We recently caught up with Cathal McAteer, founder of Folk, and quizzed him about his influences. Here’s what he had to say about where it all comes from for Folk.

‘We try and do our own stuff, we don’t tend to buy a lot of old garments and replicate them - we take influence from them, just like most people. But all our influence comes from stuff we’ve done in the past and the things we like.

Also, the thing that could be the catalyst for a lot of ideas could be really small. For instance, a watercolour painting, [and it wasn't even the whole painting] just the shapes and the tones of that become almost the whole voice of the collection - it’s nice when it comes that easy. Usually, you’re trying to find it in various areas.

(At this point) we’ve made so many garments and a lot of those garments are still there. So we’re continually looking at those and improving them. Sometimes improving them, sometimes stripping them bare and starting again. We try and stay in our box in a way, because we know who we are and what we like, so we try and improve on that.

We like making garments better with different fabrics, playing with it a bit, merging garments that we’ve already made. Because we owe that to the people that buy from us. They’re expecting us to make the really nice striped jumper because we do that really well and they enjoy buying that, so we wanna give them an even better one for next season.’

Photography by Andy Barnham

The heritage boom has led to a mini-backlash of sorts; it’s become harder for brands to hop onto the bandwagon without intense scrutiny. While newcomers may undergo a harder ride because of this, it’ll only help brands like Garbstore.

Helmed by Ian Paley, Garbstore is a store/clothing line which, in Paley’s own words during a Style Salvage interview, means ”clothing shop’. ‘I like the use of the word garb because like so many other things these days , it’s use is dying out’.

Prior to Garbstore Paley worked at Paul Smith, where he was the designer of their casual wear. He then launched Paul Smith sub-brand R.Newbold, a Japan-only offshoot that can now can be found in London. He stated in an interview with Hypebeast that this experience was ‘my real introduction to the craft of making good jeans and weaving great denim’. Stints at Burberry, advertising and launching his own line One True Saxon followed before he eventually launched Garbstore.

The clothing line and store were launched in conjunction, focusing on heritage based products and Japanese made US-influenced clothing. In an interview with Hypebeast, Paley said that ‘the best American stuff is re-made and improved by the Japanese because of the superior construction techniques and buoyant domestic textile industry’.

An oft-overlooked topic in the blogosphere’s love of all things Japanese is the sizing issue. Japanese frames are typically slimmer and their clothes are remade for that frame. Paley recognised this, saying that ‘it’s something we addressed right from the start with all of our Japanese brands. As long as you know how to change things then it’s really not too hard’.

While local manufacture has turned into a buzz topic amongst a niche crowd, Garbstore have bucked the trend by proudly stating their clothes are made in China, producing features on their site stating why they do so. ‘it’s a real trend to try and in-still ‘heritage’ into your product,’ He states. ‘It’s really appearing to be fake now. So boring. We just love our manufacturers, and are happy to share in their own successes’.

Whether it’s doing it like Acne and mixing film amongst their clothing or being like Kitsune and running a record label, some brands function better as part of a creative collective. With their fingers in music, art and film, Uniforms for the Dedicated are the latest example of a collective fulfilling their potential.

The collective itself started around 2004, with the Swedish team originally meeting in the USA. One of the founders, Fredrik Wilholm states that ‘We actually got to know each other living together in Colorado snowboarding, basically starting out as a travelling collective’. It wasn’t until 2008 that the clothing collection started, with the video and art sides not starting until early 2009.

The clothes themselves are influenced by historic reference points and given tweaks and twists to bring them in line with the rest of their collection. Using family owned factories in Turkey and China, they focus on fabrics that can achieve the look they strive for. “Materials, whatever we find, like and can afford, mohair, wool, leather, cotton twills, synthetics, a lot of canvas. We spend a lot of time on washes that looks Uniforms – they might not be the most crazy expensive raw material but we work and treat it to get the right look and hand feel.”

When it comes to the oft-stressed topic of prestige not being enough to warrant a high price anynore Fredrik states, “We believe that everybody need to question their brand existence, what´s unique in your product and what the customer actually gets in relation to what she/he pays for. Recession or not I think we live in a time when consumers in general have the confidence and knowledge to create a subjective opinion about the product living up to the price or not.”

