run jeans. Moreover, business seems to be going quite well - the team doubled in size this week when they brought on two more employees. 

During my visit I made a point to stop by their production facility, which is just a stone’s throw from their living room HQ. Watching the creation of a high-quality product is fascinating to me; I got to see the cutting and sewing process, which occurs - quite literally - right next to some of the biggest names in high-end denim. I also learned more about some of the subtle construction details that make Gustin’s denim top-notch. For instance, the belt loops are sewn on before (under) the waistband, which increases their durability and keeps them from pulling off. The pockets are also half-lined, which makes accessing the contents easier. I also got to feel many samples of past and upcoming runs - from super-soft to super-heavy to super-green, all carry something interesting along with them that makes them unique.  

Although Gustin has introduced a heavily tapered fit for those that are in to it, their bread and butter continues to be their original straight fit, which is slim through the seat and thigh and is a constant width from the knee down. I left their HQ with a simple pair of Cone Mill 13.5 oz. in their straight fit and will talk more about it once I get the opportunity to break them in. However, it should be noted that they have been experimenting with other items that are just as impressively priced - in recent weeks there have been natural leather wallets for $20 and belts for $50, with more on the the way. For instance, while in the factory I saw some lovely Japanese selvage chambray cloth that might become a button-down shirt in the near future - stay tuned.

In the end, what’s most exciting to me is that Gustin is taking boutique denim and turning it back into what it used to be - a clothing of the people. At $81-$99, most of us can afford to treat this denim however we want, whether it’s with a myriad of rules, mysticism, and ritualistic non-washing or just a pair of jeans that works hard and gets thrown in the wash every week. No matter how you decide to treat them, I imagine that they will hold up well and look all the better for it. 

hembits:

Cable Car Clothiers, still handsome after 75 years.

I had a wonderful time catching up with old friends and seeing some new faces at the Styleforum event last night, held at the iconic Cable Car Clothiers in San Francisco.

It was a beautifully warm day in the City yesterday, and everyone was donning their finest cotton, linen, and seersucker clothes. After all, this is San Francisco - a few more weeks and it’ll probably be cool and wet again.

Thanks to Jon (bottom picture) and company at Cable Car for hosting a wonderful event and opening up their store to a bunch of sweaty and hungry #menswear nerds. It’s a beautiful store and I highly recommend stopping by to peruse their selection of traditional men’s clothing and accessories (or get a trim and a shave from Nicky). 

Out and About: Beckett & Robb

One of the nice things about living in a big city is that there are always new men’s clothing stores to explore. Sometimes they have been around forever and have been hiding in plain sight, and other times they’re brand new and flying under the radar. When Dustin informed me that a new tailored clothing company was expanding into a lot just a few blocks away from my downtown office I decided to take a peek - enter Beckett & Robb.

Beckett & Robb is quite new to the Bay Area; they moved into Wingtip’s old location at One Embarcadero only three months ago. The company started four years ago as a traveling tailor in the Salt Lake City area and eventually opened up a permanent shop there. They have now opened up here and are looking to expand further along the West Coast in the coming months.

Beckett & Robb is a tailored clothing company specializing in what I’d call “advanced made-to-measure;” in my mind this differs from the normal MTM experience because the measurements are taken in-person by a professional over one or more fittings rather than by the customer, therefore increasing the level of accuracy (if the employee is adequately skilled). This business model is not uncommon; Proper Suit and Michael Andrews “Bespoke” come to mind as purveyors of this method. 

There are a few things that made Beckett & Robb intriguing to me. First, it was interesting to learn that every single yard of fabric available (and there are many) comes from a name-brand mill in Italy or England. Fabrics are available from Zegna, Loro Piana, Vitale Barbaris Canonico, and more; VBC comes in at $695 for the cheaper cloths. The second is that suit production takes place in Portugal and the shirt production is in Spain. This has a few advantages: the first is the “made in Europe” label, which is important for those that are uncomfortable with production in far-away East Asia countries. I don’t personally know if their production facility is better or worse than an equivalent Chinese one, but I will be the first to admit that certain countries of origin bring with them a certain level of consumer comfort. The second advantage is one that I found particularly interesting, and would not have figured out on my own. The cost of the fabrics used at B&R is quite high, given then name-brand status, but these prices become much higher when taxes and markups are applied for overseas shipments (often on the order of 200%). Because the factory is in Europe the fabrics can be shipped directly without these markups, which saves everyone involved quite a bit of money.

