MEET MATSUMOTO FROM JAPAN

During my visit to the Modefabriek last weekend, I bumped into the jackets of Matsumoto.

Matsumoto is designed and created in Japan using the latest hi-tech, superb quality materials. Inspired by tradition with innovative design.

Beautiful loden fabrics are used for some of the outerwear pieces and Harris Tweed for their blazer styles, the inner lining is a hand painted camouflage.

My personal favorites are the updated Fireman Jacket and the Harris Tweed blazer

Thanks to Marit from Essential Basics for sending me the look book

HOLUBAR - PIONEERS OF AMERICAN OUTDOOR CLOTHING

The Movie

Alice & Roy Holubar

Vintage ad from the 70's

 We all know the movie The Deerhunter with Robert de Niro in his iconic Orange Mountain Jacket, but a few know that this jacket is a Holubar Jacket.

Holubar began informally in 1946 in the basement of Alice and Roy Holubar’s house in Boulder, Colorado, when they decided to buy World War II mountaineering equipment from an army surplus warehouse to supply the many outdoor enthusiasts in the area. Soon after, they started to sew down-filled sleeping bags and then also parkas and backpacks. When an important order came from the Arctic Institute of North America a year later, they bought a business license and started formal operations. To make a long story short in 1981 North Face took over the company and a iconic American brand disappeared. In 2008/9 there was this Italian clothing company Fritz SRL seeking to bring back the heritage of a great American outdoor brand. Based in Northern Italy in the city of Pordenone. This Fall/Winter 2016 collection is their fifth season ready to make you The Urban Deer Hunter.

REFRIGIWEAR - FROM THE WAREHOUSES TO THE STREETS

Original Parka

Hickory Jacket

High Blunt Jacket

Giant Jacket

Luxury Sheer Jacket

The story of Refrigiwear begins in 1954, year of its foundation in industrial contexts of the Meatpacking District of New York. In those years, the working-class neighborhood just steps from the Financial District was known for its many packing centers within large cold storage environments in which working conditions are shown to be particularly uncomfortable because of the very low temperatures.

In addition to the brand’s original market, RefrigiWear had become popular with campers, hunters and sportsmen. It was used in the “Dustin Trans-Polar Flight” around the world in commemoration of Rear Admiral Richard Byrd. After extensive testing, the RefrigiWear 50Suit was selected as standard basic clothing requirement. RefrigiWear was also used in the Yukon Quest, the annual 1600Km Canadian-Alaskan dogsled trek. Nowadays you still can find the Refrigiwear collection in those cold storages as workwear, but the Italians made a very fashionable brand of it for everyday use as you can see in the pics above. I personally love the Luxury Sheer Jacket.

BARBOUR DEPT B INTRODUCING CAPT. PHILLIPS

I recently visited the Dutch agent of Barbour, and had a sneak peek at the Fall/Winter 2014

collection. The Barbour Heritage Line also called Dept. B, (which was an area of Barbour’s factory that specialised in customisation and repairs.) brings homage to Capt. Phillips.

Captain George Phillips took command of the submarine HMS Ursula in 1937. Submariners wore general Royal Navy issue clothing, and he felt dissatisfied with the existing protective clothing. Through observing one of his crew wearing a one piece Barbour suit, he privately approached Barbour and commissioned a modification of a one-piece suit into a new two-piece design of jacket and separate trousers. This prototype was produced at Captain Phillips' own expense for the crew of his own submarine, HMS Ursula. Captain Phillips is indeed wearing the jacket of his design in the photograph above dated 1939.

This small capsule has some great looking jackets with nautical details and what to think about a beacon in the cloth. Down Periscope, where going under.