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Fortune favors the prepared over at Proper Cloth. While temps are still running a bit high right now, fall will return and it’ll soon be time for plaid flannels, waxed Barbours, and moleskin trousers. Proper Cloth has a new limited-edition run of Portuguese Flannel shirtings. Portuguese Flannel is a relatively new label, but with a long history. The fourth-generation, family-owned mill sources all of their materials from Guimarães in the northern tip of Portugal, a region renowned for its textile heritage and known historically as the cradle of the country. Their flannels are distinguished by their soft hand, which weavers achieve by brushing the material to raise the “nap.” Proper Cloth has some exclusive Portuguese Flannel shirtings in limited edition plaids, which can be worn underneath sport coats or with casualwear.
They’ve also launched another run of their Italian merino wool fabrics. The material is soft and slightly silky to the touch, naturally wrinkle-resistant, and regulates temperature (keeping you cool in the spring and warm in the fall). Lastly, for busy commuters and frequent travelers, Proper Cloth’s new stock of non-iron shirts will allow you to look crisp no matter how much wear you put into the material.
If you’re looking to spruce up a fall wardrobe, Chipp’s ancient madder ties can be worn with flannel suits, corduroy sport coats, and of course tweed (nothing badder than tweed with madder). Paul Winston over at Chipp once told me the chalky, dusty hand of ancient madder reminds him of a horse’s wet nose. I’ve always thought it was a charming description.
The term madder refers to two things. The first is the rich-red, vegetable dye that’s derived from the Eurasian plant Rubia tinctoria. In ancient times, it was used to dye regal clothes, which Bruce Boyer says is how we get the “ancient” part of ancient madder. Then we have “madder style,” which is an old method of printing that involves using thickened mordants, drying, aging, dunging, and dyeing with alizarine (the coloring agent obtained from madder root). I’ve never known whether madder in silks refers to the first or the second, but for what it’s worth, not all madder ties contain red.
In any case, the nice thing about madder ties is that they sit in the middle in terms of formality – just as good with tweed and corduroy jackets as they are with worsted suits and pinstripes. Chipp’s are made in New York City from the same English silks used by top-tier neckwear producers, but theirs are just $75 (almost a third of what some of their competitors charge). Paisley is perhaps the most classic option, while the small geometric foulards are better with suits and than sport coats. Take the diamond motif if you want something a little updated.
It’s a law of menswear physics that expensive things only get more expensive. But at least for the time being, you can still get high-quality, made-in-USA trousers for about $200 (the same price they were about ten years ago, remarkably). Dapper Classics is one of the more affordable sources for high-end trousers at reasonably affordable prices. Since they source everything from a Brooklyn based factory, they don’t pay any import cost, which are savings they’re able to pass on to the customer. The trousers are made from top-end fabrics typically only available to bespoke tailors, such as Fresco, and come with all the hallmarks of a well-made pair of pants (e.g., split curtain waistband, bar tack reinforcements, and unfinished hems).
For the next two days, you can knock 25% off all trouser purchases with the checkout code 25TS. If you’ve been reading Put This On for a while, you probably already know the basics of how to pair trouser colors with your wardrobe. Greys go with almost everything, tan is second-best for versatility, and navy is better with casualwear and light-colored sport coats. With the checkout code, year-round gray trousers are $183 and chinos are just a little more than $100 — hard to beat that.
At the top of Main Street on Nantucket Island sits the iconic Murray’s Toggery Shop. In the 1960s, Philip C. Murray introduced the now-famous Nantucket Reds: a distinctive shade of red canvas trousers, intended to fade over time and recalling the traditional red canvas sails of boats off the coast of Brittany. Immortalized in The Official Preppy Handbook, Murray’s and the Nantucket Red color are now synonymous with the island.
Rowing Blazers is launching a limited-edition collaboration with Murray’s Toggery. The collection includes a Nantucket Red dad hat and bucket hat; two custom rugby shirts; a t-shirt; canvas Nantucket Red shorts, and a custom co-branded banker bag — all featuring their irreverent take on the iconic Murray’s label, with an outline of Manhattan Island instead of Nantucket Island. The Rowing Blazers x Murray’s Toggery collection is now available online and at their New York City flagship store.
