The_D

Just got back from the opening of the London Nike Sportswear pop-up store in Shoreditch. They're charging 200 pounds (as in, nearly 400 dollars) for the full-zip Loopwheeler hoodies. They were offering a 20 per cent discount tonight, but that's still over 300 dollars. For a hoodie. I like Loopwheeler, but seriously...

They were worn by my father in the late 50s, but I'm fairly sure the design is much earlier than that. They're basically the artillery boots the British Army wore in the trenches during the 1st World War. I used to wear them with jeans, but to be honest they were far too shiny and very stiff.

Greg, I'm going to my mother's house this weekend, so I'll try to find them and post pictures next week.

I used to have a pair of old-fashioned artillery boots (that belonged to my father in the 1950s) with horseshoe heels like that, as well as fully-hobnailed soles. They sounded amazing when you walked on a rough loose surface, like gravel, but were a nightmare on smooth surfaces (e.g. the pavement). I couldn't walk normally because it was like walking on ice... I'll see if I can find them next time I go home, and post some pictures. The toecaps had been polished so often (by my father) that they were permanently mirrored.

I'm 6ft, and the L ones fit me just fine. If you tumble dry them, they do shrink a little, but the arms are a decent length. So... you might well be lucky with the XL. And at under £10, it's not such a big risk.

The premium Ts are made from long-staple cotton (which has longer fibres that are softer than some other cottons), and accordingly the material holds its shape better. Very comfortable, and excellent value for T-shirts of that quality. They're also robust, so you can throw them in the tumble dryer without worrying about fucking them up. Compare this with, say, Visvim long-sleeve T-shirts which are made of similar Egyptian cotton, which they recommend you wash in a net...

I think the guy behind it was one of the founders of One True Saxon, a British casual/streetwear label that used to be much-favoured by football fans in the north of England. Think this stuff is designed to be a little more refined; I think he has a shop in Notting Hill. I've not seen any of the stuff in person, but I've been told that it's well put-together. Agree about the details though...

He's also selling Steven Alan shirts, which are well cut and nicely made... but at UK prices, which means a 50% premium on the US price.

Lewis, any chance you'll be getting any loopwheeled sweatshirts without logos at any point...?

Echoing what everyone else has said: thanks for a very reliable and trustworthy service. Just received my Loopwheeler LW09, and would definitely use again.

The only thing I seem to have posted on in Superfuture is this brand - not sure why (I have absolutely no connection to them whatsoever) - but have you looked at the Tin House high-rise trousers, made by Old Town?

http://www.tinhouse.co.uk/highrise.htm

http://www.old-town.co.uk/products08.htm

They're very well made, and all their clothes are made by hand, to order, I think. I have a pair in the medium-weight cotton drill, but you might want to consider them in one of the many other materials they make them in, depending on whether you went for the Old Town or Tin House ranges (same people, different fabrics). It's probably worth mentioning that their 'vintage style' denim they have isn't the kind of thing you look for on Superfuture. I seem to recall it being a softer, looser weave, and possibly made in Italy. The heavy cotton drill might be more your thing.

I've got a pair of these in a 32 (because the rise is so high, you can really wear them on your waist), and I take a 34 in most jeans I own, including looser fits like '37 501s and '20s 201s. The medium-weight cotton drill stretches a bit, so you would have to consider that. But they are quite snug on the butt, so if you like a little anti-fit round the back, you'd probably want to consider going true to size. Inseam is fairly long (I don't have mine with me so I can't measure them for you - but when I wear them on the hip, I need to cuff the bottoms twice, and I'm 6ft tall).

Hope this helps.

The linen on the shirt I have isn't particularly heavy (I really don't think it would be heavy enough for an unlined jacket); but it is beautiful quality Irish linen. Don't know if they make any of their jackets in a heavier linen than that, though. If they do, and it's the same quality linen, that would be a lovely jacket.

[i know you're talking about a jacket here, but if fro some reason you decided to buy a linen shirt, they're very full cut, with a long tail - they're clearly designed to be worn tucked-in]

Kesnel, here are some images of the Borough jacket:

A close-up of the jacket front, so you can see the stitching, and how it's starting to fade:

Then, for true stitching nerds, a shot of a button, beautifully hand-stitched on a stalk. Oh yes:

Kesnel, I've got the Borough jacket. It's fairly lightweight (unlined), even though it's 'heavyweight' canvas. I'll bring it home from work tomorrow and post some pictures.

I have a jacket (in heavyweight canvas), a shirt (in linen), and a pair of trousers (in mediumweight canvas) from Old Town that I’ve had for a couple of years or so. Unfortunately, the shirt and trousers are at my parents' place (which is near to Old Town’s shop), and I won’t be going there soon, so can’t show pictures of those. But the jacket is at work, so I’ll try to post pics if anyone is interested.

The quality of construction of these clothes is really excellent: I think they’re all made by hand - and it shows. The shop has a number of samples so you can try on sizes and see all the different fabrics they use, but you can’t actually buy them in the shop: all of the clothes are made to order, I think. The finished items are wonderfully well-made: I would say the only similar clothes that I have that match their construction are shirts by 45rpm (ok, that should read 'A shirt by 45rpm...) and Margaret Howell – and Old Town must be less than half-price of both of those.

The cut of their stuff is pretty generous, as you’d expect, given their workwear origins. The trousers I have are high-waisted – with a rise that is way, way higher than even the highest denim repros – so you need to size-down. I tend not to size down with denim (I don’t have the knees for the SuperFuture fit…), and generally wear a 34 waist in nearly all my jeans, but the 32 trousers from Old Town are a good fit, and have stretched out an inch in the waist. The canvas they use is very hard-wearing, but also softens well with wearing and washing.

I think Cotton Duck is right – that if you wore all of them together, you’d probably look a little ‘historical re-enactment’: it might be a bit odd if you went for the ‘whole look’, such as the models on their website. (A couple of years ago I wore the shirt with a pair of 1937 hair-on-hide Lee repros, with braces/suspenders (I’d stitched the buttons onto the waistband myself), and two people called me ‘John Boy Walton’ within an hour of leaving the house). But the jacket I’ve got is very versatile, and goes (I think) with just about any pair of jeans that I’ve got (from Eternal 811 as the slimmest, to Warehouse and Sugar Cane 47 repros worn true-to-size as the fullest-cut).

When I bought the jacket, I asked them about the dyes they used, and I was told, ‘old-fashioned sulphur-based dyes’. The jacket that I have is starting to fade very nicely. They do have two weights of denim that they can make any of their clothes in, but I don’t know where it comes from, or what it’s dyed with.

Anyway, blah blah blah. Not sure a first post counts for much, but I’d recommend this stuff unreservedly.