Outside of fabric styles, the suits come with a variety of detail and construction options. Suits come standard with half-canvas construction, but can be full-canvas or the ever-popular unstructured option. They are constructed in a third-generation tailoring facility that uses a combination of machine work (e.g. fabric cutting) and handwork (collars, sleeves, and buttonholes if you’d like).

I have not yet purchased any of Beckett & Robb’s products, but I’m certainly intrigued. At the very least it will be interesting to see how they grow over the coming months.

There rest of the “Out and About” Series can be found here.

Out and About: Khaki’s of Carmel 

I have been living in the Bay Area for a little over two years now, but there is still a long list of places I haven’t experienced yet; I have yet to visit  Alcatraz, drive down Lombard St. or hike Half Dome, to name a few. Fortunately, though, I was able to check one item off of my list over the weekend when I went down south to visit Khaki’s of Carmel, a place that many men’s clothing enthusiasts consider to be the Mecca of menswear on the West Coast, and perhaps the whole country. I was fortunate to spend a good amount of time talking with the Jim Ockert, the third-generation merchant that created Khaki’s over 20 years ago. He was able to give me good insight into what his store was about, how it came to be, and where it is headed.

Spring is in full bloom at Khaki’s, and shipments of drool-worthy clothing and accessories are being added to the mix every day. Jim Ockert runs the store with his wife Connie, who works hard behind the scenes to give Jim the time to do what he loves: design his store and meet his customers. 

“I’m not sure where it came from, but I’ve always had a knack for displays and merchandising,” Jim remarks. “I just love seeing pieces come in and imagining how they’ll go together.” His passion for the products is obvious at the store, where over 90 mannequins are dressed in a constantly morphing array of colors and patterns. Even the space itself was the brainchild of Jim; “There used to be walls there, there, everywhere, really,” he says. “I wanted a big open space so we took them all out. We even polished up the steel braces to give it a new look.” The resulting space gives expansive views of colorful and playful clothing for the upcoming warmer seasons (not to say that California has been experiencing a particularly difficult winter or anything like that).

Khaki’s didn’t get its reputation from just carrying high-end clothing, though; there are plenty of places in the Bay Area and beyond that have large stores full of top-notch brands. What makes Khaki’s unique is the phenomenal breadth of the store – the product line is curated in a way that provides pieces for for a wide variety of styles, and each piece is carefully selected to fit in to the store’s overall aesthetic. Although Jim’s personal affinity is for tailored clothing, his previous work in the Pacific Northwest denim scene is obvious. Rows of Incotex, Edward Green, Boglioli and Luciano Barbera sit next to supreme workwear brands like John Wolrich, Eastland, Levi’s Made & Crafted, and John Barbour & Sons. The “blended cocktail” of goods is truly something to behold. 

Another exciting aspect of the menswear mecca is its growing “Private Label.” The house line already carries a variety of trousers, shirts, sportcoats, and ties, with plans to continue expanding. This gives Jim, a self-described perfectionist, the ability to control nearly every aspect of each product. “Our end goal is to have 20-30% of our stock be our own line,” Jim says. “If we can’t find the perfect product out there then we’ll do it ourselves.” The products look to be very impressive; I was fortunate to handle some swatches for sportcoats that will be available in the coming months, and the fabrics are sublime. It’s clear that Jim has thought deeply about what goes in to all of his products; the linings, buttons, and other details all show signs of his discerning eye. The quality of the products is impressive as well; for instance, many of the items in the Private Label are made in the United States by the esteemed Martin Greenfield Clothiers. It is clear the Jim will only introduce products of his own when he knows that they can go toe-to-toe with the other brands in his roster.

