Nigel Cabourn

[majickstuff]

That said I think the new womenswear looks good.

what an irony.. i agree. actually the new womenswear stuff looks better FROM A GUYS PERSPECTIVE.. you couldn't get my girlfriend to wear any of it though, not interested. has anyone seen the cabourn teams instagram stuff? nigel cavorting about with fancy young chicks more than half his age whom i assume are a major part of his design team at the moment. that could explain how the womenswear range is looking good but quite frankly, the menswear range of recent years is just not. agreed on the above comments on Hawaiian baggy shirts and desert rats . looking on the cabourn website as it stands now i notice the desert rats parka is down from £785 to £235 in the sale. insane reduction and i still wouldnt buy it. looks like nobody else is either ( no offence to anyone who has ). dodgy palm tree print shirts down from a ridiculous £ 405 to £120.. everything is drastically reduced as nobody is really prepared to pay retail for any of that stuff. and i would wager they still make good profits even selling at those sale prices. strangely, the dungarees i quite like in concept, although i couldnt see myself wearing them now at 45 years of age, they are bordering on stereotype hipster styles especially with the rolled up trouser stylings. i wouldnt mind getting a chance to see how any of these cabourn trousers actually look ( before buying a pair to find out ) when meeting a pair of boots/shoes/trainers at the ankle!!

 

[jacksonn]

It's been a rant but at least there's a bit of life again on this thread! All healthy debate.

Agree on the womenswear line. It does look stunning and has that blend of history/contemporary. Agree with recent point re: Instagram. It's on the verge of getting a bit embarrassing.

I just wonder - the label's rebirth came with a big story. Mallory. Everest and so on. And I've noticed that storytelling has ever since been a huge part of what I thought was the label's ethos but which I now think was a marketing plan. And that's ok. It's not a charity and the ideas and product were good. Now we seem to be in a place where the stories are as good as ever - Sean Flynn, Nam etc. - but the product has become secondary to the narrative. I think we all know the collections for menswear are not that great these days.

 

[majickstuff]

It's been a rant but at least there's a bit of life again on this thread! All healthy debate.

Agree on the womenswear line. It does look stunning and has that blend of history/contemporary. Agree with recent point re: Instagram. It's on the verge of getting a bit embarrassing.

I just wonder - the label's rebirth came with a big story. Mallory. Everest and so on. And I've noticed that storytelling has ever since been a huge part of what I thought was the label's ethos but which I now think was a marketing plan. And that's ok. It's not a charity and the ideas and product were good. Now we seem to be in a place where the stories are as good as ever - Sean Flynn, Nam etc. - but the product has become secondary to the narrative. I think we all know the collections for menswear are not that great these days.

credit where its due for the things they got right. the Everest, Mallory, tensing and cameraman based on vintage mountaineering was pretty inspired and certainly appealed to me. i thought the marketing campaign and the way they used the models and locations with some nice artistic photography was all brilliantly done. most importantly, the items looked really good. it set the bar high. even the offshoots into military inspired items like the aircraft, surface jacket and continued interesting variations on the parkas and cameraman etc. even some of the more extravagant high price things like the coastal shearling and the duffle coats, they werent really my cup of tea but i could still appreciate them as good looking items which fitted well with my idea of what cabourn was all about. then we had this period of collaborations of which i was not really feeling any of them. filson, eddie baur, fred perry, lavenham, converse, lybro.. along with the japanese market and army gym stuff expanding out. also the marketing changed to what now seems to be mainly focused on the cheesy instagram stuff. yet prices remain very high, perhaps even eclipsing the prices when the brand had its act together and was making better stuff. ive seen the spring 2018 sean flynn inspired upcoming collection and well, im not wanting to continue beating the drum of my thoughts on the brands demise, but im not seeing anything that looks particularly good in the images released.. a boiler suit, some more tropicalesque fairly standard looking jackets, a particularly horrendous block coloured shirt thing and some more baggy trousers. not a single item that personally i would consider wearing , let alone forking out what is bound to be extortionate retail prices. but i guess thats us returning to historically inspired factual characters, a formula which worked well before but the difference being the clothes produced really brought the story to life. im really not getting that vibe off the sean flynn collection at all. i could be wrong if upon release, more interesting items are revealed other than the things featured in advance. i hope so...

