Following up on the last post in this series, on Huntsman tweed, this runs through the style of a shooting suit and being measured.

The suit shown here is three-button, but I opted for a more classic Huntsman one-button front in order to make it better for wearing casually. While I hope one day to wear the suit for shooting, I think with the five-button waistcoat underneath it will be warm enough.

What will also help is the weight of the cloth (14-ounce) and the neck closing on the jacket, which features a buttoned-back tab under the collar and facing button to secure to. This is a feature I have on a couple of my casual suits, though I normally combine it with a button under the lapel as well.

Additional buttons are found above the hip (bellows) pockets as well, so that the flaps can be buttoned back for rapid access. Other pockets include a poacher’s pocket on the inside of the jacket and four on the waistcoat – what is known as a postboy’s waistcoat. Unlike the example shown here, however, I will have no flaps on the lower pockets as they are unlikely to be used when actually shooting.

The back of the jacket will feature pleats (known also as an ‘action’ or ‘bi-swing’ back) to make it easier to raise one’s arms to shoot, and a purely decorative half belt. The sleeves will also be cut slightly larger – a ‘dirty’ sleeve – in order to help that shooting action.

The choice between plus-fours and plus-twos is largely a personal one. I went with plus-twos merely to have less material around the knee. And side straps on the waist.

The plus-twos required one extra measurement in the fitting room: the top of my calf, which meant rolling my trousers up for David Ward to see them properly. All of a sudden I felt rather like a schoolboy. The long socks and flannel trousers didn’t help.

David will be cutting my suit. He has just this week joined Huntsman from Norton & Sons as a cutter. Readers with long memories will remember flattering words about David from Patrick Grant, owner of Norton & Sons, in a previous interview with Patrick.

I was impressed with the exacting measurements, which were both more numerous than other tailors and involved a few little quirks. Unlike elsewhere, David kept my jacket on for the majority of the measuring (something mentioned in Richard Anderson’s fond memories of Huntsman in his recent book), used a square rule placed under my armpit to judge the size of the sleeve head, and took three photographs – front, side and back.

Interestingly, he also pinned the centre point between my shoulder blades, once found, and used that as a starting point for several measurements. The same was done for the small of my back.

Next: The cutting

Photography: Andy Barnham

While the preppy American college look has always been popular, it’s currently going through a huge surge in popularity. One of the designers at the forefront of this movement is American designer Michael Bastian.

Prior to launching his own line, Bastian has gone through stints at the likes of Ralph Lauren before settling at Bergdorf Goodman, where he worked for five years as the men’s fashion director. Since his first collection in Spring/Summer 2008, he’s been nominated three times for CFDA awards, something that’s seen him get the negative tag of ‘merchant instead of designer’. In an interview with the New York Times he said, “Is that supposed to be a slap [or] a compliment? The hardest thing is to take something familiar and make it better. The easiest thing is to create something no one has ever seen before. There’s a reason no one’s ever seen it — because someone tried it, and it didn’t work in the real world.”

Bastian’s style icons are John F Kennedy Jr and his own father. “The biggest influence for me was my dad (who was a public school history teacher) and his friends in the 70’s when I was growing up.  They all wore 5-pocket cords, loafers, flannel shirts and knit ties to work every day—just cool and masculine and approachable.  If it was cold (and it was always cold—I grew up in Rochester, NY), they’d throw on an old pea coat, a down vest or a navy blazer.  It’s still kind of how I think men look best.”

His clothes are made by Brunello Cucinelli in Italy, something that makes the prices higher than even Bastian himself wants them. ““It’s crazy, I can’t even afford my clothes. Right now, it hurts a little too much, It should hurt a little, but it shouldn’t kill ’em. That’s the law of designer clothes.”

When asked about what kind of man he dresses Bastian states that, “The Michael Bastian man is really a guy who is basically traditional in his dressing, but also appreciates a modern fit, a little humor, and all of the luxury details usually found only in more classically tailored lines.  I also think he’s a little more introspective than most - all of the secrets are kept on the inside. I know it sounds a little sentimental, but what I love most about designing menswear is that hopefully I’m making guys feel a little more confident and better about themselves every day.”

Linen isn’t designed for shoes. It is typically the reserve of suits, bed sheets and soft furnishings. But why shouldn’t it be used for summer shoes?

Lodger has issued two linen shoes of the month now, but many footwear companies shy away from the material because of the difficulty in using it.