Even outside of their house label, many of the products at Khaki’s are customized specifically for the store. Jim spends a good amount of time every year at trade shows working with vendors to tweak their products for him. “We’re always looking to add something to every product, whether it’s an increase in quality, a unique detail, or something else entirely,” he explains. For example, many of the shoes in their Edward Green selection have been given extra details like additional burnishing or sole colorations that can’t be found anywhere else. “Edward Green was a little uneasy lightening up the edges of their soles, because that’s not what they do in England,” he jokes. “This is California. Things are a little different here.” Those that are interested in learning more about Khaki’s product line should be informed that a webstore will be going live in the very near future - keep an eye out.

It was very refreshing to see a retailer that remains so passionate about his product, year after year. It is clear that Jim approaches each season with renewed vigor and a discerning eye, and the outcome is quite spectacular. 

Spring is only beginning to arrive in California, but Jim is already becoming enamored with his new fabric swatches for autumn jackets. The colors, patterns and textures look to be a lot of fun, but there’s still much to be done before then - shipments of Private Label stock are still coming in, vendors need to be contacted, and some of the mannequins have to be touched up. It’s a lot of work, but Jim is up to the challenge. “I can’t imagine doing anything else,” he says. “This is exactly where I’m meant to be.”

The rest of the “Out and About” series can be found here.

brokeandbespoke:

StyleForum San Francisco Meetup, 2/6/13

I hopped over to the city (San Francisco, not New York) today after work for the first StyleForum meetup of 2013. It was a lot of fun, and the space in which it was held, Wingtip’s club rooms (Ian, of fromsqualortoballer fame, wrote a great piece on the location’s history here), was an amazing sight to behold: architecturally, menswearily, and baller-ass accoutrement-arily (think Dormeuil suiting fabric and Johnston’s of Elgin tweed upholstered chairs).

Special thanks to Ami of Wingtip (top left) for generously hosting this event, and to Gus for organizing it. Ami gave tours of the club’s various rooms in progress (a tweed room, a rotating Bill’s Khakis-dressed room—corduroy in the fall, seersucker and madras in the summer, a leather room, a cigar room with a hidden swiveling wall, to name but a few…) and I must say that I have no doubt the digs will be a true sight to behold once they’re up and running. I’m looking forward to going back and checking out the retail store and the MTM suiting vault in the historic Bank of Italy building’s basement which is managed by Erik Gavrilor, with whom I had a great talk tonight about the thrill of mixing colors, patterns, and textures, and repurposing women’s accessories for some solid menswear game.  

It was great to see the private club level of Wingtip and even more great to spend time with the people in it. Ami has created a wonderful social space at Wingitp and it was very kind of him to open it up to a handful of rowdy Styleforum-ers. More info on the Wingtip Club can be found here.

Out & About: Wingtip

The Financial District of San Francisco is an interesting place. I’m there all week but I rarely venture over during the weekend as it generally becomes quite desolate and empty without the bustle of business. However, I decided to change that and went on a weekend visit to the infamous Wingtip (formerly On the Fly), now located in the shadow of the Transamerica tower in the historic Bank of Italy building.

Now, before I even get in to talking about the store I think it’s worth giving a bit of background on the Bank of Italy building. As someone who designs buildings for a living I think it adds a nice bit of context to the whole experience. 

The bank of Italy was founded in 1904 by the Italian-American Amadeo Giannini, a produce buyer living in San Mateo. Although he led a successful career, he found that San Francisco’s financial system had a philosophy of “big banks for big people,” making it near impossible for common men and women to find a loan. This often pushed these people towards seedy loan sharks and other dangerous companies. The fact that the financial capital of the West would finance millions of dollars for a railroad and would refuse $50 for a farmer’s home improvement was infuriating to him, and so he single-handedly created a “bank of the people” that would choose customers based on their character, not by their net worth. This small, simple idea was exactly what the Bay Area needed, and the young bank was an instant success with common men and women all over the state. The bank is now commonly known as the Bank of America. Without Giannini’s simple startup the landscape of banking as we know it would be radically different; his work helped democratize banks and bring them to the individual level.

