Hello, 'Mansome' (Wall Street Journal)
“In the era of the so-called metrosexual, there's more room for male vanity. "What this film confirmed for me was that men are not allergic to the mirror at all," said Mr. Bateman, who served as the film's executive producer with Mr. Arnett. "We want to be as pretty as the females. Body-hair removal, facial and scalp hair manipulation, skin care—men basically do the same things, but are more secretive about them."”

Talking to The Armoury About Trousers (Put This On)
“In general, Mark recommends a flat front or single pleat for men with flat seats, and flat fronts, single pleats, or even double pleats for those with rounder ones. As the number of pleats increases, the fullness of the legs should also increase in order to maintain a balance.”

Singapore Artisans: Vanda Fine Clothing (The Rake)
“Gerald Shen and Diana Chan, then, are two fine folks to open this series with. As the co-founders, artisans, and masterminds behind classic menswear accessory label Vanda Fine Clothing, the pair have devoted their craft towards the creation of some of the finest goods that rival – if not outclass – other older, more established ateliers.”

How a Kiton shirt is made (The Rake)
“Only two things in the making of the shirt are done by sewing machine. These are the outer edges of the collars and cuffs (so as to present a cleaner, sharper line at the neck and wrist) and the side seams up the body and sleeves (to be stronger).”

Nick V. talks with shoe care magnate Sergio Barange (Styleforum Blog)
“What we must not do is decrease our quality, reducing cost and keeping very little margins. We need to maintain our levels, and reinvest in research and development, new machinery, be stronger and propose valid and high-quality alternatives. Fighting against low prices is no future for a family business or even any developed countries’ brand that wants to survive against low salary countries’ brands. We have recently seen what happened to Tacco Footcare in Germany, where they went into a financial distress last November, because of low prices, offering some Asian production, insufficient margins, and no machinery renewal.”

Patagonia's Founder Is America's Most Unlikely Business Guru (Wall Street Journal)
“The evolution of Patagonia into a clothing company began in the 1970s, when Chouinard—then a world-class mountain climber and a designer of mountaineering equipment—started importing durable rugby shirts and corduroy knickers for his climber pals to wear. Soon enough, Patagonia was designing its own line of clothes. Soon after that, sales of the clothes far outstripped sales of the climbing gear. This is how Yvon Chouinard became an accidental apparel mogul. This truly hit home when fashion models in New York City started wearing Patagonia fleece vests. He had no idea why, and didn't really care. But he realized his life had changed.”

A Humbled Gap Tries a Fresh Coat of Pep (New York Times)
“What went wrong? Dozens of interviews with current and former executives depict a company that chased after rivals, rather than charting its own course, and that cut quality and lost touch with customers. Simply put, it filled its stores with stuff that people didn’t want.”

Bay Rum, The Scent of Madison Avenue (Ivy Style)
“Perhaps it’s the word rum (sometimes spelled “rhum”) in the name, with its connotations of maritime adventure, that accounts for bay rum’s longstanding popularity. Or perhaps women adore it. They must, or else bay rum would have been selected for extinction long ago. But compared to the luxury brands whose scents fill the pages of glossy magazines, bay rum seems made for the man who frankly doesn’t give a damn. He wears it because he knows he owes good hygiene both to his fellow man and himself, not for a direct payoff in the mating game. Bay rum is what men think a man should smell like. It’s not for the man who orders a bottled pheromone, discretely billed, that’s guaranteed to aid seduction.”

YKK zippers: Why so many designers use them. (Slate)
“One zipper gone wrong can render an entire garment unwearable. Thus consistent quality is a must for reputable fashion brands. For decades now, apparel makers who can’t afford to gamble on cut-rate fasteners have overwhelmingly turned to a single manufacturer. YKK, the Japanese zipper behemoth, makes roughly half of all the zippers on earth. More than 7 billion zippers each year. Those three capital letters are ubiquitous—no doubt you’ve seen them while zipping up your windbreaker or unzipping someone else’s jeans. How did YKK come to dominate this quirky corner of industry?”

Uniqlo: Cheap and Very Cheerful (Wall Street Journal)
“We make a lot of our products in China but, because of our approach to manufacturing, we can maintain very good quality control. When we find a factory we want to work with, we commit to buying all of their product for the next five years—but only if they meet our standards. Then we send in our own team of trained craftsmen to teach the factory how we like things done. The team stays until they get it right.”

Buying Character (A Suitable Wardrobe)
“The amortized price-quality rationalization is a potent nostrum – a comforting but ultimately unsuccessful justification. The best is not the cheapest by a long shot. Additionally, for an item of clothing to last a lifetime requires a set of redundancies as extensive as the failsafes in a nuclear power plant (at least, one hopes), and relies on the premise that your tastes and dimensions won’t change significantly over, well, that lifetime.” 

Personal Style: Simon Crompton (GQ UK)
“My spending on clothes is never frivolous. I firmly believe in the value of craft and that it's not just an excuse to buy stuff.You wouldn't necessarily buy more clothes if you had more money but you'd probably buy more expensive things. Plus there's very good maths you can do that shows that it's better value for money. You're more likely to wear something of quality for much longer.”

Talking with Ascot Chang (Put This On)
“It really starts from the measuring process. That’s probably the biggest component of our business. We take multiple measurements, observe the client’s posture, and ask him the kind of lifestyle he plans to wear the shirts in. From this, we create an initial paper pattern, which we’ll adjust until the client is satisfied with the fit. Once we have the paper pattern down, a client can order fabric swatches to be sent to him overseas, or just come to one of our trunk shows and flip through fabric books. He tells us which fabrics he likes, and we’ll make him a shirt and send it to him. If he needs the shirt to be adjusted at some point, he can also come to one of our stores, and we’ll adjust his paper pattern on file. This is what allows us to make a perfect fitting shirt every time, and I think why 70% of our business is from returning customers. ”

Leading Mannequins: How a Stylist Dresses Hollywood Stars (GQ US)
“Before Miles ducks out, the suit must be tailored. Ilaria orbits him, pinning and tucking and swatting his hand when he fidgets. The scene has a Madonna-with-child kind of ritual sweetness about it—the custodial female preparing a helpless young man for the world. When the actor first arrived, he was dressed like a fog bank, in head-to-toe gray. Now he looks worthy of a commemorative coin. Ilaria finishes and steps away once more, arms folded across her chest. The thesis of her stance is clear: This, she's saying, is why a man needs a stylist.”

When Men Wear Jewellery (More Intelligent Life)
“On the internet, you’ll find many websites offering advice on what kinds of jewellery men should wear. But there’s often a contradiction between the underlying message—that a man should feel comfortable enough in himself to wear whatever he wants—and the specific advice (“a ring or bracelet can give your image a positive boost”). If a man isn’t confident in himself, his image won’t get much of a boost from a ring, a bracelet, or even both. And if he is confident in himself, he may even get away with the things those websites abjure, as when one of them warns: “Don’t wear yellow gold with a red ruby and a blue suit: you’ll look like a clown.””

How to Tell if a Shirt Is Well-Made (Put This On)
“Whether you have something custom-made or buy ready-to-wear, it’s useful to know how to examine the quality of a shirt. How can you tell if a shirt is well-made?”

Looking after ties (Permanent Style)
“The answer on ties is pretty simple. Most ties should be stored hanging up, so that the day’s wrinkles fall out of them. The only exception is knitted or heavy woven ties, which can stretch if hung up – they should be rolled.”