One of the most enjoyable things about the denim industry is that the folks
involved tend to be genuinely passionate about it – none more so than one man
brands such as Germany’s Hepville Custom Clothing.
A Hep Man’s Passion
Founded by Bela Ujhazy, a love of beautiful early 20th
century work-wear, combined with frustration of what was available on the mass
market, led him to give up his successful career as a chef to re-train as a bespoke
tailor. No an easy task when you’re in your 30’s and with limited opportunities
for apprenticeships.
But Bela did it – and now turns out fantastically well made custom
garments from his home near Bremen.
Bela has had a passion for 1940’s & 50’s clothing and music since he
was a kid, so it seemed like a natural choice for him.
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| Bela hard at work. (pic by Hepville) |
Bela puts it
simply, “My inspiration is tailored
clothing I would like to wear myself - building a wardrobe around your jeans is
my main concept I guess. As I´m a trained tailor I can do the whole range of
stuff besides jeans - jackets, shirts, coats, caps, bow ties, neck ties..”
And he can do it with the fabric and custom
detailing of your choice, the garment handmade from design to pattern drafting,
cutting, tailoring and sewing.
Bela works with each customer to ensure a
perfect fit. If you can’t make it to his workshop he’ll give you detailed
instructions on taking correct measurements. After the first fitting he then
tweaks a garment so it’s absolutely right for the customer.
The process is quite labour intensive and Bela
can work up to 15 hours on one pair of dungarees.
“I have no special machines e.g for felled
seems, folding over edges or other construction details... I do this by hand
using my skills and tailoring techniques. My garments are all made with
single-needle-construction… I´m a big fan of cleanly finished stuff.”
In fact the detailing on the dungarees is superb
– I love the decorative stitching on the front pockets, a forerunner of the
back pocket arcuate. It doesn’t stop there – the piping on the hickory pocket bag
seams is beautifully done. Each belt loop has a selvedge end, as does the fly.
In terms of fit, the dungarees are broadly
similar to a 1933 501 – a wide legged jean with a decent rise, sporting both
suspender buttons and belt loops.
The selvedge detailing on the waistcoat pockets may be
slightly over-doing it for my taste, but it’s a minor quibble and just my
personal preference. I feel that the sheer quality of the workmanship should
speak for itself.
Bela collects vintage haberdashery – some of
which makes it’s way on to the clothes he makes. The Bakers Boy caps is
beautiful – made from a selection of chambrays, denim or tweed, aside from
material you can specify things such as a leather headband or whether you’d
like a cinch etc – complete with vintage buckle.
Until I’d tried on one of Hepville’s denim
Engineer caps I’d never considered wearing one before. The silhouette is spot
on – obviously Bela has spent a lot of time doing his pattern research. He
suggests you have to size up by a centimetre to allow for shrinkage after the
soak. Quite right - any new cap needs one so it can be moulded to the shape of
your head properly.
Fabrics
& Fair Trade
You can select what weight & type of fabric
you’d like – for selvedge Bela uses either Japanese or American denim – he’s
the first to admit though that, as small craftsman, you’re limited as to what
material you can order by the excessive yardage most mills require.
For the tweeds and other
fabrics he tries to source from German or other European countries. “I just choose fabrics I like. I can´t offer something to customers I´m
not convinced of myself.”
As Bela makes clear, “fair trade is an important thing to me: sourcing
from first world countries, with better wages and better social environments.
As I'm a small player on the market, I don't invest millions in advertising
etc. You just get my items directly, without retailers who want to make some
money too, so I can offer my items to reasonable prices.”
Handmade & Honest
It may be a small business, but the quality of what Hepville produces is
self evident – something that the larger players often lose sight of.
We discussed how Bela sees his business growing over the next few years,
and for guys like him the answer would seem to be in collaboration with shops
and larger labels, something that he hopes will come to fruition soon.
Bela is working on several exciting new projects, not the least of which
are a duck cotton waistcoat and pea-coat that he’s currently tweaking the
pattern for – so we can look forward to Hepville’s range expanding in the near
future.
One of Bela’s main motivations is simply to grow consumer awareness of
bespoke tailoring, as he says, “almost all early work wear would have come from
a tailor’s shop or have been made in someone’s home.”
Hepville Custom Clothing is very much in this tradition, simply producing
beautiful garments that are handmade and honest.
