Dress shoes are best when they’re old, but sneakers are often better when they’re new. Which works out well because, if it were the other way around, nobody could afford a good shoe wardrobe.

One of my favorite dress shoes is this pair of Edward Green Dovers, which I’ve worn regularly for about four years now. Although the leather has long been broken in, the patina is just starting to build. The toe caps have darkened and the quarters are lightly scuffed. Somehow, even in their beat-up and wrinkled state, they always look their best on their last wear. Such is the magic of good dress shoes – a truly good looking pair isn’t something money can buy. It has to be worn in.

Sneakers, on the other hand, often look best box-fresh. Picture above are Converse’s 1970s Chuck Taylor repros in their “branch” colorway, which I recently bought for summer. Like the mid-century originals, these are made with a thicker sole and heavier canvas than what’s used today (Chuck Taylors were originally a bit chunky, before slowly thinning out in order to save costs). I’ve been surprised by how much I like these. They go with my Stevenson flight jacket better than today’s thinned out design, as well as quirkier Japanese workwear labels, such as Visvim and Engineered Garments.

You can find the Converse’s 1970s Chuck Taylors line at Mr. Porter and End. Edward Green’s Dovers can be bought at Brooks Brothers (who carries the Dark Oak model I own) and Mr. Porter (who has more unique make-ups). Truthfully, however, with the exchange rate being what it is, you’re better off ordering Edward Greens through Skoaktiebolaget’s made-to-order program. The prices are simply better.

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It’s bittersweet to see my hometown Vancouver change so much over the years. When I was growing up, it was a quiet, sleepy city with cloudy weather and an easy-going attitude (something like a Canadian version of their neighbors in Seattle). Nowadays, the place feels a lot more hip and bustling. Their menswear scene, for example, rivals that of any North American city’s outside of New York. You have Roden Gray and Haven for high-end streetwear; Dutil and NiftyDo for denim and denim-related things; and a dozen or so shops for everyday labels such as APC and Gitman Vintage.

One of my favorites is Neighbour – a small, cozy boutique that’s tucked away inside one of Gastown’s hidden courtyards. Although the shop is Canadian, it has a Scandinavian sense of simplicity. Its interior relies a lot on glass, light-colored woods, and concrete, and instead overcrowding the small space with too many racks and shelves, everything feels spacious and manageable.

Some of what Neighbour carries is probably too designer-y for the average reader here, although I think it’s all great. 1205′s Paula Gerbase, for example, worked for a while on Savile Row before starting her very modern, austere-looking sportswear label (she’s also designing a footwear line for John Lobb). Additionally, Christophe Lemaire might be one of the most interesting menswear designers at the moment. He recently left Hermes, where he handled womenswear, and caused quite a stir with his FW15 show(I think it’s one of the best in recent memory).

The rest of the store has things that can be easily incorporated into any wardrobe. Saager Dilawri – the New York transplant who started Neighbour in 2011 – tells me he only carries things that resonate with him. He likes Stephan Schneider and Our Legacy because their designs are interesting, yet also feel approachable and unpretentious (I’m a big fan of Schneider’s knitwear and Our Legacy’s jeans). He also enjoys O’Ballou for their 1950s sense of casual Italian style and the Japanese label Niuhans for their botanically-dyed clothes (he describes them as having a sense of “air-like lightness” and “clean perfection”).

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What would be the ideal menswear store? The editors of Apparel Arts thought they knew. In 1936, they published “Permanent Modern,” a fourteen-page article introducing their vision of modern menswear retailing.

The article spares little in details. Included are elaborate floor plans and descriptions of the materials that should be used for the architecture, fixtures, and display cases. According to the editors, things should look modern, but not “voguish modern,” as you want to catch the customer’s eye, yet also make the place feel inviting. They even specified the lighting and air conditioning systems (two whole pages were dedicated to that). Should the reader want to implement their vision, they included a directory for the contractors, suppliers, and equipment manufacturers who could help with the store’s construction.

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Sport coats in the fall and winter are often alive with patterns. In tweeds alone, there are dozens of variations on barleycorns and Donegals, as well as a couple hundred district checks. Good patterns are a lot harder come by when the weather gets warm, however. Part of the problem is that cottons and linens generally look best in solid colors, while tropical wools – namely Minnis Fresco – are typically only offered in plain blues and grays.

