Hillflint: Merino Fair Isle Crew Sweater Perfect Gift

Love this color

   I noticed most my followers on social media shared similar interests  as me which are waxed canvas hunting jackets, duck boots, anything nautical, plaid in general and knitwear. I actually prided myself more on my knitwear collection than my shoe collection. When I'm talking about knitwear I'm not referring to about basic wool sweaters. I'm talking about wool sweaters with festive designs like Fair Isle Sweaters. Once I start seeing a Fair Isle sweater on the streets I know that it's damn cold. I simply love wearing them, it's actually one of the reasons why I look forward towards winter. A problem most of us preppy fashion enthusiasts face, it's hard to obtain these sweaters without going to vintage route. My friend Woody Hines of Hillflint has the answer for this sweater crisis. For the holidays, Hillflint has a Fair Isle sweater made from merino wool. Most Fair Isle sweaters are either made with itchy Lambswool forcing you to wear a button shirt under. Cashmere can definitely put a hole in our pockets. It is made with 100% Hillflint signature soft, extra-fine merino wool. The brand guarantees it's the softest Fair Isle you've ever felt. The sweater is available in two colorways blue and sunset. A fair isle sweater can be worn several ways it's an excellent layering piece it can be styled with a down vest or worn under your Barbour. Many people have a misconception with these sweaters and only wear it during the holiday because they can be a bit festive. But the fair isle sweaters from Hillflint don't have reindeers or snowmen so you can wear them late till February. The sweaters are quite affordable compared to other brands like J.Crew, Brooks Brothers, and Ralph Lauren because you're not getting a blended wool sweater. You're getting a sweater that is 100% merino wool. Every preppy guy wants this sweater in their closet, ladies this a excellent holiday gift. You can preorder the sweater now and get a $20 off launch price and be at your door before Christmas. Order now

The Sunset color is also Crispy

I need it for my sweater collection so do you

Collared Greens: The Wolfe Button Down

Love this color

    The holidays are upon us, which means family reunions and holiday theme parties. You want to look your best at these social gatherings. Collared Greens have the perfect shirts to have you looking proper and crispy. What I love about these shirts is that they're made in Pennsylvania out of 100% Pima cotton. The shirt has a tailored fit. The high stitch count provides incredible durability and totally is your money worth. Wear the shirt tucked with a surcingle or a leather belt or keep it more casual by wearing it untucked. Regardless, any way you wear the shirt you will look crispy. Both colorways look great.The shirt retails for $95 and it's definitely the crispy shirt to wear for the holidays. Get the shirt now.

Viva America

Also available in Navy/Teal

The Brothers Crisp: St. Crispins Day Boot

       Like I said before, some of  my favorite brands I discover them on instagram. I barely have time to read other menswears blogs. But I'm always checking my instagram. It's actually my favorite social media to stay updated. The Brothers Crisp is probably one of the best kept secrets, brands in the industry. Just by following their instagram I can tell they really know their stuff. Not only they're knowledgeable, but also creative. Probably only brand that makes handcrafted leather sneakers Made in USA in my knowledge. The boot that I'm presenting today is the St Crispin Day Boot. It's their six-inch boot silhouette featuring 7 oz. cognac colored Essex leather from Horween Tannery. Only 10 pairs will be made. This leather is 100% vegetable tanned using the same tanning extracts Horween uses for its genuine shell cordovan. The outer quarter panels are a beautiful vintage tweed and the inner quarter panels are a hand waxed olive Cone Mills duck fabric. The boot is finished off with a US made Vibram 100 boots sole in honey. If you're not familiar with seeing these words Essex leather, Vibram, and duck canvas in a sentence I will gladly translate it to quality. The quality on these bad boys is no joke and will definitely break some necks when you wear them, this work of art are available now and retail for $528.00

Crispy Vintage Tweed

Waxed canvas in inner quaters panels

Walk forever with these rugged vibram soles

Pendleton Woolen Mills First Newspaper Advertisement 1901

 Hello everyone, one of my favorite American companies is Pendleton Woolen Mills. All the Pendleton clothing  that I own is top-notch quality. For my throwback Thursday post I'm taking you way back to one of the company earliest advertisements. This advertisement dates back 1901 and it's their first newspaper advertisement. The company used to be the Indian Robe and Picture Company and their main consumers were the Indian reservation. The pictures were taken by Lee Moorhouse. Moorhouse was fascinated with Indian Culture and he started to record the local history around Pendleton, Oregon and his Indian images were heavily used on Pendleton Woolen Mills advertising until 1914.