The Bank of Italy building was built in 1908 after the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed the original bank on Columbus Avenue. The beautiful building served as the headquarters of Giannini’s company until 1921, at which point the company had outgrown the structure and moved to a new location. It has housed several banks in the interim and is now a National Historic Landmark. Through some miracle, a classy men’s store was able to nab the space for their own use, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The first thing you will notice when entering Wingtip is the architecture. The soaring marble ceilings and enormous windows contrast the thick steel vault doors and brass fixtures. You’ll probably stand around for a few minutes looking at the detailed molding before you realize that you’re actually in a well-curated men’s store. Bank vaults are lined with Luciano Barbera ties, marble hallways hide Alfred Sargent oxfords, and cashmere sweaters are piled on billiard tables and persian rugs. The main floor holds the ready-to-wear clothing and accessories, and the underground bank vault is home to the bespoke level - dozens of Holland and Sherry fabric books litter the walls like ancient tomes, and each of the locked drawers in the bank vault hold the information for a single bespoke customer. The second floor carries the elite member-only club - more on this soon.

So whether you need an alligator belt, badger brush, bespoke Prince of Wales flannel suit, or just want to look at the scenery, trot over to Wingtip and take a look. I have yet to make a substantial purchase there, but it has become my go-to for Saphir  - the lovely french shoe products that are almost impossible to find in a brick-and mortar store. If you’re in the area I highly suggest that you take a look sometime, whether you’re planning on dropping big bucks or not.

Wingtip also has a web store that can be found here.

Out & About: A Trip to Britex Fabrics

In my experience, one of the best ways to make a mass-produced piece of clothing a bit more luxurious and enjoyable is to replace plastic machine-sewed buttons with high-quality, hand sewn ones. There are many places to find great horn, mother-of-pearl, leather and metal buttons: thrifting and ebay are always good options and there many online stores with wide selections. If you’re in the San Francisco area, though, I highly recommend stopping by Britex Fabrics. 

A few months ago I purchased a Club Monaco single-breasted trench coat on deep discount. I have already gotten good use out of it but I knew that the large plastic buttons were keeping the trench from reaching its full potential. On a rainy day last weekend I stopped by the famous fabric store to peruse the button selection. The beautiful shop has four floors stocked with fabrics of every kind, but  the selection of natural and vintage buttons is truly something to behold. A wide variety of colors and sizes are available, and the cost is quite reasonable (they are just buttons, after all).

Replacing all of the buttons on a blazer or jacket will set you back around $15-$25 (or less if you thrift them) and the change will be dramatic. Natural buttons have a delightful weight to them, as well as having a wonderful richness to their color and a much more “real” feeling (because they are). It’s a simple and inexpensive alteration that makes a garment much more pleasurable to wear.

I left with a small handful of ruddy amber colored buttons and will be swapping them out on my own soon (a skill all men should probably have). I’ll post the process tomorrow but in the meantime consider upgrading one of your favorite pieces with this small change - you’ll be glad you did.

Britex also has a web store that can be found here.

Out and About: the Bonobos Guideshop in Palo Alto

As I mentioned a while back, Bonobos has recently been expanding into brick-and-mortar locations across the United States. However, the rebellious company refuses to do so in the traditional style; these so-called “guideshops” are meant to give customers an opportunity to experience their products first hand but without any of the normal aspects of a dreary store visit. I was intrigued by the idea and since the store was located only a few blocks from my alma mater I decided to pay them a visit.

The idea behind the guideshop is simple: make an appointment online and you will receive a full hour of one-on-one time from the Bonobos store. It is as if a men’s store of your liking locked the doors behind you when you arrived, handed you a beer and diverted all of the staff’s attention to you. While you are there you can try on any of the available wares and your sizes will be recorded and emailed to you for your reference. Purchases can be made at the time, but as the company is still based online you will not be able to walk out with a bag of clothes; instead, they will be promptly mailed to you.

Overall, I found the experience to be quite enjoyable. The staff is friendly, helpful and has a deep understanding of their product. The space itself is attractive and well set-up for a single customer. Although most of their visitors make purchases at the guideshop, they welcome anyone to come and try their clothes on in person. It is worth noting that not all of their products will be available in every size; there is no real stock on hand, so most sizing is done with sample garments in all of the available sizes and fits. All other items are available on display for further inspection.

