Foundry arriveson 25 October.
A new way to dress well: through knowledge, well-chosen pieces, the right fit and a good tailor. Foundry is still taking shape. The first glimpse will be at the pop-up in Berlin.
May I introduce myself?
I’m Tim, and I founded a software company in Berlin. I always wanted to dress well. I simply had no idea where one learns such things. So I watched bloggers. Many of them, I now know, are paid by brands.
I am also 1.95 m tall, six foot five in old money. Almost nothing off the peg fitted. The jackets I did find hung off me and were so short at the back that they revealed more than they covered. The shoulders never sat properly and everything stood proud. I had no idea what size I needed, or how to find it.
Shoes were sadder still. I take a 47 or 48. Such shoes barely exist, and when you do find a pair, you simply resign yourself to them.
Nobody had told me that clothes and shoes are sized by more than a single number: lengths, widths, different drops at the waist. I would never have known what separates a 54 R6 from a 54 7L. Nor that I really ought to be buying shoes in a 13 EEE. I did not even know what that meant. And wool, to me, was simply wool. Yet the cloth decides how a piece wears and how it breathes.
So for years I suffered in business clothes, and I mean physically. My trousers hung from a belt pulled tight, at the wrong point on my waist. The jacket pinched, the cloth was wrong, nothing sat as it should. And that is exactly how it looked.
In time I understood why. Most clothes are made for an imagined average, from cloth that is easy to produce. Much of the craft has been lost, even among some famous names. Then I discovered that wonderful pieces hang almost unworn in wardrobes, because hardly anyone dresses classically any more. I have been seeking them out ever since.
Along the way I learnt a few simple rules about fit and cloth. A good tailor takes care of the last step. Today I feel at ease in my clothes, and I no longer worry about what to wear.
With Foundry I want to pass on what I know, so that you need not search as long as I did. It is not finished yet. On 25 October I shall show, for the first time, what I have been working on. I should be delighted to see you there.
Tim
What I wish I had known sooner.
Four things. It took me years to find them. None of them is difficult.
KNOWLEDGE
Every size has a length, a width and a waist, and shoes come in width fittings too. I pass on these simple rules so that you feel at ease in your clothes.
SOURCING
I look for very good pieces in almost new condition, made in small numbers by individual craftsmen or fine workshops. And the cloth to suit the season: wool, cashmere and alpaca for autumn and winter, linen, silk and cotton for summer.
FIT
Fit is everything, and the rules are few. The shoulder ends where yours does. The jacket covers what it ought to at the back. The sleeve shows a little cuff. The trousers sit at your waist, with no belt pulled tight.
THE TAILOR
No piece is set in stone. A good tailor alters little, but the right things. Afterwards the jacket is no longer off the peg but yours, and the trousers fit your leg, your seat and your waist.
Once you know this, you no longer stand at the wardrobe each morning at a loss. Even taste can be passed on.
More on 25 October.
Still to come.
What you see here is only the beginning. Some of it I shall show on 25 October; the rest will follow later.
- 25 October
The whole method
Every rule on size, cloth and fit. And how Foundry will help you put them into practice.
- 25 October
Pieces or advice, on a regular basis
How that will work, I shall explain at the pop-up. I won’t give away more just yet.
- Later
Digital tools
Help in deciding what goes with what. To be unveiled at a future pop-up.
Tweed& Wine
Wine & fine company
This is where I present Foundry for the first time. Cano and I would be delighted to see you.
Foundry
The idea, the method, what comes next.
Cut & fit
Cano of Schneiderei Haj will advise you.
Wine & cloth
Wine, small plates and cloth to handle.
On Sundays nothing is sold, ordered, reserved or measured. We do not photograph guests.
The search became a collection.
Some 350 pieces, among them over a hundred jackets, from makers such as Kiton, Brioni, ISAIA and the Neapolitan sartorie. Mostly Italian sizes 50 to 58 and German long sizes 98 to 106. All pre-owned, checked and cleaned.
Only details for now. I shall show a selection on 25 October.
Would you rather talk first?
If Foundry already interests you, or you cannot make 25 October, write to me here. I reply personally.
Thank you for your message.
I shall be in touch personally before long.