6876 Barkas B1000

6876 have just released their latest piece of outerwear - and it doesn't disappoint. The Barkas B1000 has been made using authentic wax cotton, manufactured by Halley Stevenson in Dundee, and then crafted to the usual high quality we expect from 6876 in London.

An amazing shape, combined with that superb colour - this is 6876 at their very best, wearable, quality, outerwear - all finished to an incredible standard. Available now from the 6876 webstore.

www.sixeightsevensix.com

Snow Peak Outerwear

We featured Snow Peak on here only recently, but after seeing their most recent drop over at Kinoko - we've had to make the outdoor brand centre of attention once again. Kinoko have taken a delivery of simply amazing jackets and outerwear pieces that oozes technicality and ace design - as well as the sort of high quality you can expect from the good folks at Snow Peak. All of the pieces are impressive but the 3 Layer Rain items are particularly special - made from a completely waterproof Japanese fabric, they have pockets in all the right places too - they are just so simple and functional - go and take a further look over at the Kinoko webstore, who have just uploaded a Lookbook featuring the garments to their website. 

www.kinokostore.com

Introducing: Josery Athletic - Sportswear Made in England

If you're like us then you won't be able to resist a nice, simple and well made plain tee. The likes of Velva Sheen have been capturing our attention and filling our wardrobes over the past few years - but now you can find quality sports garments a little closer to home - with the help of Josery Athletic. 

Based in Nottingham, where they carefully craft all of their products, Josery Athletic have got the sportswear look spot on with their selection of basics - and there are sweats, long sleeve tees and rugby shirts available too.

Take a look at their website (http://www.josery.com/collections/josery-athletic-t-shirts-made-in-hucknall-england) and their Instagram and Twitter pages for more information.

http://www.josery.com/collections/josery-athletic-t-shirts-made-in-hucknall-england

Snow Peak

Some rather nice Snow Peak garments have arrived over at Kinoko Store and we think they're ace! A particularly special item is the Camp Field Printed Shirt which features an amazing print, and they have also taken delivery of some winter accessory pieces including hats and socks. Head over to Kinoko now to check out their full range of Snow Peak.

www.kinokostore.com

Karhu Albatross "Nordic Berries" Pack

Finnish sneaker manufacturers Karhu have released a series of their Albatross trainers inspired by Berries of the Nordic regions. The Albatross is a great silhouette, and in the selection of colours presented in this release - just look amazing. Available now from Karhu and a selection of other retailers.

karhu.com

Store Focus: Steeple Pine

Steeple Pine is an online based store, that stocks brands such as Superga and TukTuk - with an emphasis on high quality, affordable garments. It's "sister" site Distant Echo has been retailing for a number of years now and has always been recognised by it's top quality service, something that has been transferred to the Steeple Pine site. We wanted to find out more about Steeple Pine so we asked them a few questions.

When was the decision taken to start Steeple Pine? And why?

Once Distant Echo was in a comfortable place it was decided to branch out into Steeple Pine. It was a thought out process and not one that was rushed into.

After a couple of years of running Distant Echo we released we had the experience and fulfillment model in place to grow what we were doing.

At first we considered expanding the range on Distant Echo but after some market research we deiced what we had created with DE was so focused on celebrating football casual we'd be better starting a new site that could cater for a slightly broader clientele. And so Steeple Pine was born. Whereas Distant Echo catered for "the casual inclined", SP was created for "the discerning gent". Whilst there's huge crossover we felt separating them into two distinct brands was best to allow both to live to their true potential.

How was the decision made to stock the various brands that you do?

First and foremost everything we stock, we'd wear. That's rule number 1. Nothing goes on the site that we wouldn't endorse ourselves. To do something properly you have to believe it in, and when it comes to the clothes on your back there's no greater way of testing that than seeing if you'd wear it yourself. If we were to all turn our nose up at something in the office we wouldn't stock it.

