Put This On

Here’s the latest pocket square for the Put This On Gentlemen’s Association. Italian silk with a vivid blue paisley. Perfect for the transition from winter to spring. This will go out to members next week.

You can sign up for the club and get a hand-made square in your mailbox every other month, too. Just visit our signup page.

Just added five beautiful new squares to the Put This On shop. I’ve found that listing short-run pocket squares is a wonderful stress reliever in the middle of my “real” work day. All of these are vintage fabrics, and all in relatively small quantities. One of these, we’ve got two of. So, as they say, get ‘em before they’re gone.

Thanks, by the way, to folks who’ve been tweeting @PutThisOn about their favorite and most coveted designs. That’s what passes for consumer research, around here.

There are currently a dozen squares in our shop.

I took a few minutes this morning to post some of our most limited pocket square designs - we have fewer than half a dozen of each of these. All available in our Etsy shop.

Sometimes in shopping for the PTO Gentlemen’s Association, we find ourselves with a bit of fabric that’s not quite long enough or has a bit of extra length. I’ve been making these little gems up into squares, and we’re listing one a week or so as (often extremely) limited editions. Above is this week’s: purple wool, with a gorgeous and very subtle floral overprint. A lovely compliment to navy, orange and green. While supplies last.

Hank, No Tie

Hard-line traditionalists may wince, but I think a sport coat with no tie is a perfectly acceptable look. A nice one, even. In fact, when going out to a restaurant or bar, I’ll often wear a sport coat with woolen trousers and a nice shirt, but forgo the tie. This kind of ensemble is especially good in areas of the world where a necktie – no matter how casual – is still seen as somewhat of a formal statement (I’m looking at you, Bay Area).

If you decide to go tieless, I recommend at least wearing a pocket square. Not doing so can leave the look a bit unfinished. Something made out of a matte wool or linen will do better than a shiny, wet silk. The latter will have a sheen that may be too distracting when there’s no tie to counterbalance it. You might also want to tamp the square down a bit, so that it’s not sticking up too high into the air. I don’t think pocket squares should ever look too loud, but this may be even more important if you’re just wearing a square alone.

For your shirt, stick to solid light blues, or something like the soft pink that Alan Flusser is seen wearing above. Both are considered more casual than a solid white. For something even more causal still, consider shirts with stripes or checks (such as tattersalls, graph checks, or ginghams). Remember, the bolder the pattern, the more casual the shirt is considered. This kind of combination – a casual shirt and sport coat, worn with a hank, but no tie – will allow you to look sharp, but also well suited to certain casual environments. 

(Photos via The Sartorialist, Alan See, A Bit of Color, Tredici e Lupo, Off the Cuff, and StyleForum member Montesquieu)

Wingtip’s blog interviewed me about pocket squares and the Gentlemen’s Association. You can read the results - including where we get our fabrics, why I love pocket squares and how I fold my square - here.

We were delighted to participate in StyleForum’s year-end charity auction. We added two of our squares to a lot that raised $750 for Ronald McDonald House. Thanks to the winning bidder and to StyleForum for letting us get in on the action!

Our thanks to everyone who stopped by our sale at Wingtip in San Francisco on Boxing Day. My mother and I had a great time meeting dozens of PTO fans, and almost everyone went home with a pocket square (or two, or three, or four).

If you’re in the Bay Area, and you haven’t visited Wingtip, you owe yourself a trip. The building is the former Bank of Italy, right under the TransAmerica Pyramid. There’s one vault full of neckties and one full of mirrors for custom clothing… it’s a really gorgeous space. I even got a great haircut from the in-house barber, Joe Roberts, while I was there.

Besides the sales floor (which is huge), there’s two beautiful floors of private club upstairs where the bank’s executive offices used to be. There’s a cigar room and a Scotch bar and a wine cave and a boardroom… it’s a sight to see. The coolest part is that your club dues can be spent in the store. So it’s sort of half private club, half customer loyalty program.

Lots of folks have been emailing asking if they can get in on the action other than in-person. At the moment, the answer’s no - we can’t run a web business at sample sale prices. If you want to get in on the PTO pocket square action, join the Gentlemen’s Association.

I hope all you Bay Area PTO readers will stop into Wingtip on Wednesday. We’ll have a couple hundred handmade pocket squares for sale at crazy prices, plus Wingtip will be kicking off their annual sale. Should be a lot of fun, and a great place to spend that Christmas check from grandma. And it’s just a couple blocks from Montgomery BART, in the shade of the Transamerica Pyramid. No guarantee that 80s Willie Brown will be there, but we’d love it if he showed.