This week’s Material Monday starts off with watches from WeWood, an Italian company that decided they wanted to move to LA and start planting trees (probably a good idea). Their TOMS-esque motto: you buy a watch, we’ll plant a tree. Not a bad deal.

These Enforcers from Mosley Tribes deserve a shout out just for being badass. Steve McQueen, anyone?

And for the geek in all of us, I love these prints that combine the famous Woody Gutherie quote with famous geek icons. This one, from Mario Brothers, was my favorite.

(PS, Only I can go from badass to geek that quickly.)

These iPad cases by Austrian fine goods makers Hard Graft are exquisite. Now someone just has to buy me an iPad, and I’ll be set.

But if the iPhone or iPod touch is more of your thing (as is buying American), then Corter can handle it. Based in New England, Corter consists of one man, hand making every item. How many guys out there carry around a handmade leather iPhone case?

And last but not least, Esquire’s Big Black Book is an amazing resource for fall trends and the latest in men’s fashion. Michael Williams gives a pretty good explanation for why it’s essential reading over on ACL. Planning on perusing one myself soon, so if you beat me to it, let me know how it goes.

That’s all for this week, folks.

]]> http://theexceptionalman.com/2010/10/04/material-mondays-of-leather-wood/feed/ 0 http://theexceptionalman.com/2010/03/03/recent-desirables/ http://theexceptionalman.com/2010/03/03/recent-desirables/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:45:06 +0000 Caleb http://theexceptionalman.com/?p=983

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve spent less and less time in this space talking about products. There are two reasons for that. One is because I realized there are other blogs doing it better than I am. And two is because I don’t want to anymore. I’d rather spend my time talking about intangibles than tangibles.

But that doesn’t mean I no longer pay attention to the tangibles. As such, I’d still like to spend some time every once in a while updating you about what has caught my eye.

Gitman Vintage SS10 Neckwear

Let’s start today with a series of summer ties from Gitman Vintage (like the one above). I gravitate towards still wearing a tie in the summer, but switching from the heavy colors and fabrics that you would wear in the winter (just like you should do with the rest of your wardrobe).

These ties, recently available at Blackbird, are what I’m talking about. Fantastic stuff.

Billykirk Leather Journal

While we’re on the subject of Blackbird, these beautiful leather journals from Billykirk are also available there. I’d love to get one, but unfortunately, as my wife likes to point out, I usually like looking at them more than writing in them.

L.L. Bean Ranger Moc

If you’re like me, and you used to write off L.L. Bean, think again. They have done an excellent job reinventing themselves lately, and these beauties attest to that.

Filson Shelter Cloth Foothills Parka

We’ll call this last entry a desirable for next winter. Filson, another great American company to watch out for, has this sturdy and stylish parka that I’m wishing I would have had for the Chicago winter. Almost makes me wish Spring wasn’t coming.

Almost.

I’m fresh off a trip from New York, where I stopped by the Pop Up Flea organized by Michael Williams of A Continuous Lean. So it seems only appropriate that I hear news today that ACL is opening shop on its… well, shop.

The new ACL & Co. Shop offers Harris herringbone tweed laptop bags, Billykirk canvas briefcases, and other exceptionally well-made items hand picked by Mr. Americana himself.

Almost all of the items are handmade in the USA, limited-edition kinds of gear, so they tend to run on the expensive side. Guess you’ve got some things to ask for for Christmas.

If you’re looking for handcrafted, American-made leather, you can’t do much better than Billykirk. And with their new laptop briefcase, tech geeks everywhere can travel to their local coffee houses in style.

By the way, in case you haven’t gone completely paperless, the briefcase does sport room for paperwork along with its canvas lining and removable shoulder strap. [via Acquire]

The denim world is a-buzz right now over Raleigh Denim, a North Carolina-based company run by the husband and wife team Sarah and Victor Lytvinenko. They’ve built a loyal following among denimphiles for a few reasons, not the least of which is the fact that from design to construction, all the work is done by hand by Victor, Sarah and a small staff from their workshop in Raleigh. Not to mention the fact that 98% of what goes into the company’s jeans are from North Carolina.

In Chicago, you can pick up a pair at Barney’s. With all the buzz surrounding them, I’m at least going to check them out next time I’m there. In the meantime, if you happen across a pair, want to share your thoughts?

(PS, The featured photo is not an actual pair of Raleigh Denim jeans. I couldn’t find any good photos that wouldn’t have to be stolen off of someone else’s site – a practice I am not into. Instead, for some great photos and more info on the company, I would check out the post on Raleigh at A Continuous Lean.)

Update: New photo is actually of Raleigh Denim, courtesy of A Continuous Lean. I did still only borrow one photo however, so I would still check out the post mentioned previously.