Secondly, and easily, the brands we stock are labels we really like and are passionate about. The first brand I pitched Steeple Pine to was tuktuk. I'd loved tuktuk for years before reaching out and was absolutely delighted when we got them on board. Like all our brands they make real good quality items that look smart and don't require a loan.

Following that we spoke to young up and coming brands like Realm & Empire and Marshall Artist. Labels that have a story to tell, really care about what they're doing, alongside real staple heavyweights like K-Way and Superga.

When Distant Echo was founded, was it always the plan to open another store to run alongside it? Or was it a natural progression?

It was never a concrete plan but I'd be lying if I said I didn't think ahead. The idea for Steeple Pine, or at least an outlet for clothing beyond the Distant Echo range was always there, but I wanted to get the first site complete and stable first.

What plans does Steeple Pine have for the future? 

Our offering is all about service. The internet is full of fly-by-night merchants in what we see as a race to the bottom with unsustainable discounting and shoddy delivery. We see ourselves as building a loyal customer base by offering the things we know you care about; quality items, fast and free delivery and reachable support should you need it.

www.steeplepine.co.uk

High Above: Bags made in Seattle

We have a bit of an obsession with well-made bags and packs, particularly those manufactured in the USA, UK or Japan. We came across High Above via Rivendell Mountain Works (who we featured in our AW15 Magazine) and aren't we glad? High Above have been creating bags and wallets since 2011 in Seattle and their amazing range of products hasn't gone unnoticed, they already have a Japanese store and customer base and are now targeting the USA - and soon the UK.

Their Ultralight Cuben Wallets are futuristic, functional and just really cool - and they're made using Cuben fibre which was originally designed for America's cup racing sails, like we said cool. This means that they are robust, hard wearing and it makes the wallets incredibly light - less than the weight of two US nickels.

They also have an incredible bag in their inventory called the Das Radpack. A really good size, perfect for everyday use and short rambles, not to mention the fact that its made using Waterproof X-Pac fabric. 

www.highabove.bigcartel.com

Clarks x 6876

We love it when two of our favourite brands create pieces together, especially when those two brands are Clarks and 6876. We're often wearing one of the two brands, if not both of them together, so this is perfect. Outerwear specialists, combining forces with the crepe sole specialists, and the outcome - two pairs of shoes that are simply amazing.

The Desert Boot and Desert Trek, were the two styles chosen for the collab, and for good reason - instantly recognisable in shape, and by quality. The Desert Boot comes in a subtle, yet eye catching grey suede and the Desert Trek in a really special deep blue suede - we can't decide which our favourite is but the shape of the Desert Trek in that colour is just mesmerising. 

A superb collaboration by two brands that really know what they're doing - these are limited too, so if you're thinking about getting a pair, you ought to be quick about it. Available from selected stockists worldwide.

www.sixeightsevensix.com

Introducing: Enkelhet

We first spotted Enkelhet on the ACasualManStore a few weeks ago, and since then have kept getting drawn back to their easy on the eye, classic pieces. We tracked down Adam from the brand to ask him more about their garments.

Could you explain more about Enkelhet - when and why was the brand founded?

Enkelhet was established in April 2014 by three friends from north-eastern Poland in their late teenage years / early twenties who were a lot into streetwear, sneakers and menswear sharing a dream that what they have to say and manifest could make a difference. With help from another of our friends – a graphic design student who helped us in terms of brand visual identity – we have begun to forge our vision.

What are the inspirations behind each piece?

Enkelhet means simplicity in Swedish and the name of the brand gives away two parts of the idea of our brand we had back then. We wanted to create clothes that are simple, yet standing out because of the extraordinary amount of care put into creating their form and attention to details.

Your garments are manufactured in the country you are based - is this something that's important to you? Do you feel you are able to work more closely with the people you make your clothes?