Considering the sheer amount of air miles needed to ship products, do research and show at trade shows, it’s difficult to make any clothing company ethical. Despite this, there are companies working to make a difference. One such company is Velour.

Launched in 1997 by Per Andersson, Velour started out as a deadstock store based in Andersson’s native Sweden. He eventually began making his own pieces to compliment the deadstock and it’s from these remnants that Velour was born. The look of Velour is what some might simplistically call Scandinavian style – staple pieces in daring colours; The kind of clothes that a man who likes clothes and loathes fashion would enjoy. The fact they’re ethically produced is one that Andersson rarely even mentions – in sharp contrast to companies who try and guilt you into buying their products.

“Over 90 % of the Velour shirts and cotton dresses are organic cotton garments”, he explains. “It’s made under a registered trademark “green effort” which guarantee ethical production of the organic fabric in every step of the process - and unlike many other organic fabrics, ours isn’t blended with ordinary cotton”.

When it comes to the topic of prestige not being enough to sell products anymore, Andersson states, “I’ve never liked over priced products and I feel that it’s always important to provide added value product in terms of quality, ethical production, eco cotton fabrics and interesting design”.

Alongside APC and Our Legacy, Band of Outsiders is one of the most beloved lifestyle brands within the menswear blogosphere. Launched in 2004 by former media agent Scott Sternberg, the label originally focused on slim cut oxford shirts and skinny ties. The label eventually expanded into knitwear and then into a fully fledged lifestyle label, complete with shoes made in collaboration with Sperry.

The difference between Band of Outsiders and a lower priced line is where and how their products are made. “The suits are made at Martin Greenfield Clothiers, a 100+ year old hand-tailoring factory in Bushwick, New York. The shirts are cut, sewn, washed/dyed, etc. in Los Angeles. The ties are cut and hand-rolled in Manhattan. Some sweaters are made in Scotland at an old factory in Hawick - these are under the Glenmac label, an old brand from the 60s and 70s which is super expensive,” explains Sternberg.

“Other sweaters are made in various places - Peru, China, Japan, depending on who has the best resources. For example, Chinese cashmere can be superior depending on the type of sweater, so we’ll make those sweaters there - we do so not to save money or become part of the evil Empire but because it’s the best solution for a given product.”

There’s also a decidedly authentic approach to where the materials come from. The worsted wool comes from the UK and the Biella region of Italy whilst the shirt material comes from Italy, Japan and Portugal. Sternberg explains that “Fabric is a totally global business. Every country and region has its own speciality and aesthetic (not to mention mannerisms and way of doing business) which makes sourcing fabric both daunting and hilarious.”

When it comes to topic of luxury fashion houses relying on prestige to sell products, he states that “It’s difficult to educate consumers about the product when you don’t own your own stores, but we do our best to convey the hand-work and high quality fabrics through hang tags or our website. It’s a tough one for me - I wish everything was cheap! - but at the same time, I know we’re making a great product that has legs both in terms of quality and design, so I soldier on…”

The weirdest thing about the menswear blogosphere is the disproportionate amount of focus on collections that are either prohibitively expensive or near impossible to get hold of. While these high end pieces get blogged about regularly, it’s the mid-level brands that are the true blog favourites. Stockholm-based label Our Legacy are one such brand.

Our Legacy’s founding date is stated as 1980-81 on their website, but this is actually the founder’s respective years of birth. It was actually founded in 2005 by childhood friends Jockum Hallin and Christopher Nying, the company started life as a t-shirt brand. These shirts would be made in Italy and would be finished by the duo in Sweden.

Eventually the label started focusing on creating other pieces, culminating in their first collection in Spring/Summer 2008. Christopher states that the goal behind the clothing is to “To create timeless garments in a natural, well-dressed, and comfortable way”. They still use Italian factories and have added Japanese, Portuguese and British fabrics to the equation.

The brand is often referred to as preppy, a notion Christopher disagrees with as he sees preppy as far too stuffy. He’d prefer to call it “Preppy from a distance”. Their main aim has been to update old classics, giving pieces like Norwegian knit sweaters, corduroy trousers and double breasted blazers to give them a slimmer, more contemporary cut. As Jockum says, “The feel of our garments should be the same feeling you get when you put on that favorite shirt you inherited from your grandfather”.