SHIT FASHION LABEL OF THE MONTH - FEBRUARY

AND STEP FORWARD HENLEY’S – ON A WANKER’S BODY VERY NEAR YOU NOW!!!

A DIFFERENT KIND OF SHOE

The small Finnish company is taking advantage of its sportswear legacy by reintroducing classic designs under the Karhu Originals banner.
As we try and get away from the endless adidas reissues we like the these stripped down Karhu Originals Olympic trainers. These low trainers are available in leather or suede and in a range of colours. They're so named because they were part of the Olympic uniform for the Finnish team in 1972 - but as they looked so good, the company decided to mass produce them.

They retail for around £70 - the Karhu site has a list of places where you can buy them.

http://www.karhuoriginals.com/

Mods, The Ivy League And Working-class Menswear

And again from a couple of years back - well it's Saturday and there's a pint in The Brick with my name on it!

"A mate of mine dropped me a text message the other week. He had been around Manchester on the Saturday afternoon and had dropped on Man United's mob. He was enthusing that they were all wearing semi-flares, Adidas shoes and not a gaudy label in sight. I concurred with him that this was indeed great news. And as we know in general where Manchester and Liverpool lead then the rest of the North West follows.

This whole dressing up at football was only in part about labels. It was also about "the look". For every £400 jacket there was an Israeli Army parka from Millets. The dressed-down look if it is indeed coming back is most welcome. Because football fashion was always a part of working class fashion and working class fashion has always been about simplicity. The general consensus of argument tends to be whether football fashion started in the North or in London. Yet there is always the counter argument that it is just an extension of the modernist look that was taken up by Londoners after the 2nd World War. Now I'm no expert but I'd like to delve into this latter theory.

After the 2nd World War a whole new-world literally opened up before peoples eyes. As rationing was phased out many products and influences entered the nation's senses. Most of these came from across the pond and nothing was more influential than clothing. In Soho the jazz bars would be full of American sounds and by the end of the fifties the clothes were also American. This was an East American cool that was based on the clothes that formed the Ivy League look from the influential colleges in America. Button-down shirts, penny loafers, wing-tip brogues and flat fronted chino trousers.

As the 50's became the 60's the sharp young lads around the cities of Britain began to appropriate this look but added Traditional English and European looks to it as well as the Jamaican rude boy look that the newly arrived immigrants had brought with them. By 1965 this was becoming a much sought after look and a lad from the East End of London called John Simons opened 'The Ivy Shop' on Richmond Hill. A shop that is, arguably, the most important menswear shop in Britain ever. Here he took the imported American clothes along with all the European and Jamaican influences and his tailoring skill and created the proper Modernist look. This wasn't the cartoon Carnaby Street mod that can be seen in Quadrophenia. There were no mirrors, rabbit tails and patches here. It was simple quality clothing. In 1969 he invented the Harrington Jacket that was a variation on the golf jacket that Ryan O'Neal's character Rodney Harrington wore in the then popular soap opera Peyton Place. That jacket is still a staple item in many a lad's wardrobe.

And that is the influence. As Mod split two ways with the hardcore tough mods mutating into skinheads and the "artier" mods moving towards the hippy movement those clothes from the sixties remain the constant among many a young buck's look. As well as the Harrington jacket much of the clothes that John Simons and others brought into the country and introduced to sharp dressed young working class men can still be seen today. The omnipresent Duffel Coat was worn by the modernists. As was the reefer jackets. Flat fronted trousers, Levi's and Crombie coats. The suit that never loses its appeal is a simple three-button slim fitting 60's influenced coat. The anoraks of Massimo Osti are strictly modernist in design. And take a look at your shoes. They can produce as many variations of design as they like but they will never better a pair of English brogues or an American loafer. As for boots next time you pass Jeffrey Tonks shoe shop in town take a look at the Clarks Desert Boot. It is perfect. As for the brands - John Smedley, Lacoste, Marks & Spencers, Ralph Lauren, Levi's, Barbour, Champion sweatshirts and everything else that is just right are made along modernist lines. Paul Smith has made his fortune from such ethics and produced some of the most desirable clothes you will ever see or wear.

And then there's Adidas. Adidas trainers with semi-flared jeans and cords might strictly be an 80's Northern casual revival look yet the semi-flared jeans can be seen on the arse of The Beatles on many of their covers while the classic Adidas trainers are purely modernist in design and spirit.

I realise this is an indulgence and will only be of interest to lads that are interested in clothes but hey that was always the modernist viewpoint. It was elitist and it still is. Let the others follow FASHION while the discerning amongst us will forever be interested in the CLOTHES. And that is the massive difference.

Best Trainers in the World ... from Bolton

From a few years back because, basically, it's raining, I'm tired and well ... I still feel the same about this footwear stuff.

