Club Chair Bulletin #17

Zombie loafers and a feud with new

What’s he been up to?

Cheers for picking up this week’s bulletin, last week’s meeting can be attended here. This week: my feud with unworn clothes, a pair of project loafers, varsity knits, and cheap selvedge.

---

Small Favour: If you wouldn’t mind, please share this post, or the club as a whole, with a friend who you think might be interested, it would mean a whole lot. Please also subscribe if you haven’t yet, again, it makes a big difference.

---

The battle of brand new

I bought a baseball cap on Vinted, nothing overly fancy, an MLB merch branded Yankees number in cream and navy, less than £10, brand new; innocuous thus far. It arrived as described, brand new, still with that little cardboard insert, which as I removed I clocked, this is the first unworn garment to enter my wardrobe in some time (if one disregards socks etc.) and it felt, bizarre.

Buying vintage and secondhand is essential to my engagement with fashion, over time the draws of quality, cost and ethics have shifted all of my buying habits across to online secondhand platforms. As such, I’d rather forgotten what it is like to have a piece which requires wearing in. That is what I noticed about this cap, it felt crisp and unadulterated, stiff even, it made me realise how I took wear in my garments for granted.

As a point, it is my strongly held opinion that clothes, well made clothes at least, look infinitely better having been worn. There is something of the uncanny valley about a pair of entirely uncreased shoes or an entirely unwrinkled shirt, smooth knitwear or stiff raw jeans. It is in this unworn state that they appear most artificial, most obviously man-made, but once they are worn they gain character, they become natural, particularly if they are comprised of natural fibres (which, nine times out of ten, they really should be).

So, for now, wearing this cap feels rather alien. Until its stuffed in a bag, left on the floor, sun-faded, sweated into, it doesn’t really exist. Rather in its current state it is a proposition of what it might be, once its worn it will be worthy of the term “garment”.

Recent Acquisitions

Project Reims Revival

Swinging the needle from a piece at the start of its life to a pair at the end of theirs. It’s not exactly every day that one is presented with the opportunity to buy a pair of beautiful Paraboot shoes for the price of a fairly humble dinner. Yet, out just twenty-six Pounds Sterling, shipped, here I am with what might be described as the corpse of a pair of Paraboot Reims.

It seems befitting then in the month of October that I should embark upon a process of footwear necromancy. The soles are rough, but not unsalvageable, the lining of the heels is destroyed, and the right insole is just gone completely. All in we're looking at a full re-sole, patching the heels, and replacing the insoles.

I’d like to invite you along for the process of getting these back to wearable condition, I’ll post updates as a part of future bulletins. It’s these sorts of journeys which function best to prove that sustainable fashion need not look dreadful, as I’m afraid to say it sometimes does, and that one can in fact end up with a far better product for a ludicrously low sum if they can invest some time, even if that time is simply into research. I’m not a cobbler, I won't be doing any of this work myself, but it extends into mending holes in garments, sashiko, anything in that vein.

I’ll keep you posted, keeping fingers crossed I can save these from the brink.

Sixties Letterman Cardigan

My fascination with letterman knitwear began with a meeting I conducted earlier this year, in which I rather foreshadowed that perhaps I’d be growing a collection in the future. Hardly a groundbreaking act of divination, but it does appear my prophecy has been fulfilled.

The latest edition is a spectacular, dare I say Prep Club Green, cardigan, sporting the letter “F” and three stripes for three years on varsity, which means everyone who’s seen it thus far has asked if its Adidas.

This is the only cardigan in my collection and really my first time playing around with one as a layering piece. It’s very boxy in its fit, so a little challenging when considering silhouette, though over time I reckon I’ll make sense of it.

I’ll share below the current state of my letterman knit collection:

On the Radar

MBBCAR Flared Selvedge

I like to keep an eye on UK online retailer Olderbest, they do a pretty decent job of sorting the wheat from the chaff when it comes to affordable heritage clothes, usually out of the Far East. Delivery times imply that they’re holding stock, not dropshipping and customer service is good.

PC: Olderbest

These £35 flared selvedge are a recent addition, and a rather enticing one at that. Flared jeans are a specialist piece, unlikely to be a daily driver, but pleasant to dip into from time to time. As such, there are not a lot of reasons to splash out on a pair. Affordable selvedge tends to come exclusively in straight fit, so seeing some variety is pleasant; if one fancies a little splash around in the flared pants shallow end, these are a nice pick.

Jacques Soloviere Fishnet Loafers

Rather season inappropriate for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, however if one doesn’t mind buying clothes they’re unable to wear for a few months, getting ahead of the curve here could be quite the move. Shoes are far easier to do this with than anything else, one can be reasonably confident of their feet remaining the same size between now and when the sun starts shining again. Though, if you are a part of the 31% of my readership which I am reliably informed live in California, these might still be on the table for a little while yet.

PC: Jacques Soloviere

Jacques Soloviere footwear oozes with modern continental style, designs are minimalist and well thought out, timelessness incarnate. Imagine these with a mesh tank top, navy blazer.

Sold out currently, but hoping sincerely that they come back for SS25.

---