Most of my experience is with Bonobos’ pants selection, so I made sure to check out the rest of their line as well. In my opinion, many of the items are similar in price, quality and styling to J. Crew; suits and jackets are cut slightly short and feature narrow lapels, sweaters are available in a variety of materials and wild colors, and shirts are predominantly casual and alpha sized. All of the items I tried on fit about how I would expect. I believe that the best offerings are still the pants – these are their bread-and-butter items and stand out from what others are offering (both in style and construction). I own several of their chinos and a great pair of denim but they also offer other items like wool trousers and great novelty pants like turkey-embroidered corduroys. They also carry some merchandise from their third-party brands; Grenson shoes are scattered around and other accessories like messenger bags and briefcases are available as well.

I was excited to hear that Bonobos will continue its expansion by opening a San Francisco guideshop in the coming weeks. The store will be located in Union Square and will surely create a buzz during these holiday shopping days.

At the end of the day, it really comes down to whether you like the clothing that Bonobos offers. If you have had positive experiences with them before or are intrigued by their products, I believe that a visit to a guideshop will give you a more intimate understanding of the clothes they offer and of the company itself. Bonobos has always defined itself by refusing to behave like a typical clothier and it is refreshing to see them stay in that spirit. 

Indochino Meets San Francisco

As many others have noted, Indochino has recently begun a traveling tailor service in select cities across North America. Their most recent stop was just a block away from my office in downtown San Francisco, so I set up a fitting appointment and stopped by during lunch yesterday. I have never purchased anything from Indochino, but have kept an eye on the company for a while and was interested in experiencing their wares up close.

The staff was very friendly and willing to answer all of my questions. I have no doubt that they get a wide spread of customers; some just want to “look better” and some want the details on canvassing and sleeve pitch. I was in the latter category, and they were able to answer almost all of my questions without hesitation.

My fitting was very similar to Kiyoshi’s, so I won’t go into too much detail there. Besides getting my measurements from an Indochino-certified source, my main goal was to see what the scope of customization was. Giving one or two dozen body measurements may help hone in on a great fit, but there are many more intangibles that could make or break a suit. Besides all the usual measurement points (chest, arm, shoulders, etc.), I left with the impression that they could directly modify the rise of the trousers and the length of the suit, both of which are crucial to fit and proportion. I was concerned that these were based soley on one’s height, but it sounds like they are variable if requested. There were other tweaks that they were unable to perform, namely sleeve pitch (which was an issue on my trial size) and shoulder padding. I understand not messing with sleeve angles, since that would be a nearly impossible metric to create; however, I was surprised that padding levels were not variable, especially given the popularity of unpadded jackets. There were also notable omissions from customization options (specific lapel widths, unlined jackets), but I understand that the line must be drawn somewhere. More power to customize can also lead to more mistakes by those who don’t know better, so this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I thoroughly enjoyed touring the aisles of fabrics and seeing the completed suits on display. In my short interaction with them, the fabric seemed very comparable to my Thick as Theives suits (another fashion-forward MTM suiting company that I may write on later). It’s worth noting that their suiting fabrics were only standard four-season worsted wools - flannels, tweeds, and other hearty fabrics were missing there (although some were present in the blazer options and I’m guessing suits might be available on a seasonal basis).

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. One of the best parts was that I was never pressured to buy anything; I went in and told them I wanted the Indochino experience but was not in the market for a suit, and they were still more than happy to spend a large portion of an hour chatting with me.

To say the least, Indochino has always been a very polarizing company. Some men love the idea of customization and the potential for better fit at mall brand prices, while others seem genuinely offended by the products Indochino offers. It is also true that the quality of the results I’ve seen have varied dramatically - that is the inherent risk of the blind made-to-measure process. In my opinion, it is best to take Indochino for what it is and nothing more. They will not make you a perfect bespoke suit. They will not match the quality of a suit that costs thousands of dollars. However, they will give you the opportunity to have a hand in creating a suit with a certain aesthetic, while offering solid fabrics and a more customized fit, and staying competitive with accessible mall suits. If that sounds like your thing, go for it. If you have your eyes on something better, Indochino probably won’t be able to fill that spot. If you do decide to pursue Indochino, making an appointment with the travelling tailor will be the safest route. If you can’t access one, get as many measurements as you can from as many people as possible and start there.