Jacoform

Just bought my third pair of Jacoform shoes, an uber bargain aswell.

These being the Nubuck 332 model up top. These may have that ugly-cool, nerdy appeal about them, and the fact that the masses cannot see the fuss is yet another attraction, plus they can be a little hard to source aswell. All that is all well and good, but the most important thing is they are really comfy footwear. Quite literally an orthopedic shoe, this Danish cult brand of sorts developed in the late 60s by Professor Jurgen Keller, who wanted to make an anatomically ideal health-shoe based on the 'beach walk' theory - i.e. wearing these shoes is akin to being as comfortable as walking barefoot in damp sand. With a rigorous hand crafted method of manufacture, seeing each pair going through more than 200 manufacturing steps and very strict quality control.

Stansfield

Picked this up yesterday, Stansfield '208B. Car Coat'.

One of my favourite labels, Stansfield produces some really well crafted and unique garments.

Arguably an acquired taste perhaps, but he (Dominic Stansfield) does his own thing, centered all around heritage, it's smart, functional, traditional clothing with a modern twist and an amazing attention to detail.

Due to them being out of action this season, I chanced upon this coat from this time last year.

I'd say it's pretty funky, even by my standards, but it works, a double breasted heavy duty wool coat, sheepskin lined with shawl collar, and polka dot lining with pockets in the right places.

I'm not sure if this even went into production, as it's slightly different to the product shots I've seen online.

New Polloi

For those a little further afield than the North West and Manchester, here's a sneaky peak at the new forthcoming bigger site where Manchester store Oi Polloi will be moving early next year.

Just a jog around the corner from the existing Tib Street shop, is the 1600 sq ft Thomas Street store, the place has been totally transformed over the last few months and is coming along nicely.

Desert and Forest Clothing

My bro recently touched for this two-tone outdoorsy jacket from a pal.

Elk was a short lived and now not often seen label from around ten years ago. Produced by ex-Smiths, The The and Electronic guitarist, Johnny Marr, and one of the founding members of Manchester's Oi Polloi.

This label was available in high end stores like Selfridges and Harvey Nicholls in the capital, and also the now defunct Geese in Manchester, notably their leather cagoules were worn by Oasis, New Order's Bernie Sumner, and was at the time described by DJ Mike Pickering as "beautiful scallywear" Elk was about to take off in Japan, but an ill-advised partnership with a production company meant the firm folded. Elk was 'built in Britain' and was dubbed Desert and Forest Clothing.