Jackets

Mick, do you still have your Liebherr fridge and if so, how's it going?

After a 25 year gap, I'm now into leather jackets again, but have not evolved to tweed yet. 

Leather elbow pads are very much the fashion now, on what seems to be everything. I still don't know the best way to care for the leather elbows on sweaters.

I love my Harris tweed jacket. It's quite heavy but wonderfully comfortable and warm. There are various patterns and colours available & they're really smart with jeans.

Mine came from Keswick in the Lake District. Time I treated myself to another one!

I use Slaters Menswear in Birmingham

Hi Mick , check out Barrington Ayre there's some lovely jackets there .

Hello Chaps

Count.d - Yes I still have the Liebherr fridge, it's still purring on nicely.

Has anyone bought the EWM Tweeds, they look good and most come with waistcoats. They are a bit lighter and I don't want to buy it if they don't last and age well etc.

Regards

Mick

Gentlemen don't wear leather patches. Tweed jacket with mole skin waistcoat is the way to go. 

Sniper

I grew up in the 1950's and back then the leather elbow was associated with university students but I doubt if that association is valid today.

What made you state that moleskin waistcoats are the way to go ?

Regards

Mick

Mick, I used to have a a couple of moleskin waistcoats that always received plenty of envious comments. A matching tweed waistcoat will make you look like a gamekeeper at a shoot or worse - a nouveau . Actually you can buy waistcoats that are reversible - moleskin one side and tweed on t'other.  I used to own several pairs of moleskin trousers (I live in the jungle now so I wear shorts most of the time) and not just the usual olive green or khaki but black and navy blue but if you have sufficient panache then go for the red. 

Hi Sniper

On reflection your advice is good and I will start looking for a few waistcoats, I think a yellow, brown and red one should suffice. The advantage of these moleskin waistcoats means it is easier to buy a jacket without a matching one.

Is Harris Tweed really as good as it is cracked up to be ?

Regards

Mick

Hi Mick, 

The quality of Harris tweed is fiercely regulated by act of parliament no less. As long as you see the appropriate Orb trademark all should be well. You biggest worry should be the cut and the lining. Well, would you prefer to buy your jacket in Topman or Thomas Pink? 

I still have a jacket made from keepers tweed that looks like new and it is 30 years old. It is a dense weave and heavy with a sumptuous lining and well cut. Looks like this - http://www.cordings.co.uk/twee...t-keepers-tweed.html - the weight would not be to everyone's taste but you get used to it but the cut and fit are what count, after all, a lighter cloth would be less comfortable if it does not fit you well. Mine slips on and off like a dream. 435 GBP might seem like a lot of lolly but stuff like this will genuinely last a lifetime whereas some crap from a high street retailer will look shabby after 2 years if not sooner.

Cordings in Piccadilly do good tweeds. They have a website too.

+1 for Cordings in all country clothing matters.

Very nearly as good, and a bit cheaper, are Pakeman, Catto and Carter in Cirencester (though, like Cordings, well set up for mail order). I bought a tweed three-piece from there five years ago and it's wearing beautifully.

Neither Cordings nor Pakeman sell Harris Tweed (to my knowledge), but they do sell many other tweed designs which are a bit less hairy and slightly more civilised than the rather rough and ready Harris.

Oh, and if you buy a tweed jacket from new with brand new leather patches on the elbows, then everyone's going to be s******ing behind your back. Leather elbow patches (and leather trim around the wrist holes) is a repair technique for jackets of extreme vintage only and to buy a jacket with them on from new is Just Not Done.

Mark

Apologies for the forum platform foolishly assuming I was being appallingly racist when in fact I was employing a word meaning to laugh surreptitiously. Goodness me...

Seriously?  That is a different word having nothing to do with the racial epithet.

I recall a similar issue cropping up somewhere a few years back with a word that is a synonym for parsimonious, also having nothing to do with the racial slur.

