Red Wing Shoes x Nigel Cabourn

In Minnesota we picked up the first sounds of an upcoming collaboration between Red Wing Shoes and Nigel Cabourn. During their visit to Newcastle, Joachim and Timo from Anothercompany received the news that confirmed the rumour. Inspired by that news they shot some Red Wing shoes from Nigel's own collection at his home. It's great to see two giants getting inspired by each other and finally collaborate!

Denimsulation

The way you act always affects the environment in a certain way. The initiatives of companies trying to be "green" and responsible are admirable but usually uncool. They advertise it very aggressively, while they should do good and focus their marketing on something more interesting.

However, some initiatives are worth mentioning. Levi's are currently renovating their headquarters in San Fransisco. They are using discarded denims as insulation. Throughout the building there are windows where this cool insulation can be seen. (image via Coolhunting)

Would this insulation also come in XX rigid denim? I will have to ask our friend Miles.. :)

Nailing uppers to outsoles

Calabrese Bags

Not able to go to Paris for Capsule I was eager to see what kind off brands would be spotted by Tenue de Nimes at the fair. They came across a nice example of Italian craftsmanship: "Calabrese". This brand was founded by tie enthusiast Eugenio Calabrese.

For him the tie was the most important part of his wardrobe. Therefore he had a collection of 200 different ties, so his tie could always fit his mood. Being an entrepreneur, and always looking for new styles and fabrics, he started his own company in 1924. In the 60's they started distributing their ties to tailors and shops all over the world. Choice of fabric and finishing were the ingredients which clearly distinguished them from the competition.

Nowadays the collection consists of ties, bags, scarves and accessories. The good news is we are going to carry the Calabrese bags in our store.

Yes is it official

Yesterday we announced that we are going to open a Red Wing Shoes store in Amsterdam. The first publications are already on Selectism and Slamxhype. This new adventure is going to be amazing.

The collection of the store will consist of a wide assortment of Red Wing shoes, complemented by shoe maintenance items, belts, gloves and other accessories. The brands that represent this part of the collection include American Optical, Duluth Pack, Heritage Leather Company, Royal Republiq, Tanner Goods and The Hill-Side.

We will keep you informed.

Red Wing Watch Straps

These wonderful leather watchstraps belong to the line of "Ala Rossa" (Italian for Red Wing) watch straps available at Watches24Seven. All are handcrafted in the USA by Kevin "Adeeos" Rogers. The leather is supplied by Red Wing's tannery S.B. Foot Tanning Co. Presented in 4 colors and different sizes, each will be a cool and functional accessory for your vintage military watch. They will age just as nicely as your Irish Setters!

Alaska

Empty, desolate roads can be beautiful. They literally cut a landscape in half. I enjoyed driving these kinds of roads a lot while being in the Northwest. This picture was taken by Navid Baraty - a bit further north - in Alaska. Check his website for more photography. His pictures are another reason to buy an iPad, so you can enjoy staring at your desktop image. (image via the189)

Woolrich Woolen Mills S/S11

Daiki Suzuki has already announced his last collection for Woolrich Woolen Mills. While it makes sense that he will focus on Engineered Garments from now on, he will be missed nonetheless. On the other hand, a lot off people will look forward to the collections of Marc McNairy. I must admit that I do as well.

SLAMXHYPE posted the first pictures of the collection for the S/S11 season this morning. The main theme is "Classic Engineering" and from what I have seen contains some classic outerwear like parka's, jackets as well as some very nice shorts.

If you like this brand, you will wanna check out the store window of Tenue de Nimes this August. I heard my friends will celebrate WWM's 180th birthday in a special way. Maybe something with shepherds?

Click here for more images.

Vintage Banana Republic

What would you do without pockets? I carry a lot of stuff around so I always make good use of the ones available. Nevertheless it should look appropriate t00. Therefore I am a big fan of functional clothing that looks good at the same time. The styleblog Street Etiquette has posted some nice information and pictures about Banana Republic. The vintage jacket seen above is very classy. It looks a bit like a safari trench-coat because of the waistband (or like an urban survival jacket). Removable sleeves tend to be hit-or-miss, but this is a good example of a hit. Read the details here.

The ideal workplace

Imagine what your favorite workplace would look like. Mine looks like this. (via Old Chum)

Jolby & Ashley Forrette's "Sea Legs"

Interested as I am in tattoo's I came across this stunning artwork made by the collaborative effort of "Jolby" and photographer Ashley Forette. It is not an actual tattoo but I think it is stunning nonetheless. The complete collection of artworks can be seen here.

Alone Together by David Graham

While still in the mood for green hills, big cars and American breakfast - I received a tip about the work of David Graham. This photographer and professor "seeks out subjects which celebrate our singular freedom of expression in colorful roadside attractions and general oddities". Could not describe this any better. Hey has published a series of books, from which Alone Together published by Bonded Books in 2007 appeals to us most.

It visually tells us the story of the Kellan's. Just after WWII, they left civilization and lived together in a small cabin for decades. Close to nature and each other. Years after they left Graham portrayed their cabin and its surroundings as if the Kellan's just went out for a walk. Available here.

