Handmade & Honest - Hepville Custom Clothing

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 20^th 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.

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.

You can check out Hepville Custom Clothing here.

Making Heritage Contemporary – The Pike Brothers Wabash Series

I’ll make this clear from the outset, Pike Brothers is one of my favourite labels.
Pike’s core line, focussing on European and American inspired military and workwear, speaks to my depths. One of their guiding principles is that their clothes, whilst remaining true to first principles, still function as practical working garments.
With the release of their new Wabash series – a couple of waistcoats and a jean – they’re expanding this range whilst staying true to their roots.

A Striped History

Although mostly associated with railroad workers, the Wabash fabric has seen much wider use. Its ruggedness makes it perfect for heavy labour. Just like Hickory stripe, it gives a different appearance to work attire, smartening up the workman’s wardrobe.

In the early stages of Wabash production, stripes or dots where resist dyed. However, from approximately the 1930s onwards, to speed up production, patterns where woven in.
Pike’s fabric has been made to these standards; a shuttle loom weaving the stripes into the fabric.

A Question of Modern Fit

The fit is fairly relaxed, with 3 outer patch pockets and an inner pocket. It’s also lined with a layer of grey cotton twill.
Yes, this is a heritage garment, but it’s been cut slightly longer than vintage examples would have been. I guess the motive was to accommodate today’s lower waistlines.
I particularly like the real ivory nut buttons – and the little detailing quirks like the selvedge on the coat hook.

The waistcoat is available in both grey and blue 13 oz. Wabash denim. The jeans are based on Pike’s 1942 Hunting Pant, and for now are just available in grey Wabash.

As ever, Pike Brothers suggest that you wear their stuff in from dry – the denim is sanforized, but my previous experience with their jeans is that you’ll loose just under an inch off the leg after a pre wear warm soak. Either way I’m looking forward to seeing how this Wabash ages.

All the rugged Pike detailing we’ve come to expect is there; the heavy bar tacking and lock stitched hems. Another definite period feature is the D ring and watch pocket. There are little flourishes too. The decorative stitching on the front pockets looks fantastic, yet is still functional, helping to reinforce a natural stress point.

The jeans are cut quite traditionally – with a loose fit and mid-rise, brace buttons, and zinc cinch at the back to adjust the waist. The 1940’s were very much a cross over period when it came to braces vs. belt, so there are also belt loops.

Call me obsessive when it comes to buttons, but it would have been great to see the same ivory nut used for the brace buttons, rather than the coated metal ones they sport now. Still, they're meant to be a rugged working trouser, right?
My only other slight grumble is that it would have been useful to have cinch on the waistcoat too. (However, that’s perhaps the author’s fault for being a skinny bugger.)

A Modern Take on the Past

With the Wabash series, especially in terms of how it has been cut and made, I think Pike has perfectly struck the balance of taking 19th century heritage and making it relevant and stylish for today. Arguably, this is a challenge faced by the wider heritage fashion industry.

Now, I can’t be the only one out there thinking that Pike Brothers need to release a matching Wabash jacket? My covert mission to look like Al Swearengen from Deadwood will then be complete!
You can check out the Pike Brothers Wabash series here.

Bristol Via Jakarta - NoKipple & The Elhaus Panna Shirt

Social media can be a wonderful thing, enabling us to discover brands that we otherwise would not have been exposed to. It's thanks to NoKipple pinging me on Twitter that I discovered Elhaus.

Based in Bristol NoKipple are very selective as to who they stock, specialising in high end denim and related clothing that is near impossible to find otherwise in the UK - but Elhaus have made the cut.

Launched in 2010 the Jakarta located labels' philosophy is to take Indonesia's strong, traditional design history and combine it with modern cuts and experimental materials.

Indonesia has an up and coming clothing design and manufacturing scenes with brands such as Elhaus and OldBlue Co. at the forefront.

As NoKipple argue,

"We love Elhaus because they have no fear, they are more than willing to work on products that most smaller labels would deem as too risky or too costly, they love a challenge just as much as we have enjoyed working with them on a challenge."

A point amply demonstrated by the hand-woven jeans NoKipple & Elhaus collaborated on last year. (I know, I came slightly late to the party. The Denim HQ article on these awesome jeans, written by NoKipple's Gav, aka Megatron, is quite thought provoking.)