There are also hundreds of weavers of Harris tweed. Wasn't there a story of the King meeting Lord Harris at Ascot , who was wearing a tweed suit before it was fashionable, and saying, " Morning Harris, going ratting?"

Yes, unfortunately it's not so smart that it can tell the difference.  Or perhaps, because the forum is hosted Stateside, it only really recognises Snickering...

Hi Mark

I live near Cirencester and will give these places a look when I am back in the UK.

That looks like a good place to shop and I prefer to try it on rather than order online.

Many thanks

Mick 

I must say, any forthcoming slim fit trousers thread is sure to be a peach!

C.

Dear Chris,

I bet I'd win in the Over 50 Class!

Still 32 inch waist thirty plus years after my twenty-firsts birthday ..

No beer gut either, but I can thank bicycles for that!

ATB from George

Actually George, you wouldn't win that.

Actually I've had a lot of success over the recent past with:  http://www.bookster.co.uk

I ordered my first Tweed suit from them .. remarkably well done and the material (Skye tweed) was just superb.  I've bought a number of things from them and have been very satisfied every time .. 

John

Half the problem with clothes is that there seems to be no standard set of sizes, or in other words, size 38 from one maker is size 40 with another.

I only feel comfortable trying it on before I buy.

Regards

Mick

Mick:

I understand the comfort from trying on before you buy, but as I said in my post I've been very successful buying from them without trying them on.

I'm a pretty standard 42 long and inputting those data associated with my size into their web site has resulted in a standard 42 long suit every time .. luck maybe, but I have to think that a company which relies on an on-line business model has to have some expertise in that model.  There are quite a number of tweaks one can also enter, allowing for individual corporeal  qualities, which will help you get the right fit .. 

John.

John

I am retired and enjoy travelling around, I am in Spain at the moment but will soon be back in the UK.  I don't mind driving around as its all part and parcel of being retired. I can easily travel somewhere to view a jacket or anything else.  The wife and I can book an hotel and make it a day out with a dinner thrown in for good measure.

So mail order isn't that necessary as I would be quite happy to drive anyway in the UK and just treat it as a holiday and coming back with a well fitting jacket.

Regards

Mick

It is a very long time since I bought a jacket. It was a 21st birthday gift from my grandmother, and I was told to leave it on the account!

I agree with Mick that half the fun is choosing and fitting and trying out! 

That jacket was sold me by a gents outfitter in Hereford [Symonds and Co] of the old sort where you could buy anything from a pair of socks, shirts, caps, bowlers, up to extremely nice three piece suits. And even overcoats that seem never to be used at all these days. I have a superb one from the same shop that was actually a hand me down from a cousin! 

Anyway that is over thirty years ago, and the jacket is better than new! It no longer looks quite new - the beautiful colours in the wool have become more autumnal - and definitely does not look bought last week to impress. It is heavy and warm, and fits like a good glove. Long enough to be warm in the biting wind as well!

John G Hardy, By Appointment, makers wooden cloth, Stroud, Gloucester. [Hardy Minnis cloth]

I never did ask the price, but granny was well pleased with my choice.

Suitable for the races, going to an agricultural event, or even a visit to the Motor Show. Too nice for loafing about, and would be absolutely out of place with a pair of jeans!!!

Indeed I once wore it to the Motor Show some years ago, with a nice Dijon Mustard coloured waistcoat and suitable Cavalry Twills, visiting the Volvo stand ... I was immediately engaged in conversation by one the representatives. They were ignoring dress-down types! They asked me what my car was and I said a 240. "Ahh! Excellent choice!"

Then they asked me if I had ever thought of getting something current. I said not really, so I accepted the invitation to sit in a C70 [coupe model with soft top].

I said that that this was no good, and that I'd definitely end up hitting something in reverse with such a high line behind the driver.

I asked what they had that you could see out off, going back.

We settled on a S80, and I gave them my address, and for several years I had the full model range brochure sent me, and the offer of a test drive at any time at the local Volvo dealers!

Just shows that if you dress right, but not showy, you get attention!

ATB from George