Our garments are inspired by classic menswear pieces – we believe that a piece of clothing shouldn't be just an effect of current trends – an empty container, which value is measured mostly by the context of current times that you fill it with and which will be expired in a season or a few. We believe that paying a lot of attention to little nuances, studying the form of the garment and polishing it until you have just right, minimal amount of uniqueness makes a successful product. Those models are then made using high quality fabrics by Polish seamsters who have many years of experience working in some of the best Polish manufactures to back up their skills. This brings me to a goal which also has always been close to our hearts – to show people worldwide that Poland can be associated with products that are both high quality and clean, fresh in their form, amazing art and stunning landscapes.

You are stocked by ACasualManStore in the UK - do you have any more stockists? Are you keen to see your garments in shops?

AcasualManStore is the only stockists at the moment and we are really grateful to Craig from ACM for believing in our brand and we hope to keep this cooperation live for a long time. Of course, we would like to extend our stockists in the future, especially we would like to work with stationary boutiques – it is much more convenient for a customer to make a right choice when he is able to touch,try and feel the garment.

What plans do you have for the future?

We are now preparing to release our Fall 2015 drop, everything should be ready in next few weeks.I don't want to go into too much detail - I want the clothes to speak for themselves when they finally arrive in the store.

enkelhetstore.com

AW15 Magazine - Out Now!

Our AW15 Magazine is available now from our webstore: aficionadomagazine.bigcartel.com

Arpenteur at Kinoko

One of our favourite brands is now available to buy from one of our favourite stores - cool, eh? 

Kinoko have taken a delivery of a great selection of Aprenteur garments including their incredibly cool tees, featuring ace artwork inspired by mid-century European cartoons and their amazing Petanque Pants in some rather special materials including a particularly nice denim and a wool version - perfect for the colder months. There's also a Thermolite Vest or as we call it - the perfect winter layering piece. 

Take a look at the full collection on the Kinoko website and be sure to check out the rest of their site for more ace garments, from the likes of The Hill-Side and Patagonia.

kinokostore.com

Store Focus: Picks from Jinji Shop

Paris based store Jinji, stock an ace range of brands including Orslow, Engineered Garments and Post O'alls as well as a great range of sportswear which includes the likes of Nike, Adidas and a superb range of Made in USA New Balance. 

They stock a really nice balance of products - Japanese denim, fatigue pants and chore jackets - their collection is spot on. We decided to pick out our favourite items that are currently available from the shop.

New Balance 1400 - Navy/Red

The 1400 is one of our favourite New Balance silhouettes - the shape, the sole and the consistently impressive colourways. This particular colour is right up our street, and particularly suitable for this time of year. And with all the USA made New Balance models, there is no doubt at all the quality will be extremely high.

Kapital 14 Oz Denim - One Wash

We're a bit obsessed with Japanese made denim and why shouldn't we be? These 14 Oz - One Wash - jeans from Kapital are up there with the best we've seen. Made in Okayama at Kapital's world famous Mitsu factory - these are special, and did we mention they're Made in Japan? Yeah, we did, a few times.

TSPTR Popeye Athletic Goods - Grey Marl

Another favourite, staple item, here at Aficionado is a grey tee, and when it's marl - that's even better. This Popeye referenced tee is up their with our favourite TSPTR garms ever and we were big fans of the Snoopy collection. There are a number of other great TSPTR pieces we could have included in this list including the rather nice Ebbets collab hat. 

www.jinji.fr

Interview Archives No. 3: Good Measure

The third of our interview archive posts is from our chat we had with sweatshirt specialists Good Measure. We are big fans of the brand, who create high quality sweats and also tees, in England. They are now stocked in a number of shops in the UK and worldwide, including Japan. Below are words from our chat with the chaps from Good Measure:

Firstly, when and why was the decision taken to start Good Measure?

The idea of doing something together had been kicking around for years, eventually we decided it was time to act. We then spent 18 months or more taking the steps to create something we where proud of. Travelling to mills and factories until we found people who we could trust to develop and manufacture a quality product.