Pendleton Woolen Mills Ashland Jacquard Coat

 

    This Pendleton Woolen Mills jacket would be a great addition to anyones closet. This beautiful jacket that I would dearly love to own is part of the Thomas Kay collection. Thomas Kay is the founder of the iconic American brand. The Ashland Jaquard Coat is such an western American designed jacket. The jacket is 82% virgin wool and 18% cotton, made in America. The jacket has a shawl collar. It comes with three exterior pockets and two hand-warmer pockets. Staring at this jacket it reminds me so much of Ralph Lauren designs. I'm sure Pendleton jackets were influential in his designs because he has a huge obsession with western American style.This classic jacket which  I consider heirloom quality runs for $399.00

Blanket-woven American Indian design

Classic shawl collar

Stamped brass Pendleton buttons

3 front pockets / 2 hand-warmer pocket

Made in America

- See more at: http://www.benchandloom.com/shop/jackets-coats/489#sthash.JUVQkxlh.dpuf

Thomas Kay* Collection, founder of Pendleton Woolen Mills - See more at: http://www.benchandloom.com/shop/jackets-coats/489#sthash.JUVQkxlh.dpuf

Thomas Kay* Collection, founder of Pendleton Woolen Mills - See more at: http://www.benchandloom.com/shop/jackets-coats/489#sthash.JUVQkxlh.dpuf

Thomas Kay* Collection, founder of Pendleton Woolen Mills - See more at: http://www.benchandloom.com/shop/jackets-coats/489#sthash.JUVQkxlh.dpuf

L.L.Bean Matinicus Rock Crewneck and Cardigan (Mountain Red)

Matinicus Rock Crewneck $89.99

Matinicus Rock Cardigan $129.00

    Besides the Norwegian sweater, the Matinicus sweater is my favorite sweater design from L.L.Bean. For the readers that were around in the 80s you might remember the sweater being called the Blue Rock Sweater. This was a must have item along with the other classic staples like bean boots, scotch plaid flannels, and the barn coat etc. For some odd reason the sweater was discontinued and was brought back to life a couple of years ago (check out the post here) The classic original color is blue. This year L.L Bean Signature released a new colorway of mountain red very appropriate to wear now with the holidays upon us. The sweater is crafted from heavyweight Shetland wool yarns in a classic jacquard knit. The sweater this time around has a better fit slim through the chest, sleeves and waist for a clean and polished look. Both sweaters look great and will definitely keep you warm.

Gretsch Musical Instrument Factory South Williamsburg

   Before Williamsburg was known for vinyl and glamour. Williamsburg was an important neighborhood in manufacturing. A lot of factories were located in Williamsburg because it was near the waterfront. If you happen to walk by the famous Domino Sugar Plant and start walking towards Broadway from South 6th street you will come across to the Gretsch Musical Instrument factory. The Gretsch is probably better known as a pioneer in the luxury loft conversion in South Williamsburg and being redesigned by the infamous Karl Fischer.  The 10 story building was built in 1916 to replace the previous Gretsch factory building which was located at 104 at 114 South Fourth Street. This was actually the fourth Gretsch factory built to keep up with the demands of production.

Gretsch Musical Instruments Factory in 1916

South Williamsburg Gretsch building probably the 1916 which seems to be a trolley

   Friedrich Gretsch, established the company in 1883 when he opened a little shop at 128 Middleton Street in Brooklyn. There he and a few workmen made drums, banjos, tambourines, and other musical items. His son, Fred Gretsch Sr. took over the company became in charge of the company after Friedrich Gretsch Sr passed away. He was only fifteen years old when he took over and  did a pretty damn good job turning the business into the largest instruments manufacture in the United States. This building is probably more famous than the other buildings since it was used appear on the pages of Gretsch catalogs, flyers, and advertisements. This building specialized in the production of guitars and drums, then only to guitars when the beatles started to use the company guitars it became an epidemic. In the late sixties the  company wasn't doing so well and it was sold to another instrument company Baldwin Piano Company. Which also resulted in the company moving from Brooklyn to Arkansas. In 1985, the founder's great grandson Fred W. Gretsch, buys back the company and returns it to the family. He locates the company in South Carolina.

