The New York Times; CHERCHBI Herdwyck bags
NEW YORK TIMES Style Supplement: The Herdwyck bag collection is included in the Pitti Uomo country/utilitarian/tweed-focused trend report, alongside Nigel Cabourn, Engineered Garments and Japanese brand Haversack. Here’s the full report, see final paragraph for new folks CHERCHBI.
Next fall, men are going to need a gaming license to make proper use of all the hunting- and fishing-inspired fashion that was shown this week at Pitti Immagine Uomo in Florence, Italy. The expected tweeds were out in full force, but in heavier weights and softer textures, in jackets and outerwear with utilitarian detailing and trousers made for stomping about in the country.
Haversack, a Japanese line with a very English “to the manor born” sensibility, showed colorful plaid jackets with hunting pockets along with tweed knickerbockers, those cropped pants favored by shooters out on the range as well as on the fairway. Diamond-quilted belted overcoats and a cropped khaki canvas and wool double-breasted jackets made for elegant impermeables while long-john-styled, button-front knit trousers came out for air. Takuji Suzuki of ts(s) took a long Chesterfield coat and added a chunky knit collar and topstitching details to make it more rough and ready. He layered ribbed knit leggings under long corduroy shorts and added Alpine hiking boots for this urbane explorer.
Over at Pitti favorite Engineered Garments, Takuji’s brother Daiki Suzuki designed coveralls in glen plaid wool with a matching cape and work apron. His always elegant layered looks combined wool utility jackets and quilted anoraks with bright hunting plaid shirts and chunky corduroy trousers, topped off with knit watch caps. Brown cotton canvas or “duck,” best known from Carhartt work wear, was used in washed sport jackets, vests and reinforced trousers. This American everyman fabric kept cropping up in the show, in hunting-style vests from Post Overalls and elegant flat-front trousers at Jack Spade.
The English outerwear expert Nigel Cabourn worked with Brady, an old English accessory manufacturer, to create angler-style bags in tartan tweeds with handmade net pockets that also showed up on sport jacket pockets. A new partnership with the Seattle-based Eddie Bauer, originator of the down parka, inspired Cabourn to reinterpret the label’s classic models in new high-tech fabric combinations and bright colors. The result is some striking Alpine-ready outerwear.
Adam Atkinson, who started the new bag company Cherchbi, based in the United Kingdom’s lake district, took 10 tries over a few years to perfect a new tweed made from a notoriously tough wool produced by the high-climbing Herdwyck sheep breed. The handsome range of rucksacks and totes are perfect for our city-dwelling, country-minded gents.