But we're here to talk about the shirt. The material is light 5oz cotton, with a beautiful blue and white diamond Batik inspired pattern (a traditional technique of manual resist-dying - blocking the dye with wax to create the pattern.)

The detailing is spot on - single needle stitching throughout, mother-of-pearl buttons, a split yoke, pointed collars, rounded hems and cuffs. 

I particularly like the side seam guessets and the stitching at the bottom of the placket - very period touches. The cut is slightly fitted but still quite classic in length.

All of these elements combine to create a classic American style work shirt, but with traditional Indonesian flourishes.

In short it looks fantastic and, though long-sleeve, is lightweight enough to work perfectly for summer.

Tempted? The shirt is available only from NoKipple. Denim-heads amongst you should definitely check out the hand woven 21oz left hand twill jeans too. You don't normally see such attention to detail and commercially difficult artisan techniques used outside of Japan.

But that's rather the point. The selvedge denim industry is perhaps wrongly obsessed with branding and provenance. In an increasingly crowded market it can be hard for new brands to make headway, particularly those perceived to be from the wrong countries.

When did simply making something well become not sufficient?

Indonesian brands like  Elhaus deserve recognition and wider popularity for what they're trying to do. I'm excited to see what NoKipple will get in from them next. Elhaus are definitely a brand to watch.

(Pix courtesy of NoKipple.)

1952 British Army Denim Battledress Blouse

The DNA of the humble battledress blouse can clearly be seen in post-war casual and work jackets - most famously in civilian versions of the American "Ike" jacket.

The blouse began life when, looking for a replacement for WW1 era Service Dress (SD) more suited to modern combat operations, the British War Department settled on Battledress in 1937.
Much shorter than its SD tunic predecessor, the BD blouse was originally worn over a collarless shirt and buttoned at the back to a pair of matching trousers.

Issued on a large scale in 1939, this is the itchy heavy wool uniform that most British and Dominion troops set off to war with.

A Working Dress version was also made in selvedge denim - cut larger to be worn over the wool uniform for doing dirty jobs around barracks. (So you will need to size down.) However, as we all know, denim is ever practical and the material proved ideal for operations in hotter climates - it was widely issued, or "acquired" by troops fighting in the Mediterranean.

Made from green or brown selvedge selvedge denim (I'd guestimate the denim to be around the 11oz mark) these are robust little jackets.
With pleats front and rear they're quite roomy too. The buckled belt nips in the waist to give a quite boxy silhouette.

Pleats.

The trousers are identical to their woollen cousins, obviously apart from the one line of selvedge visible on the strong felled out-seam.

With a high waist line hovering dangerously close to the nipples, they were clearly meant to give a silhouette that emphasised height - important when attempting to instil fear in the the hearts of advancing German infantry!

Waist belt buckle detail.

In fact such large stocks of denim and wool battledress blouses were left behind by the British at Dunkirk they were recycled by the Germans and issued to U Boat crews. 

Various patterns of the wool blouse were made over the years, with the most alterations being made to the collar and button placket, but the denim versions always stuck closely to those first issued in 1937 - with a simple rise & fall collar clipped at the top, and the exposed buttons of the later 1940 "Austerity Pattern." The removal of the covered placket an economy measure that saved on cloth.

Simple rise-and-fall collar clipped at the top.

These blouses were made to be used hard, so the bakelite buttons are held on by cleats - easy to remove for washing. I suspect soldiers back then had other things in their mind than developing fades on their denim!

The blouse you see here was made in 1952 by Denham. There were a myriad number of contractors over the years, all with small differences between them. (Sadly I could not find any information on Denham.)

Original War Department label.

As a combat uniform battledress was still worn in the Korean War, but fell in to disuse with the issue of Herringbone Twill uniforms poached from the Americans.

As our own cotton combat uniform came in to service there was no real need for denim or wool battledress and it ceased to be issued in 1961.

Pocket detail with what look like bakelite disc buttons.

American uniform items have always been extremely popular, with companies like Buzz Rickson's offering top dollar recreations. They're fantastic I agree, but I'd argue that, although not as well known, British denim uniforms are just as stylish. To Nigel Cabourn's credit he did a version of the trousers for his SS14 collection.

Worn with jeans the blouses look great over a guernsey or a submariner jumper, or a work shirt in summer. Just the thing for cutting about town. (Or a clandestine meeting with your resistance contact to blow up a bridge!) 

Earlier examples are becoming scarce, but post war versions are still straightforward to find.

