Products With Personality
Timeless Traditions: Flannel
Few items of clothing signal the arrival of cold weather like a flannel shirt. Along with hot apple cider and thick corduroys, a plaid shirt in the soft, fuzzy material is something we all think fondly of during the long hot days of late summer. Flannel shirts are a closet staple, perfect for lounging at home, picking apples, or walking in snowy neighborhoods, but flannel is more than just multicolored casual shirts. As suiting or trouser material, flannel is a reliable staple from Fall to Spring.
Products with Personality: Baracuta Jacket
Before the 1930s, athletic wear often consisted of an unstructured sport coat or a sleeveless sweater, which would allow freedom of movement while keeping the wearer relatively warm. In colder, windier weather though, athletes needed a layer that would protect them from the elements while allowing their bodies to move and breathe. Some early windbreaker designs included button-front unlined leather jackets or canvas pullovers, each of which had their own drawbacks, but with the invention of the zipper a new windbreaker was developed which would become a menswear mainstay: the Baracuta jacket.
Timeless Traditions: Donegal Tweed
As we’ve discussed in a previous blog post, the wool cloth collectively known as tweed was developed as a hard-wearing material for country wear in Scotland and Ireland. Using locally produced wool, regional tweeds evolved to suit the needs of the outdoorsmen who would wear them, resulting in variations that would come to represent the style of entire regions of the British Isles.
Made-to-Measure: Lapels
When you are designing a made-to-measure jacket, there are many details to keep in mind as you decide what kind of look you want to create. The material, structure, and cut of your jacket all tell a story about when you will wear it and how you would like to represent yourself. One of the details that says the most about your jacket is the lapel, which can change a garment’s level of formality all on its own.
Products With Personality: Chrysalis Field Jacket
Centuries of hunting and fishing in rural Britain have led to the evolution of a hardy, practical, and stylish piece of outerwear that is useful in all kinds of settings and weather. Often called the shooting jacket or the field coat, it is a roomy, weatherproof garment with large pockets intended for shotgun shells or other gear, and a wide collar to shield the wearer’s neck. In 1985, Chrysalis England began producing its own version of this iconic jacket, which the Andover Shop is proud to provide to you.
Products With Personality: Aran Sweater
As we’ve discussed in previous articles, traditional cold weather wear is almost always derived from the clothing worn by people performing manual labor out in the elements. The average sweater-wearer today is probably not managing a country estate or hauling in nets full of mackerel, but the durability and warmth of items like the Aran sweater will serve anyone well in the dead of winter.
Timeless Traditions: The Classic and Versatile Dark Suit
These days, we live in a society with fairly casual rules about dress. Most people don’t need to wear anything more formal than a pair of khakis and a button down shirt to work, and many workplaces allow blue jeans and sneakers. Even the most traditional law firms and investment companies, where just a decade ago employees could be reprimanded for removing their suit jackets in the elevator, have downgraded their dress codes and abandoned the suit requirement for the most part. Working from home has increased this trend, as workplaces that had held onto the necktie have allowed that requirement to fall away too. But no matter what happens to workplace dress codes, we will always need to have at least one reliable, adaptable suit for important occasions, and The Andover Shop’s made-to-measure program can help you create the ideal suit.
Products With Personality: The Shetland Sweater
We explore the history of the iconic Shetland sweater, the making of the incredibly warm and tough Shetland wool and how it became a staple of any Ivy Style wardrobe.
Timeless Traditions: Gingham, from Indonesia to Your Closet
We’re all familiar with the quaint, brightly-colored checks of gingham fabric. Whether on tablecloths of your local bistro, or in Dorothy’s dress in The Wizard of Oz, gingham has casual, All-American connotations that have made it a standard in menswear for generations. At The Andover Shop, as a bastion of traditional style menswear, we've carried Gingham throughout the generations. In today's post, we want to share a little of our expertise from a lifetime of learning and living the trade.
Products With Personality: The Button-Down Collar Shirt
This spring, as many of us switched to working from home we adjusted many aspects of our lives, including the way we dress. As people are no longer heading to the office every day, it’s become more and more acceptable to dress down to fit our surroundings, while still attempting to maintain a sense of professionalism and propriety. So we asked ourselves--what wardrobe item balances both comfort and corporate?
Suits With A Story: Between Modern and Classic
“Ultimately,” he says, “it was a practical purchase. I needed it.” Al has been coming to The Andover Shop since 2013, when he arrived in Boston for his undergraduate studies. He was immediately taken with the store and has shopped here ever since, bringing his father in a year later and turning him into a satisfied customer as well.