Harrisons recently reintroduced their famously popular book for patterned summer jacketings, Carlo Barbera for H. Lesser. As the story goes, the collection was initially introduced in the 1970s, when Luciano Barbera approached the British label about including a line of Italian fabrics in their collection. It was a bit of a risk at the time for Lesser, since their other offerings were so quintessentially British, but the book did surprisingly well – which is why many were surprised when it was discontinued. 

The new reissue is slightly lighter in weight than those 1970s originals (at 8/9 oz, it’s closer to what Lesser offered in the 1990s), and the patterns have been tweaked to give them a more contemporary feel. Missing are the gun clubs that so many loved, but there are still a number of handsome options. Some are a bit wild, such as a couple of bright, blueberry windowpanes, while others are reasonably conservative. I’m personally drawn to the dark blue Shepherd’s check and tan glen plaid seen in the first two images below. 

Harrisons has some other reissues planned this year. In the fall, they’ll bring back some of the cloths in their Fine Classics book, and in the next couple of months, they’ll reissue some things from Smiths’s Botany and Gilt Edge, as well as W. Bill’s Shetland. Those interested in ordering can contact one of Harrisons’ distributors (which here in the US would be Isles Textile Group). The Carlo Barbera for H. Lesser book can also be seen in large format here. 

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Trousers are pretty straightforward, at least when compared to jackets. Except for what goes into the waistband, there’s no real internal construction to speak of – just pocket bags and lining, which are hidden underneath the garment’s shell. They’re also a lot easier to fit, which makes them nice for custom tailoring. Once your tailor has your pattern down – one for flat front pants, and another for pleats – you can order trousers straight-to-finish. 

I recently received my first order from Salvatore Ambrosi, the famous (and at times infamous) tailor from the Spanish Quarters of Naples. Salvatore, for those unfamiliar, had a meteoric rise eight years ago when he was first introduced to the online community of bespoke tailoring enthusiasts. People were crazy for his stuff, but after a few good years, Salvatore couldn’t keep up with the increasing number of orders. Deliveries were delayed and emails went unanswered. As far as I know, everyone eventually got their trousers or money back, but people are still rightly sour about the experience. The last time I wrote about Salvatore, a well-respected menswear writer emailed me to say I was breaking iGent omertà. He was probably half joking, but also … probably half not. 

Since that debacle five years ago, Salvatore has slowly rebuilt his business. He’s developed a healthy customer base in East Asia, partnered with boutiques to handle the logistics of his orders, and expanded his workshop. Instead of just the small workroom that he and his father used to occupy – and Michael Alden once filmed – his family’s operation now takes up two floors in the same building. 

Things seem to be flowing pretty smoothly nowadays. I received my pants just a short month after my fitting, and I’m happy to say: they live up to their hype. As simple as trousers can be, Salvatore’s are exceptionally good. The pants fit perfectly clean through the legs and seat, and perhaps most importantly, they’re styled quite well. Unlike my English or other Neapolitan trousers, these are slimmer through the thighs, which allows the legs to be nicely pegged without making the hips look too wide. The rise comes to about my naval, but the pants don’t look frumpy because of the slim leg line and pleats. The pleats are subtle, but they help break up the swath of fabric that would otherwise stretch across the lap. 

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Phillip Carr, the director of Saint Crispin’s, is holding trunk shows at The Wingtip in San Francisco this week. I have a pair of chukkas already on order with him, but have been dreaming about my next commission. So far, the plan is to get a pair of Norwegian split toes (model 633) made from the some of the company’s famous crust calf.

Many shoe companies would have you believe that their shoes are handmade, but Saint Crispin’s are the real deal. Their uppers are hand lasted, bottoms hand beveled, and soles hand attached. Instead of using Goodyear welting or Blake stitching (which are machine-executed operations), Saint Crispin’s are hand welted with a pegged waist. By eliminating the stitching, they can get much more shaping into their waists and arches.

It’s that shaping that accounts for so much of Saint Crispin’s appeal. Check out these studded Dainite soles below, for example. Instead of the chunky versions you’ve seen from almost every other maker, Saint Crispin’s carefully bevels theirs to match the narrow waist of their shoes. This is done by first shaping the sole with a chisel, and then fine-tuning it with a rasp. 

As it goes with most things, these are best seen in person. You can check out Saint Crispin’s schedule of trunk shows on their website. They’re at The Wingtip in San Francisco until the end of Wednesday, March 18th, after which they’ll be leaving for East Asia. In North America, you can also find them at Leffot, The Armoury, LeatherSoul, and LeatherFoot. 