Pic: the new Walsh PB Elite Racer

I’m not sure about everybody else but I’ve become tired of all these Adidas and Nike reissues that are springing up every couple of weeks. Sure they look good and the odd style even resembles the original but there’s something not quite right about it all. We’ve basically got to the situation where if you earn enough money you can simply go out and buy the stock and excuse me if I’m wrong but it was never about that. The last ten or so times I’ve walked into Ran and Size? I’ve just not been bothered, seen nothing to interest me. So what is a footwear fetishist to do?

Don’t tell me another of life’s (few) pleasures has gone by the wayside. Nah while I’m leaving the two main players aside for a while I could never give it up completely. It was hard enough to cope when Church shoes priced themselves out of this pauper’s range so whilst I moved from Church’s to Clarks it’s time to move onto something else in the trainer market. But what?

There’s Puma – but despite a couple of old school models they look just too gay. Too Disco Dave. K-Swiss is a total no-no and while there’s no denying that Reebok Classics are (well) classics they are ubiquitous. I could always go the whole rock and roll by getting a pair of Converse but the chunky frame might lessen the effect whilst I have never had the balance for the skateboard brands. Now New Balance I like and a couple of pairs lay neatly boxed at Hawkins Towers. It’s an option and then I remembered that classic that held sway in the North West for a few months in the 80’s: the Walsh Trainer. Or the Walsh PB Trainer to be precise. Blimey I’d forgotten about them. A quick Google and yes they are still there – and the trainers look utterly superb. Get the address, a few quid in my pocket and a few days later a new pair of trainers and a new love in my life!

My first insight into Walsh was in the early 70’s when my Dad bought me a pair of their wonderful hand made Rugby Boots. They did Low and High. Low for the backs and High for the forwards and all that rucking they have to do. They were simply the bees’ knees. But the story of Walsh Sports is more than just rugby boots. It’s about one man Norman Walsh and how he developed this iconic company. Norman was born in Bolton, Lancashire, in 1931. He started work for Foster Brothers Shoes in his hometown in 1945. While working as an apprentice shoemaker, he was asked to make sprinting shoes for the 1948 Olympic Games in London. During the late 1950’s, Norman worked closely with the Foster Brothers’ grandsons, Jeff and Joe. These two branched away from the family business and formed the legendary Reebok. In 1961, Norman decided to start his own business and took over a small corner of his father’s shoe repair shop and called the company ‘Norman Walsh Shoes’.

During the 70’s he moved away from the luxury leather boots and became interested in manufacturing shoes for the runners that traversed the local fells. It is a sport that is as arduous and gruesome as it gets and that needs a shoe to cover all terrains. During this time he linked up with the legendary Lake District fell runner Pete Bland and over the next five years they created the shoe that took the sport of fell-running by storm. – the ‘Walsh Trainer’. Its colour was, and still is, blue with yellow flashes. It had all the requirements for becoming a classic running shoe: no bulk, a great lacing system that gave a tight fit at the toe crease, a thin sole for minimum shock absorption, good heel cushioning for navigating those descents, and made from a quick-drying fabric. These were all the factors that contributed to winning races. Norman added a little rubber cushioning to the front area in the mid-1980’s and this design became known the P.B. Trainer, which is the most popular fell-running shoe of all time. They also look great with jeans when you’re propping the bar up.

Norman sold up in 1996 but remains in a consultancy capacity for the company that is now known as ‘Walsh Sports Limited’. Other trainers in the range include the PB X’treme’ which is a more robust shoe with a (gorgeous) yellow background and the ‘Raid’ which is an off-road shoe suitable for walking - another fine-looking shoe.

Away from the performance aspect of the shoes and the market it essentially caters for the time is surely right for the brand to be embraced by the trainer afficianados. A small range of trainers, extremely comfortable, all easy on the eye and importantly also made in Britain as shown by the discreet tabs stating “WALSH, BOLTON, ENGLAND complete with UNION JACK” - Wonderful.

GREAT COATS OF OUR TIME NO 1

WOOLRICH ARCTIC PARKA

From Oi Polloi's website

The Woolrich original Arctic Parka, with 100% goose down, polycotton shell, two handwarmer pockets, two button fastening outer pockets, one internal pocket and drawcord waist. Adjustable fur-trimmed hood with velcro throat tab.

This classic jacket was originally made for Alaskan pipeline workers (to protect them from the 40 below temperatures) and is the benchmark by which all other parkas are judged.

Check out American suppliers on the web - what with the weakness of the dollar and all that - oh and stuff your £680 Italian designerwear coats up your jacksie and go for the real deal.

Timeless beauty

GREAT SHOES OF OUR TIME NO. 1

CTHE CLARK'S POLYVELDT

In production between 1976 and 1984 it was the most comfortable ever (well maybe).

It followed the natural contours of the foot and was aimed at the "outdoors type."