When was your first sweatshirt produced?

We made various samples during the development process, but our first batch of production was Nov 2013.

Your sweats are stocked in some ace shops such as Oi Polloi and Peggs and Son, how did this come about? Are there plans for more stockists?

We know Nigel and Steve so once we where happy with the product we where able to get it in front of them and they believed we’d managed to make a sweatshit in the UK that was good enough to sit along side the more established brands they stock. The other stockists we have come through contacts and connections and we are really proud to be working with some great retailers. We work differently than most brands we make small batches of high quality sweatshirts on a regular basis rather than collections and seasons, this limits the number of stockist we can have both from a volume point of view and that retailers need to understand how we work and buy into that philosophy. Ultimately it would be good to have maybe a dozen UK stockists and some international, but we want to keep things tight so we can control quality and have a degree of exclusivity to keep it special.

Your collab with 6876 was extremely popular - how did this partnership happen?

We met Kenneth a while back and told him about our plans, once we we had the original M-21 we shared that with him and he shared an original 6876 sweatshirt. We decided to combine elements of both garments and the M-68 was the result it was really well received and sold out pretty quickly.

Can you explain about the production of each sweat?

To produce the sweats we work with the knitter to select yarn and construction for the type of fabric we want then the weight we want, typically our sweats are heavy weight. Our first batch of “Shirley Crabtree” is 470 GSM. Once we are happy we commission the production of the fabric and rib. We then work with our factory to produce the garments using our patterns and specifications.

From initial design to finished garment - roughly how long does this take?

It took over a year to get the M-21 right, making samples amending the fit re sampling tweaking details, once we where happy I would say it takes roughly 8/12 weeks to produce a new version of and existing style. To develop a new style from scratch is significantly longer.

http://www.goodmeasure.co.uk/

Interview Archives No. 2: Universal Works

The second post of our interview archive series is a recent chat (late last year) we had with David Keyte of Universal Works. With an amazing level of detail and quality in everything they do - Universal Works are at the top of their game. We've got a feature on their Saucony collab trainers (which are released tonight!) in our upcoming AW15 issue so make sure you check that out. Below are words from our chat with UW top boy David:

When were the first steps to start Universal Works taken?  

The last days of October 2008,  the company I was working for in London told me they could not pay me the 3 months salary and expenses they owed me and could I wait for 6 months and work for nothing!! SO i decided maybe if I was going to work for nothing I would work for ME,  and the timing was maybe right for me to start the company, I think menswear buyers and the public and maybe the trend of the time was more interested in the type of product and style I wanted to make, wanted to offer the world, and so it was!

What were the first Universal Works items to go on sale? 

We made a 40 piece collection of garments and offered to to UK retail stores through a London based showroom in January/February 2009,  the first pieces were then in stores for Autumn 2009, it was a lot of jacket and Knitwear , with shirts and pants too,  we had 8 stockists the first season  mostly they are still stockists some 12 collections later.
What are the main inspirations behind the brand?   

I have a fashion background, worked for some of the best of the Britain's menswear, but also a love of street wear, and British youth culture, casuals/punks/ northern soul boys etc. somehow I wanted Comme des Garcon to mix with Stone Island via Savile Row ,  but for inspiration its mostly  the old man on the number 47 bus wearing an old tracksuit top with smart suit trousers and battered sneakers with a raincoat and trilby and a shopper bag, yet somehow  looking cool and not giving a fuck about anyone else!

When was it decided that Universal Works should open a shop? 

Was that always the plan?  Not sure I ever had or have a plan, plan seem to get in the way of life really,  I just get on with things, the first store on Lambs Conduit St, is very small so not a big risk which is important when you fund all this yourself, and we loved the street and the opotuneatly came our way at the right time.

Do you have a favourite item that you have done so far?  