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Have you read “The Secret Vice?” It’s a wonderful article by the journalist dandy Tom Wolfe. Published in 1966 in the New York Herald Tribune, it’s about how men in the United States are hooked on the allure on custom tailoring.

“Practically all the most powerful men in New York,” Wolfe wrote, “especially on Wall Street, the people in investment houses, banks and law firms, the politicians, [and] especially Brooklyn Democrats, for some reason […] are fanatical about the marginal differences that go into custom tailoring. They are almost like a secret club insignia for them. And yet it is a taboo subject. […] At Yale and Harvard, boys think nothing of going over and picking up a copy of Leer, Poke, Feel, Prod, Tickle, Hot Whips, Modern Mammaries, and other such magazines, and reading them right out in the open. Sex is not taboo. But when the catalogue comes from Brooks Brothers or J. Press, that’s something they whip out only in private.”

Today, men with The Secret Vice find community online – where they can talk about tailors and clothes without shame. When possible, however, the world of bespoke tailoring is best explored through more traditional social networks. It’s always better to meet with another tailoring enthusiast in person, not only to see what his suits look like in real life, but also to get his thoughts. For a variety of reasons, clients are often eager to give praise, but reluctant to share criticism. To know how someone really feels about their tailor, you have to talk with him behind closed doors.

When I met with George from BRIO last week, he was wearing a blue sport coat and grey overcoat from Sartoria Corcos, a bespoke tailoring shop based in Florence, Italy. George has been a client of many tailors over the years (he introduced many enthusiasts, including me, to Liverano, for example), but tells me that Sartoria Corcos is probably the one he’ll stick with for life.

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For the past five years, if not longer, luxury goods magazines have been publishing the same story about China every week. The market there is booming, thanks to China’s economic growth, but consumers are said to be “unsophisticated.” Most buy luxury goods as status symbols, rather than for the quality they offer. As a person who’s half-Chinese, it’s hard to not get defensive over these characterizations, but it’s also hard to pretend they aren’t true.

There are some exceptions, however. George Wang – better known to some as maomao on StyleForum and Beijing1980 on Tumblr – recently opened a menswear boutique in Beijing. Named BRIO, which is Italian for spirit or verve, it offers the kind of classic, softly tailored Italian style that George has always championed. George was in San Francisco last week, so we met at La Farina for lunch and chatted about his new store.

BRIO is an impressive two stories. The first floor, which is street level, holds all of the shop’s menswear offerings. The second floor is downstairs, where you can find a lounge as well as a barbershop (BRIO has an in-house barber who can give a shave and a cut). The idea is make a space where men can hang out, relax, and have a drink; not just buy clothes. Photos show that the lounge is still a work-in-progress, but the space so far looks exceptionally nice.

So does the list of brands. There are some British makers, such as Begg, Edward Green, and Sanders (BRIO will be carrying Sanders’ Playboy chukkas, which were made famous by Steve McQueen). The rest, however, is largely Italian. The store will have Sartoria Dalcuore for suits, Stefano Bemer for shoes, Rota for trousers, and G. Inglese for shirts. Other brands include:

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If you happened to have missed out on my special run of Tobacco Fresco last year, No Man Walks Alone has a few ready-to-wear suits available in the cloth. Made by Sartoria Formosa in Naples, it features a patch-pocketed jacket that can be used as a sport coat, as well as trousers that can be worn separately. The price is not cheap, but the construction and styling of Formosa’s suits makes them one of the best values I’ve seen in the ready-to-wear market. Getting a suit that can be broken into separates just adds to the versatility. 

I plan to organize a few more special cloth runs this year. Next up is a fawn flannel wool, which will be going through Huddersfield. Stay tuned. 

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Clients of bespoke tailors, rejoice. Harrisons of Edinburgh just relaunched their website and the new layout is fantastic. Pictures of swatches are now bigger, and you can easily see their cloths as a whole or up-close. They also have sections for some newly relaunched collections, such as the famous Carlo Barbera for H. Lesser jacketings. 

There do seem to be a few things missing (the section for W. Bill is obviously much smaller than it should be), but I assume Harrisons will slowly build on its website. If you’re in the US, you can order physical swatches (as well as cloths) through Isles Textile Group. The roundabout process is somewhat slow, but at least now you can easily tell them what you’re interested in. You can also just peruse the site and dream about your next commission. 

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