 

[Ciaran]

Agree with recent point re: Instagram. It's on the verge of getting a bit embarrassing.

Personally I find it fascinating to see Nigel hanging out with young women or playing with his leather medicine ball every 4 posts.

 

[ike_hiking_boots]

I have a question regarding the P.O.H. Shirt: Is this based on an actual vintage garment? In particular the narrow chest pocket? I find it somewhat iritating as it's basically unusable. I've seen a few Studio D. shirts with a smilar pocket shape, so wondering if it's just a trend rather than an authentic detail? IMO the shirt would of been a lot better if they had either made that chest pocket a standard size / or left all the pockets off / or designed it like a traditional smock, with two standard sized hand pockets. Sometimes Cabourn seems to overcook things, not always to the benefit of the garment. My two pence.

 

[BLAUGRANA]

Well this thread seems to be alive and kicking.

As regards Chinese production, in general way too much is made of this. Something being made in China doesn't mean it's of poor quality just like a factory being in China doesn't mean that the working conditions there are bad. The issue is far from black and white and there seems to be a lot of misconceptions out there especially around quality. Goods made in China just like goods made anywhere can range in quality. Specifically regarding Cabourn though, I view the commentary on his producing anything in China as fair game considering his comments in the past.

I think he's either lost his way or is pandering to consumers and what he perceives their desires are. Either way its seems that with each passing season he's starting to design fewer "winners" than in previous years. That's not to say there aren't still nice pieces being made like the SS17 fishtail Cameraman (which while boxy is a great colorway with a good and subtle mix of tones). Still more and more awful pieces like that Desert Rats jacket with the printed graphic on the back. SS17 Lybro for me is a flashing red neon sign that says "dump it already." That's despite my kind of liking that palm print even though I can't see myself wearing it on a "big shirt". Actually a ton of potential for that line, but it's largely progressively gotten worse. The Army Gym collection isn't that bad, but I would think there's only so much you can do with it. Either way it doesn't seem to be selling and I'm guessing price has something to do with it. Mainline was never as good as I think most people rate it, but they generally did something interesting. Now though it looks to be rather derivative of itself. That leaves Authentic which just isn't what it used to be. Again, it's as if he's lost his way. And I too see the women's collections as the best bits at the moment.

Personally I don't need anymore Cabourn. I have more than enough. Fortunately I still wear the vast majority of it every season and I don't see myself tiring of it anytime soon if ever. In fact to a degree I look at the lack of much interesting coming from Cabourn of late as a welcome respite.

 

[desolate]

Personally I don't need anymore Cabourn. I have more than enough. Fortunately I still wear the vast majority of it every season and I don't see myself tiring of it anytime soon if ever. In fact to a degree I look at the lack of much interesting coming from Cabourn of late as a welcome respite.

The last paragraph is the crux of the matter for me.

I must have 6 or 7 Tenzing/Mallories and similar number of other jackets, parkas, duffle coats and numerous shirts, trousers and knits.

For a winter wardrobe I really doubt I will every realistically have to buy anything again as the are ageing much more gracefully than I am!

I quite like the Lybro big shirts - work ok over a t shirt for summer evenings and I thought the Lybro combat pants were a decent effort - very heavy material that is aging very well.

Everyone needs to make a few quid so who can really blame him for stretching the brand?

Having said that, like so many things recently, the pricing does seem at the top end of the scale and he still can't work out a consistent sizing system!