First, backing the linen onto canvas is an incredibly intricate and tricky process, but more on that in my next post. Second, (and the focus of this post) it is crucially important to incorporate the elasticity of the linen into the design.

We all know about the warp and the weft: the threads that run vertically and horizontally on the material. But did you know about using the bias to your advantage? The bias is the 45 degree angle to the warp and the weft threads. When pulling along the bias, there is a lot more elasticity that on the warp or the weft.

Designers have been using the bias to make dresses hug, hang and fit in different ways for years and it is these principles that are required for using linen on shoes. If you made a pair of canvas-backed linen shoes with the warp running straight in the direction of your toes, you would be asking for trouble.

The linen would be a beautifully snug fit on the toe and the heel, but there would not be enough stretch where the upper cuts in under your instep. The warp and weft would be under too much tension and the linen would wrinkle. The same would happen on the outside of the shoe’s waist, albeit to a lesser extent.

Lodger realised this very early in its experiments with linen shoes, so the switch to the bias came quickly. This can most prominently be seen in July 2009’s shoe of the month. The Striped Oxford used a Scabal linen cloth that was designed to have vertical pinstripes.

But as the picture shows, the front section of the shoe is at a 45 degree angle. The back part needs less stretch and the lines can therefore run vertically.

“This is the point that your girlfriend starts worrying,” says Albam co-founder James Shaw, bent over the stitching on the company’s new Ventile mac. “See this round the cuff? The stitching varies slightly where the maker took her foot off the sewing machine, changing the pressure momentarily. It’s not perfect – it’s handmade, personal.”

I don’t know much about casual clothing – I’ll leave trainers and denim to other geeks – but the craft at Albam has a lot in common with bespoke tailoring. It’s all about individuality, as with that stitching, and craft and value. Coats, T-shirts and knitwear are made the old-fashioned way because there is a belief that it is better – it lasts longer, it wears better and it works.

I rarely speculate what Gentleman’s Corner readers wear at the weekend (indeed part of me hopes they wear full tweed and neckerchiefs). But if it is chinos and sweatshirts, I would hope they are made by a brand with the same attitude to craft as their tailor. Like Albam.

James and Albam co-founder Alastair didn’t start making clothes in Britain out of any ethical stance and they refuse to be poster boys for that movement. They were just living in Nottingham and wanted to try and make a T-shirt; so they went to the local factories to see if they could do it.

The first one failed, the second was better, but by that time they they were already importing their own yarn out of frustration. The T-shirts are made in that factory today, each by a single woman moving the cloth around by hand on a pedal-operated machine that James describes as “a cross between a car and a one-man band”. The motivation is not philosophical: “It’s just a nice way of making a T-shirt.”

They started with very limited runs, having “spent most of our frighteningly small amount of money on business cards and stationery”. Factories were convinced to make six items, as uneconomic as it might be. And today shirts are usually only made in runs of 70 in each colour; there will be just 100 of the shawl-collar cardigans across five sizes.

What began as necessity is now a nice push for quick sales among loyal customers, anxious not to miss out on new lines. I realised that to my cost a couple of weeks ago, when I popped into the shop and fell in love with the Alpine jacket. Made of Ventile like the new mac (a pure-cotton fabric used by Arctic explorers, as synthetics can freeze and crack), it has taped seams and would have been perfect for cycling into work. But they only had two left, both in big sizes.

Fortunately, I did get some great chinos – and here’s another tailoring link. When James and Alastair were coming up with this cut they went to a trouser cutter, not a designer, without any preconceptions of what they should look like. The result is jeans and chinos that fit a lot more like suit trousers, with a higher and darted waist. We’re not talking wear-with-braces height, on your belly button, but just an inch higher than normal jeans – making them far more comfortable and yet still narrow and stylish through the leg.

“When trousers are designed for fit they are surprisingly comfortable,” says James. “At least, surprising for all those who have been wearing tight jeans on their hips.”

The other great design element is the coin pocket. You know that little pocket normally tucked inside the side pocket on trousers, which is too small and narrow to get anything in, and even if you did get anything in you couldn’t get it out? Well here it’s wider, shallower and an inch below the waistband. You will actually put change in there.

Albam is also good value for money, rather like bespoke. It’s easy to be cynical about pricing: without knowing a brand’s exact margins, ‘value’ can seem like so much marketing. But once you’ve talked through the elements that go into an Albam product, you’re convinced as you can be without getting out the accounts. It’s rather like a recent comment on my series about making George Cleverley shoes, which said: “By the time you’ve read all the posts you feel exhausted. You just want to give them the two grand and not hear from them again until the things are done.”

