Maketh the Man

Visitors to Japan are, almost without exception, gushing in their praise of the country’s service culture. I can see their point: go to any half-decent restaurant in Tokyo and you will be served in a friendly way, your (generally excellent) food will arrive quickly and you will get an instant apology if anything is wrong. [...]

The past couple of weeks have been somewhat nippy here, with an especially biting wind. Rather than splash out on a new windproof coat I thought I’d just make use of my Barbour Bedale, and buy a hood for those especially nasty days. No problem, right? Wrong. It seems like Barbour’s waxed hoods, especially in [...]

2012 is upon us, which means it’s time to pick up on a few bargains in the January sales. Some rather hefty non-clothing expenses means my budget is limited this time round, so I’ve been drawn to relatively small and inexpensive items: neckties. The great thing about neckties is that they take up little wardrobe [...]

In days gone by Jermyn Street, the traditional heart of Britain’s shirt industry, was full of family-owned shirtmakers. Now just one, Harvie & Hudson, remains. We caught up with Richard Harvie, grandson of co-founder Thomas Harvie and current day-to-day manager of the 77 Jermyn Street store, to discuss all things shirt-related. 1) It always struck [...]