 

[BLAUGRANA]

I don't blame him for "stretching the brand" and making the Lybro, Mailine or Army Gym lines. It's not about the "if" he did it but rather "how" he did it and specifically to the finished product. That of course is subjective, but I think he could have and could be doing a lot better with those lines as he could be with the Authentic line.

 

[Ciaran]

he still can't work out a consistent sizing system!

I'm constantly flummoxed by this. I bought the Tibet wide lapel jacket in 48 this season. Fits as a standard medium, which is my size, normal fit. Bought a wide lapel jacket last Winter in 48, and it was more like a small/extra small. Bought a summer tenzing a couple of years ago in a 50 - barely fits. Very strange!

 

[London]

You can't manufacture in China (no matter how good the production quality) if your whole brand is based on British heritage. That's a confusing ass marketing story.

 

[ike_hiking_boots]

You can't manufacture in China (no matter how good the production quality) if your whole brand is based on British heritage.

Burberry.

 

[majickstuff]

the Mallory is a well designed classic with Harris tweed and ventile, warm and sturdy. At 700 quid it's a push but I'll go there. How you can justify 750 quid for the desert rats parka? Well you can't. The new fishtail cameraman is nice. A couple of other things also. The camo smock is nice but I'm done with wearing camo quite frankly., still, for those who like camo, nice jacket. I used to drool over the new realeases from cabourn. Not everything, but at least a few each season. Racking my brains as to how I could justify the spend. But 170 quid for a basic t shirt? Or a basic sweat that says " physical instructor " on it? Yeah, this stuff is stretching the brand. And ok, in concept, it's a business but where before, you felt you were getting something for the big bucks. I wouldn't mind so much but I hate seeing one of my fav brands declining to high price generic stuff. It's a shame.

 

[Ciaran]

The "physical instructor" crap is aimed squarely at the Japanese market. In fact I think they shouldn't put that rubbish on cabourn.co.uk as it cheapens the perception of the brand.

That said I do have to agree with you, things are sliding fast. I bought the Tibet wide lapel jacket and the mainline denim mallory this season for the office. All perfectly fine, but kinda boring really.

I mentioned previously I bought a Lybro jacket and the quality was great, however I forgot to mention I also bought the boat jacket from last winter https://www.endclothing.com/us/nigel-cabourn-x-lybro-boat-oil-jacket-ncos-aw16-ow-2-blk.html

I think I got it at 20% off full retail. I sent it back, the quality was poor for the price , very thin material , cheap feel to it, including the trims . Very disappointing.

 

[The Syllabus]

The "physical instructor" crap is aimed squarely at the Japanese market. In fact I think they shouldn't put that rubbish on cabourn.co.uk as it cheapens the perception of the brand.

That said I do have to agree with you, things are sliding fast. I bought the Tibet wide lapel jacket and the mainline denim mallory this season for the office. All perfectly fine, but kinda boring really.

I mentioned previously I bought a Lybro jacket and the quality was great, however I forgot to mention I also bought the boat jacket from last winter https://www.endclothing.com/us/nigel-cabourn-x-lybro-boat-oil-jacket-ncos-aw16-ow-2-blk.html

I think I got it at 20% off full retail. I sent it back, the quality was poor for the price , very thin material , cheap feel to it, including the trims . Very disappointing.

Slightly off topic, but I suppose if you like Cabourn, your into military style gear? I've got plenty of Cabourn gear, but not overduely impressed with the label this past 18 months, so I've took a chance and ordered this http://leganord.co.uk/index.php/product/guerrilla-jacket/ should be here next week. Will let you know if it's any good.

 

[majickstuff]

Slightly off topic, but I suppose if you like Cabourn, your into military style gear? I've got plenty of Cabourn gear, but not overduely impressed with the label this past 18 months, so I've took a chance and ordered this http://leganord.co.uk/index.php/product/guerrilla-jacket/ should be here next week. Will let you know if it's any good.

.

That looks interesting? Expensive? 8 week process to make the jacket. Not familiar with the brand but looks a good effort.