Yes all of them !!   well maybe the knit work jacket, it was in the first winter collection and still in very winter,  its a sort of sold plain "milano" knit cardigan that looks more like a proper jacket, its made in Nottingham with guys I have worked with for 25 years and I wear it every winter.

Despite your experience within Men's fashion, would you say it was still difficult when setting up UW? 

Well 25 years experience makes it a lot easier than form scratch for sure but YES it was difficult but its what I do and what I enjoy,   its much more difficult to do it keep doing it well,  if you want to do it consistently well it is anyway.

www.universalworks.co.uk

Interview Archives: Hiut Denim

We've got a load of ace interviews from our old 'zine ready to share on our new site, and what better way to start than with our chat with Welsh denim fanatics, Hiut Denim. This first appeared in our old 'zine issue five, last year, and gives a real insight into a great brand that is doing things the right way. 

When and where was Hiut created?

The Hiut Denim Co started 2 years ago. It is situated on the far western edge of Wales in a town called Cardigan. It is a beautiful place to live. It is on the edge. The edge is where the interesting things happen, the most interesting stuff always starts life on the fringes.

And we are on the waters edge. There is no backward step to take. We are a small army. Small armies can travel fast. They can surprise a big army by their speed.

After the closing of the old factory, everyone at the new factory knows this is our second chance. We will not be given another one. So we must fight knowing that this this is our last chance. Knowing that is useful when you are fighting a battle.

Why did you decide to start up?

It started with a mission to get the town making jeans again. You see, for 40 years it had the biggest jeans factory in Britain. It made 35,000 pairs of jeans every week for 3-4 decades employing 400-500 people. That’s a lot of jeans. And also, a lot of skill.

Then in 2001 the factory closed. It had fought the battle of who could be the cheapest. And it had lost.

But we decided 4 decades worth of skill, knowledge and understanding shouldn’t go to waste. But this time, we will fight a different battle. A battle for quality, design and ideas. And that’s why the Hiut Denim Company was born: To get the town making jeans again.

It’s a great story. Manfacturing goes away but doesn’t come back. But sentiment alone is not going to get 400 people their jobs back. There is no great brand that is built on sentiment alone. But ideas can get them their jobs back.

Our job is to have ideas. Only ideas will bring those jobs back.

What's the most important thing about denim?

It gets better with age. There isn’t many things that can say that.

How important was it to you to manufacture jeans in a town rich in denim history?

Malcolm Gladwell talks about having to do 10,000 hours to become a grandmaster in chess. In our town, we have people who have spent 20,000 hours, 30,000 hours, and in some cases, 40,000-50,000 hours of making jeans under their belts.

So oh boy can make a great jean. We have nearly 200 years worth of experience within our small team. We use denim from the best mills in the world. Our Japanese selvedge denim from the legendry Kuroki Mill uses natural indigo and is hand dipped 10 times until it gets to the very core of the cotton, so it will age as beautifully a jean can.

We love quality, we love understated design, that is just what we do. The skill in the town allows us to amongst the best makers in the world. But we know we have to combine those skills with new skills. And those new skills are based around having ideas.

We have to challenge the Status Quo of an industry that had its most innovative day back in 1886. That is why we are here.

David can beat Goliath. But only if David fights a different battle to what Goliath wants to fight.

What plans does Hiut Denim Co have for the future?

There are many things I would like to tell you about as they are so exciting. But we are a small army. Small armies don’t share their secrets. The element of surprise is key.

http://hiutdenim.co.uk/

New Site. New Mag. New Name.

As we've decided to change the format and name of the 'zine, we thought it only right to change the blog as well and give it a new, clean look. We've also changed the webstore too which you can find here: aficionadomagazine.bigcartel.com 

Our AW magazine will be out in the next few weeks and features some really great brands including Oak Street Bootmakers, Battenwear, Mt Rainier Design, Tender & Co, CAYL and more, as well as features on various cool things such as Transalpino, SneakersER and New Balance Gallery.