I say heritage, I mean heritage! Hestra have been making gloves since 1936 and is named after the Swedish town where the company was founded and is still run by a 3rd generation family member who still handles all manufacturing and material sourcing. Made from 100% deerskin with a 100% wool lining, Hestra haven’t held back on these gloves either, applying their mastership to create a super high-end glove with simplistic styling.
Contrast stitching adds a bit of colour-pop to the gloves which come in a really nice Tan or Yellow and a classic Black. Added detail such as the embossed collaborative branding on the wrist and the Norse tab that we have all become oh so familiar with are both nice touches. For those that know the Norse tab well, you may be shocked to see that their usual slogan of “Created to improve life. Good for all seasons.” has been replaced with “A product of the cold cold north.” ...Ice. Cold. Cool.
This collaboration highlights yet another product moving towards the macro trend of the 'resurgence of traditionalism and heritage' which I have been following since the start of the year, right back to my study of Birmingham where I was inspired by the shop window of Gieves & Hawkes. The simplicity and quality of these gloves stays true to the essence and tradition of Scandinavian workwear brands, where the region is pretty much in a league of its own.
Over the last few years I have noticed the influx of Scandinavian brands such as Norse Projects, Humor, Fjoar Raven etc. growing in popularity within menswear fashion. I beleive that this is because they offer more transparency and less myth/mystery around the brand in terms of design inspiration and the essence i.e. Norse Projects has been born out of the admiration of strong, robust and practical Norweigen workwear aesthetics - similar to that of Nigel Cabourn or Barbour in terms of British brands. There is slowly a cultural shift moving from big names and brash logo's towards an appeal of the crafted, functional and niche clothing brands (just look at how 'cool' has shifted towards the introvert and 'geek'!) Expect to see more lesser known brands coming to the limelight and mainstream as a result of the current 'Conviviality Culture', which I will explain further in a later post.
For now though...
Grab a pair of these winter warmers from Goodhood from £60 a pair.
Sorry, it was where I got the idea of this post name from so I had to throw in a link// Classic old school tune, love it. 
I saw in Birmingham that both All Saints and Kurt Geiger within the Bullring had gone for the mass product look within their VM, stacked with surgically positioned and perfectly aligned grids which caught my iris'...
Seeing about 100 sewing machines meticulously placed in metal cages in the shop window, under low light, recalls the modernism push of mass production and how it was worshiped pre 1950s and makes an interesting, quriky and charismatic front window.
The Armani Exchange store has also used this idea of a hallway but taken it a step further by making it even more interactive with the consumer, employing a resident DJ to bang out the tunes in the shop window. Personally I have always loved this idea of combining fashion and live music and feel that it can be a really powerful method to talk to the consumer, obviously more so if the brand has a musical/creative personality or connection.
I think Selfridges, Birmingham tried to get away with just blaring music from the equipment and no actual real DJ a couple of years ago within the menswear section of the store. I feel that it is pointless just having the equipment and no one actually being DJ, pretty much takes the point away and loses the personal interaction value into just unneccessary loud music.
As well as offering more space for advertising and offering a slightly different retail environment (a bit like a club!) the idea of using a hallway style space is more interactive, giving a brand a few extra seconds to sell the experience/brand message which could have a massive impact on the consumer! I like it.
More visual trends, this time within the universe of menswear...
A key menswear VM trend, from what I saw in Birmingham specifically, orbited around the idea of alien invasion and space theme. The 3 White Walls Gallery was running a great exhibition called 
DKNY were portraying this theme with the words 'Just Landed' used in their shop window. There was a sense of delivery/industry with packages containing clothes, slightly deconstructed and damaged, perhaps dropped of by a couple of fashion conscious aliens (or am I talking out of Uranus!) The use of a green strobe light within the dark back drop looked different but would have been more exciting with several rather than just the one.
River Island. 
Topman.
Bang on Spring 2010 as we expect and love of Topshop.
