Vintage finds

The other day, while picking up some recent orders from my shirtmaker (some of which make the background for the piece I want to tell you about in these photos), I discovered an old shirt which was never picked up by the client. The shirt was made in 1968 when the store was still named after the two original founders. It is a simple sport shirt with button-down (also called "polo") collar and single button barrel cuffs. The shirt has some features which make it recognizable as a late sixties to early seventies piece of clothing such as a relatively high collar band and a very slim cut (without using back darts by the way). But apart from these minor details, the shirt could have been made today. From the way the cuffs and collar are attached to the cut of the sleeve to the special single needle stitching starting wide at the upper shoulder and narrowing towards the armpit and side seam the construction hasn't changed a bit — even the supplier of the thick and durable oxford cloth for this shirt is the same as today! In times of time saving and thus cost cutting measures in fashion production, this is truly good news to me. This personal satisfaction aside, I am always thrilled when I get the chance to have an in-depth look at vintage pieces of clothing, be it an old tie, shirt, suit or a pair of shoes.
Since I have not had a sport collar made by this shirtmaker, I had one modeled after the old shirt's collar for my next order. We will see how it turns out soon.

Minimalistic try-on shoes

I was at my shoemaker the other day for a fitting on my latest shoe project which will be ready by the end of march. The shoes are going to be in a plain whole cut design from soft suede in a reddish brown (see the shoe in my last picture). Wholecut shoes typically come in one of two variants: With (finished either with a "dog's tooth" or an additional strap of leather to protect the seam) or without a seam at the back. I opted for a design with a seam for one simple reason: durability. A seam at the back makes the shoe less prone to odd deformation. Also, in case of a refurbish, the lasting process is a bit easier.

The soles will be relatively thin and finished with a natural edge-trim. They will also have a step between the waist and the heel plus a special heel design called the "Thomas heel" which is longer on the inside than it is on the outside, with the two sides joined by a wave line.