The Journal

Journal

Elliker: A British Bag Brand That Means What It Says

Elliker doesn't have a founding myth — just a British bag range built from recycled, PFC/PFAS-free materials with genuine certification behind the claims. We put the Mire packable sling and Kiln backpack through a proper look.

Journal

A Grain Of Barley: Why Shoe Sizes Never Agree

The number inside your shoe is seven hundred years old and describes a wooden form, not your foot. From a medieval decree about grains of barley to the metric system nobody adopted, here is how the world ended up with four shoe sizing systems that refuse to agree.

Journal

The White T-Shirt Test: Merz b. Schwanen, Armor Lux & Gramicci Compared

Three white T-shirts, three completely different ideas of what one should be — a German loopwheeled classic, a French workwear heritage tee, and a relaxed Japanese-designed basic. We compare fit, fabric and price to help you pick the right one.

Journal

Anthony: Skincare That Was Never Adapted From Anyone Else's

Anthony launched in New York in 2000 with a simple premise: skincare built specifically for men's skin, not adapted from someone else's. Twenty-five years on, the range is still just as narrow — and still does exactly what it says.

Journal

Nautica Japan: A Sailing Brand, Reworked by Skate Kids

Nautica Japan takes forty years of preppy sailing heritage and reworks it through '90s skate styling — oversized fits, faded logos, and a sizing note worth reading before you order.

Journal

The Water Bottle That Escaped The Lab: A History Of Nalgene

Nalgene was never designed to go outside. It started life as laboratory glassware, built to survive drop tests and acid, not backpacks — and became one of the most recognisable objects in outdoor culture almost entirely by accident.

Journal

Universal Works: Nottingham's Honest Answer To Workwear

A brand built at a kitchen table in Nottingham, on the simple idea that clothes should work as hard as the people wearing them.

Journal

Off The Wall: The History Of Vans

Vans wasn't built for skateboarding. It was built as a direct-to-customer shoe stall in Anaheim in 1966, and skateboarding simply found it first — a shoe that's now as much a menswear staple as a skate staple.

Journal

The Warmth Layer You're Missing

Winter dressing in Australia is underestimated. Not because it doesn't get cold — it does — but because most people are working with the wrong tools. TAION makes the one piece that changes the equation: a Japanese inner down, cut slim, filled with 800FP down, and designed to disappear under whatever you're already wearing.

Journal

The T-Shirt That Doesn't Need Explaining

Some things resist improvement. The Merz b. Schwanen 215 is one of them — a loopwheeled crewneck made on century-old machines in the Swabian Alps, from organic cotton that has never seen an industrial prewash. It gets better every time you wash it. That's the whole story.

Journal

Autumn Menswear Dressing

Autumn dressing doesn't require a new wardrobe. It requires the right few things — layered with intention, worn with the confidence that comes from knowing exactly what you're putting on and why.

Journal

The Gramicci G-Pant: A Buying Guide

The G-Pant has been in production since 1982. Here's everything you need to know before you buy — sizing, fit, styling and why it's still the best moving trouser ever made.

Journal

Why We Stock What We Stock

There are thousands of clothing brands in the world. We carry about twenty. Here's how we decide what earns a place on the floor — and what doesn't.