Minnesota Day 4

S.B. Foot Tannery is a magical place for producing leather. Big thanks to Daryl Mark - with more than 30 years of experience - for investing the time to learn us everything about the tanning process. After filling fifteen notebook pages and taking at least six hundred pictures, we can almost turn a steer hide into a premium piece of leather ourselves. Almost...

Tomorrow we will fly back to Amsterdam - a shame really, because we would like to stay for another week for inspiration and training. There is only one thing that we are not going to miss very much: the coffee… Translate "slootwater" anywhere online and you will have an accurate description of what we think it tastes like. ;-)

We will publish more in-depth info pictures of our adventures here in Minnesota as soon as possible. Big thanks to Red Wing Shoes and Tenue de Nimes for making it possible to travel to the work boot capital of the world.

Minnesota Day 3

We had a busy schedule to look forward to so we got up early. Not exactly a textbook case of rise and shine, we were however ready for action after another American breakfast. We visited "Plant 2" which is the current Red Wing Shoes factory where we were guided through all the different divisions of the manufacturing process. This place has an astonishing maximum production capacity of around 8,000 pairs a day. Crazy. Some of the machines that are still in use are more than a 100 years old. For example, the triple-stitch Puritan sewing machine was already patented in 1893. We spoke to an elderly man, a retired employee, who had operated this machinery for 44 years. After retirement, he recently got called back because of his extensive knowledge of the machine and he still enjoyed every single day. This is living the brand to the maximum, wouldn't you agree?

After a boxed lunch at the Red Wing Shoes HQ we were taken on an in-depth tour of the Red Wing Shoes office and brand store. Again, a very inspiring day! Tomorrow we are going to the S.B. Foot Tannery. We will keep you posted.

Minnesota Day 2

The weather was much better today… We drove out of Siren where we stayed for the night and headed further south.
With the shining, some good ol' country music blaring from the speakers we drove through the wilderness (we even spotted a black bear!) and into farm country: wide open spaces, huge fields and herds of cows dotted across the land. After a few hours, we made a short stop in a small town called Amery where an old guy gave us the advice to drive to Stillwater - there would be some nice antique shops. A sound piece of advice. We only bought a vintage case for shoecare, but we might head back there and do some more shopping.
Finally in Red Wing we ended the day at a BBQ with the Red Wing Shoes lifestyle crew, playing some games, enjoying a good burger and a local beer while talking about… Shoes.

Minnesota Day 1

It was a busy day in Minnesota. Yesterday we arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota, where we rented a ridiculous GMC truck. Being a bit jetlagged, we still decided then and there to drive 200 miles to Duluth while trying to keep our eyes open. It seemed only a short distance - until we converted the distance in miles to the distance in kilometers, that is. Still, we're young and were full of caffeine, so there was no stopping us.

This morning we visited the Duluth Pack manufactory. We were given a great tour around the factory and the store by the very kind Molly Solberg and topped it off with a great lunch at Northern Water Smokehaus with fabulous sandwiches (more on that later). Thanks to the rain we spent a big part of the afternoon browsing 2 antiques shops around Canal Park to find some interior items for our new shop. Blessed with a vintage American flag and some very old tools (like a log roller) for the new store we moved southwards towards Red Wing… Stay tuned...

Desert Harley

Browsing my feed I came across this great picture. I found out after a few clicks that the Harley Davidson XA-750 was originally built for the desert. It looks bulky for driving in the sand, but it has a drive shaft which made sure it could go anywhere. Just over a 1000 have been ordered by the US Army, but only an estimated 60 complete bikes have survived. (image via Ride Tha Machine).

Barbour vs. TO KI TO

The collaborative collection between Barbour and TO KI TO is already in its third stage. I have been looking forward to new drops since the first scoop on ACL last year. Merging technical outerwear with the classic jackets, while staying close at all times to the original vintage look and feel. More info and pics on SLAMXHYPE. Available for pre-order on Number Six from June 15th.

10 Questions for Red Wing's Aki Iwasaki

Newswire WWD posted a nice interview with Aki Iwasaki, head designer of Red Wing's lifestyle collection. Click here for the link!

Gilette Tech Razor

Being on a mission to find some cool shaving equipment for myself, I stumbled upon some really nice vintage Gilette Tech Razors. This is the type of razor my dad has used his whole life. No 4-bladed high-tech products for him: he prefers to stay old school. I find it kind of cool to see him stick to his habits of "the old days". The box in the picture did not contain the original razor unfortunately, otherwise it would be on my hitlist.

Baxter of Californa

People who know me do not see me walk around clean-shaven a lot. But if you feel you need to (shave, that is), do it in style and with proper equipment. My dad was always fond of old vintage double-edged Gilette razors. Personally I do like those cut-throat models. It takes a lot of practice and some skill before you manage an acceptable result.

Baxter of California has just teamed up with Hart Steel to celebrate BOC's 45th birthday. It looks so cool that a contemporary ninja might use these instead of his shuriken. Available here from the 16th of June.

Heavy Worn In

The title of this post actually refers to a popular term used by almost every denim brand a few years back, to mark their "vintage" looking products. A Dutch denim company took the cake by inventing the term "Heavy Worn In +". Quite funny to see this competition in superlatives. Red Wing Shoes keeps it simple and calls their special for J.Crew "distressed". Simplicity rules. Available here.