01/10/2021
This week bespoke tailor Nicholas Simon visits Garmology to talk about the future of suits, how he was pushed into pushed tailoring, why Savile Row is still the epitome of suit-making, the difference between a good suit and a bad suit, bespoke vs made to measure, why it makes sense to own a really well made and well fitting suit…
14/08/2014
Regular readers will be well aware of the issues I have with garment manufacturers and their sloppy and inaccurate sizing, and how this makes it difficult to predict the sizing of clothes based upon their information. Argh, I feel my ire rising just thinking about it. In a recent piece I ended with the questions “Is bespoke the only way to…
20/02/2014
A recent book purchase has proved to be a valuable source of inspiration and food for thought to me. The book in question is “My Rugged 211” by Minoru Onozato, editor in chief of the Japanese magazine Free & Easy. Free & Easy is one of several Japanese magazines covering the retro and heritage clothes culture in Japan. Quite popular…
18/10/2013
In another post where I talk smack about stuff I really shouldn’t talk about, given that I’m a civil engineer not a marketing guru, I give you: What makes a brand? A name, a designer, a style, something ethereal and mystic, history, or something else entirely? To me, names come and go, designers are rarely given celebrity status, styles come…
22/08/2013
While in London recently I met up with the owner of a British garment brand of some note. A great chap, with a long career in the industry and today doing his own thing, after many years of working for some of the leading figures in British men’s fashion. He’s an outspoken chap, with strong and wide-ranging opinions, and hence…
14/07/2013
Last week an email from a friend in the garment industry prompted me to put my thinking cap on with regards to the business of sales and price reductions. It turned out to be a lot more difficult than expected to write something even halfway sensible about, as the more I thought about it, the wider the topic ranged, and…
15/05/2013
From an incredibly wet and un-summery Norway I’m back for another edition of the almost transcendental series of waistcoat verbiage I have titled Waistcoat Wednesday. In fact, I was going to feature this fine waistcoat last week, but the lashing rain and howling wind put paid to that feature. This week I would not be foiled and while the raindrops…
06/05/2013
For the longest time I’ve harboured a, mostly unexpressed, jealousy towards women. That’s women in general, not really any specific females, at least not in this case. You may wonder why I’m jealous (or not, in which case I’ve probably lost your interest anyway)? Now, I’m quite certain I’m not alone in feel a little jealous, although I’ve resisted Googling…
16/04/2013
On a recent trip to London I made a point of seeking out the famous Savile Row. I’d watched the 3-part docu-series the BBC had made about Savile Row focusing on it’s changing fortunes and I was really curious about what the street was really like. I did a post on this visit a while back, it can be found…
14/04/2013
The other day I was having a look at my friend Grey Fox’s blog and suddenly found myself staring at a photo with a quickening pulse. Something about it was different, though I’m hard pressed to describe it in words. The photo is of a guy, in a cap and coat, in tweed. Surely something seen a thousand times before?…