Production in England (and shirts finished in Portugal) is obviously more expensive. But materials are the big expense. The fabric most hiking jackets are made out of will cost you £1 or £2 a metre; that Ventile stuff is more like £20. And RiRi zips (see my post on their quality here) will set you back around another £10 each. Suddenly it’s surprising the chinos are only £89. But again, there is little pretense: “I’d like to make clothes that are like Marks & Spencer used to be. When you’d go in wanting a navy cardigan and find exactly what you wanted, well made and well cut, for a decent price,” says James.

Every season James and Alastair like to think they improve the clothes they do, gradually but methodically. The piece that first made them famous, a fisherman’s cagoule, has gone through several iterations – adding a better button, then a better thread, later a stronger draw cord, eventually corozo-nut buttons, finally better corozo buttons. They are happy to upgrade items when customers notice theirs have been superseded. “And our customers notice,” says James. Apparently some are just as obsessive about cotton macs I am about welting.

New lines drop into Albam all the time. The best place to keep up to date with them is the behind the scenes blog, but look out on Gentleman’s Corner for updates as well. Rumour has it they might even be making some of those Alpine jackets again. Here’s typing with crossed fingers.

Photography: Andy Barnham

Launching in Spring of 2008, UK label, Hentsch Man was founded by Alexia Hentsch. “We actually first called the company Jack Shirt - but needed to find a name that was entirely copyright proof,” says Alexia. “Hentsch Man was easy - as it’s my name, it’s difficult to contest. And we liked the play on the word ‘henchman’.”

Prior to launching Hentsch Man, Alexia worked at Winkreative, Tyler Brule’s branding agency, for three years. It was this experience that helped give Alexia enough know how to launch the brand, which she did with her partner Max von Hurter.

Focusing on the basics of clothing, the Hentsch Man philosophy is to make “good, lasting and relatively inexpensive clothing. We’re not so interested in high-fashion, we’re about function, practicality and pleasure. We make clothes for men who want to look good, but don’t have the time or patience to scour the earth for them.”

Despite only launching two years ago, Hentsch Man is already stocked in Opening Ceremony, something which was planned from the start. In an interview with Hearty Magazine, she said that they originally turned down stocking the product, but did like the concept itself. “They told us to go off and make some more products and come back. So about a year later, we went to see them with eight shirts and four trousers. That’s when they took us on as our sales agents. Since then, they’re been distributing our brand in the US and Japan, as well as stocking us in their stores.”

The clothes themselves are made in Portugal, with the knitwear coming from Scotland and the footwear for Spain and Italy respectively. When it comes to the topic of prestige, Alexia states that “Prestige goes a long way with customers. People feel very comforted by the ‘made in Italy’ label, or something with a longstanding manufacturing heritage. This is especially true in this economic climate as, as you say, people want to know where their money is going. However, the quality needs to live up to the reputation, especially as today in age everything is so easily copied. Cheap versions of luxury products are available everywhere. So luxury needs to stay lux, if not it will loose to it’s cheaper competition.”

Our AW’10 collection is on its way into the Lodger shop in the coming weeks (watch this space), but we’re already well under way developing our A/W’11 line up. For AW’10, Annejkh drew upon from the antique, rich colours of the Old Masters. For AW’11 we’ve sought inspiration from vintage ski and mountaineering pursuits and their accompanying paraphernalia.

Our research took us back to the Shoe Collection at the Northampton Museum and its rich seam of shoe history. Our day turning over racks of shoeboxes yielded many ski and mountaineering boots from the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s.

We’ve been seduced by the hardy, chunky aesthetic: the heavier leathers, double leather soles and robust hardware. The buckle straps across the instep were intended to provide extra support and grip (to the admittedly ill-suited ankle-height boots!), the square toes were designed to fit into the bone crunching non-release bear trap bindings on old wooden skis.

But we’ve also been taken by the more subtle details: the contrast stitching on the uppers and welt, the woven, colourful laces and snug lining materials.

One of the more intriguing details was the variety of welts we came across and the visual impact these can have on the finished shoe.

Needless to say, you can expect to see a move on from our classic antiqued storm welts come 2011.

The collection remains under wraps (and on paper) for now, but there are more sneak previews to come from the design department as the sampling process progresses this coming Autumn.