I found mine on Ebay, but it is worth checking surplus suppliers to see what they have. There are also various reproduction companies making copies for re-enactor types, though the denim is not selvedge.

I'd argue you're better off with an original.

A New Classic - Victorinox Swiss Army Infantry Chronograph

I've been after a new watch for a while, however decent time pieces can be a trifle pricy. So, the idea was put off as none essential and I soldiered on with my slightly embarrassing Sekonda.

Step in my dearly beloved wife. I hit the ripe old age of 38 last week - not a milestone I particularly wanted to celebrate. The Mrs, Hanna, lives in Copenhagen and I'm stuck in London for the forceable future. On the day I grumpily went in to the office as normal and thought no more of it. 

Well, my other half flew in last Wednesday and, after the obligatory shower of kisses, started to make vague hints about some sort of belated birthday surprise. In short this is how I found myself in the Victorinox flag ship store in Bond Street the following morning.

Being Swedish, my beloved is a terribly efficient sort and had done extensive research it to the best available watches for a budget of under £500. Victorinox came up as the best answer, offering precision made Swiss chronographs at pretty respectable prices.

The range that caught her attention was Maverick - quite chunky contemporary time pieces with a large face. They look fantastic but as I have the wrists of a 16 year old girl they didn't quite work for me.

Perhaps predictably I was immediately taken with the Infantry Chronograph range - as the name suggests the pieces are inspired by WWII era military watches. (As a cavalryman I'll ignore the fact they've named it after the infantry..)

Quite small by modern standards the watches sport a Ø 40 mm face and are outfitted with a Ronda 5030-D quartz movement. 
It displays three counters on the dial, as well as traditional pushbuttons to the right of the case middle on each side of the protected crown.

The chronograph functions allow for 1/10th of a second precision timing and a small second and 30-minute counter.

Available in series of finishes I opted for the white face with a tan leather strap. If you're clumsy like me the tough scratch resistant sapphire crystal glass and stainless steel casing will see you right for years. 

The movement is not automatic, so you'll have to change the battery as needed but that's it.

For the money, £450, this is a quality Swiss watch that will last a lifetime.

Check out the range here.

Buzz Rickson 1942 HBT Trousers

Summer is here.. even in England. A good thing,  however my trusty 19oz Pike Brothers jeans are getting a my legs a little too toasty. I do have lighter denim, but to give me a break from indigo I began looking for something different.

Herringbone Twill (HBT) is just as rugged as denim. So much so that the material was widely used by WW2 era militaries for their uniforms.

Introduced by the Americans in 1941 to replace denim working dress, US HBT uniforms are still widely reproduced - today the best by far are the stitch-for-stitch recreations offered by Buzz Rickson's. 

So, for me, they were the natural place to start for an alternative to denim. Buzz Rickson's produce HBT trousers in several different patterns. I opted for the US Army 1942 version.

Made from high quality, military spec HBT, Rickson's argue that they feel and wear like a wartime original.

Buzz Rickson's don't appear to have the '42 pattern on their site any more. However, they now do a '41 US Marine Corps (USMC) version.

The '42 Army pattern differs in that obviously they don't sport the USMC logo on the back pocket, have army buttons and a natural white twill lined waist band. Rather than utilitarian patch pockets they sport smarter sash pockets - including a coin pocket.

So they don't feel too military - useful if you don't want to look like you're about single-handedly re-take Guadalcanal.

Confusingly these trousers, in cut and detailing, are exactly like the first 1941 pattern that gradually replaced pre-war denim fatigues, so I'm not sure why they're billed by Rickson's as 1942.

There were several shades of Olive Drab (OD) used over the years, and these are in the early war lighter sage green shade.

In any case, several patterns were worn widely until the end of the war - soldiers just sported what they were issued by the QM. So, unless you're a geeky re-enactor and get het up about such things, you need not worry.

As with several other items of military clothing their rugged utility, mixed with a pinch of nostalgia, give them an enduring stylishness that transcends the garment's original function as a working uniform. Simply put, for chaps seeking an excellently made vintage inspired pair of trousers, these are for you.

I found mine from Burg & Schild in Berlin, one of the city's best shops for quality denim and heritage menswear - and they still have a few pairs left. I urge you to go and visit these guys if you're in town, however if you can't make it the trousers are available online here.

(With thanks to Thomas at Burg & Schild for all the help. Pix ©Burg & Schild.)