Work being done

   In 1999, the family sold the building to a developer, which converted the factory into a condominium. Like I stated earlier, the factory was one of the earliest factories to fall into the conversion trend. The 200,000 square foot manufacturing building was converted into 120 loft condominiums. The building obviously has a great view of the Manhattan skyline since it's two short blocks from the waterfront. The ceilings varies from twelve to fifteen feet high. It also has a gym and roof deck.  The building has a low-key appeal to anyone new to the area because of the building exterior you wouldn't guess it's a condominium. But the building isn't anything, but low-key it's an OG when it comes to the world of abandoned factories converted to condominiums. Rapper Busta Rythmes lived here.

The Lincoln Building aka 1 Union Square West

   The Lincoln Building, also known as 1 Union Square West because of its address located at 1 Union Square West in Manhattan, New York City, is a 8 story Romanesque Revival building that was built in 1887. I'm sure many people seen this beauty, but have no knowledge about the building. It became a landmark in 1988. The architect of the building was R.H. Robertson, the building was designed Romanesque rival style same style that he used for churches, and houses. The building is definitely a landmark because it was part of the new generation steel frame construction building that were reaching record breaking heights. While steel frame construction in today world is a normality back then this was a magnificent innovation. The building used masonry for its load bearing walls and an interior steel skeleton framing. The framing consisted of steel beams, steel girders and cast-iron columns. The masonry consists of granite, Indiana limestone and brick. What I find the most interesting about the building is the layering or stacking of the floors. Some of the floors have arcades of windows while others have columns. The detailing consists of terra cotta ornaments of griffins, human and lion heads, Byzantine, Norman and Celtic designs.  What is interesting is that the land where the building was built on used to be part of the Henry Springler farm.

Loving the detail

 Some of the building's first tenants were actually architects. Van Campen Taylor had an architecture office during the construction of the Chatham Hall. Other firms were Hubert, Pirrson&Company. Eyelet Buttonhole Attachment Co were also tenants of the building. The building had many tenants because it was a located in a very desirable location, which was being close to Broadway. Back then Broadway was the city's most important street. Most businesses were located on Broadway. Current tenant is a clothing brand Diesel

    I give  Kudos to R.H. Robertson for being a forward thinker because he mixed old and new. He designed a building with a traditional look but with modern materials.

L.L. Bean Signature Tweed Sports Coat

I need this and so do you!

 When I think of fall, tweed is the fabric that comes to mind. In the past weeks, I have been wearing a blazer more often and I like this decision very much. I actually want to add a tweed blazer to my fall wardrobe along with a pair or tortoise eyeglasses. A couple of months ago I was previewing L.L. Bean fall/winter 2014 collection, which I must urge everyone  to please check out. The tweed blazer was one of my favorite pieces from the collection. Seeing it in person the tweed jacket has a nice vintage feel. The fabric is 18 oz. Plaid wool, perfectly polished down to the smallest details: real horn buttons, traditional pocketing and a single back vent. Four-button cuffs. Felt trims under the collar adds stability and helps maintain shape. Welt chest pocket, two lower flap pockets. Two inside pockets with button-and-loop closures. The blazer has a slim fit since its cut closer to the body and slim through the sleeves for a modern streamlined fit for the 21st century trad guy. The jacket retail for $249.00 flask sold separately.

Alex Mill Donegal Wool Sweater

Navy $205.00

Navy $205.00

    Check out these crispy yet very warm Donegal wool sweaters on Alex-Mill.com. The sweaters can be worn by themselves or as an excellent layering piece. Great hand feel. What I really like about the sweater is the white speckles which reminds me of those classic Christmas sweaters. The sweater should have a great fit because it has  ribbed cuffs, neck, and hem. It features a saddle shoulder construction. The sweater is 100% wool. Available in black and navy for $205.00

Black $205

Black $205