READY & PACKED FOR THE STATES

I just finished packing for my trip to Atlanta & Florida. Man, I wished I could pack my stuff in so many beautiful Filson bags. See you in 2013.

SQUEEZE ME, PLEASE!

Wow can somebody squeeze me, please!

Filson teams up with Harris Tweed for a couple of stylish (and by the looks of it, tough as nails) new briefcases. Featuring the classic Filson finishings — bridle leather, brass hardware — that the all-American company is known for, but with a bit of Scottish charm thrown into the mix. Call it a geo-sartorial meeting of the minds (that you can carry to work with you).

CHAD GOES TO NEW YORK

Everything is packed, tomorrow I will fly to New York for the NYFW. Wednesday I will go to the Gant by Michael Bastian presentation and on Friday a ballgame Yankees against Tampa Bay Rays. The other days shop till you drop and more .....

ATELIER DE L'ARMEE - WAR IS OVER

Elza Wandler & Joost Doeswijk started Atelier de l'Armée in 2011, out of love for vintage clothing, fabrics and materials with a history. They mostly use military materials because of their high quality and amazing natural wear. This is also where the name comes from. Atelier de l'Armée means "Army Workshop" in french. 

In their small workshop in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, they collect materials from all over the world to make the Atelier de l'Armée bags. After they drawn patterns on the best usable parts of the fabrics, they cut them by hand. The bags are sewn with great care on a special heavy duty sewing machine, individually numbered and photographed for the website. They try to make 1 (one) bag per day as it takes around 6 hours to produce a single bag. All the bags are unique, one of a kind and can never be reproduced because of the distinguished look of materials. You should wear them with pride or even better hang them on a wall like a painting. The Heritage clothing line is a carefully selected mix of rare handpicked second hand items and most are collectables. Some have been customized, others have been adjusted, but most are untouched. All are denim related or inspired by vintage workwear and military clothes, as you can see in their lookbook for FW 2012.

CHAD GOES OUTDOORS IN AMSTERDAM

Recently, I paid a visit to the showrooms of Pendleton & Filson in Amsterdam. Tobias of Tobi's Agency welcomed me with some coffee and soon we talked about our passion, Americana. In the eighties he get this Americana virus, working in a (vintage) clothing store in Amsterdam and finally started in the 90's his import/agency with true American products like Pendleton, Filson and Dickies. As a passionate fly-fisher he knows what he can expect from a Filson product and this knowledge he transfer to his dealers. The showroom houses in an old warehouse of a former Amsterdam shipyard and still you can see the dry dock in front of the building. The main floor is reserved for the collections of Dickies, Armor Lux and Pendleton blankets and the mezzanine is filled with all kind of Filson bags, tin cloth pants, cruiser jackets, tin cloth hats and even fly fishing cases. Tobias, I'm looking forward to another cup of coffee.

STOCKHOLM HERE WE COME

Everything is packed for my trip to Stockholm, looking forward to the SS2013 presentations of GANT, GANT Rugger & last but not least GANT by Michael Bastian. (pic via Rippedbackpocket)

PAPA'S GOT A BRAND-NEW PIGBAG

Okay okay, I must honestly admit for this post I was inspired by the guys of Street FSN and their post on Man with Bags, so I looked in my archive and found some other nice pics.