S.E.H Kelly

[sehkelly]

There is no one to blame!

One moment I was reaching up to grab a jacket for a customer down below, the next I was sprawled on the floor.

I did climb to my feet and offer the jacket to the customer — even mustered some sales patter! — but after he departed and the adrenaline subsided, I realised my arm didn’t look quite like it oughta, and promptly scurried to the hospital.

 

[WhyUEarly]

In case anyone was of a mind to visit our workshop over the next few weeks, I can advise that it isn’t a very good idea.

We are closed, see, for the summer. This is a sort of summer break, which is a play on words, because I broke my arm when climbing (or rather falling from) the ladder at the workshop last week. Rather than stand around more useless than ever — unable even to put a jacket back on a hanger or button up a shirt — we decided to do more productive things on the days we’d usually open the place to the public. Which is frustrating, but hopefully the silver lining will emerge in due course.

Normal service continues online.

I’ve busied myself so far wittering on about factories in London with an up and coming journalist at https://www.permanentstyle.com/2019/07/the-inside-of-a-london-factory-by-paul-of-seh-kelly.html, and posting several blog posts on our website, most recently about the upcoming Chesterfield at https://www.sehkelly.com/single-breasted-vision/.

Paul, I just wanted to swing by to compliment on your superb writing on that Permanent Style piece. It would be lovely if all your writing was compiled into some sort of picture book on British manufacturing/making. I find your writing quite inspiring and the type of essay I would want adolescent students to learn from. It's light-hearted and humanizes without being condescending, and just very very lightly portrays undertones of better days past, with an upper lip not overly stiff. As if a snapshot of a sunset with dignity.

 

[sehkelly]

Paul, I just wanted to swing by to compliment on your superb writing on that Permanent Style piece. It would be lovely if all your writing was compiled into some sort of picture book on British manufacturing/making. I find your writing quite inspiring and the type of essay I would want adolescent students to learn from. It's light-hearted and humanizes without being condescending, and just very very lightly portrays undertones of better days past, with an upper lip not overly stiff. As if a snapshot of a sunset with dignity.

Thank you. You are too kind.

I enjoy the opportunity every now and then to share my experiences, but do struggle to find time otherwise to sit down and write properly.

I agree with the insight, implicit I think in your comment, that things can be overly romanticised sometimes, or treated with undue reverence. Perhaps this is unique to fashion, where mystique and drama are currency in themselves.

I did go through a phase several years back of documenting other suppliers of ours. I don’t have as much insight to share as I’m in no way constantly embedded in the way I am in London, but there is e.g. https://www.sehkelly.com/linen-weaver-hebrides-scotland/ and https://www.sehkelly.com/woollen-mill-inner-hebrides-scotland/ and https://www.sehkelly.com/donegal-tweed-mill/. More fluff and less analysis than in the piece of Simon’s blog!

Paul

 

[LatAm]

In case anyone was of a mind to visit our workshop over the next few weeks, I can advise that it isn’t a very good idea.

We are closed, see, for the summer. This is a sort of summer break, which is a play on words, because I broke my arm when climbing (or rather falling from) the ladder at the workshop last week. Rather than stand around more useless than ever — unable even to put a jacket back on a hanger or button up a shirt — we decided to do more productive things on the days we’d usually open the place to the public. Which is frustrating, but hopefully the silver lining will emerge in due course.

Normal service continues online.

I’ve busied myself so far wittering on about factories in London with an up and coming journalist at https://www.permanentstyle.com/2019/07/the-inside-of-a-london-factory-by-paul-of-seh-kelly.html, and posting several blog posts on our website, most recently about the upcoming Chesterfield at https://www.sehkelly.com/single-breasted-vision/.

Sorry to hear that Paul, what a drag! Hope you get well soon.

 

[LatAm]

Thank you. You are too kind.

I enjoy the opportunity every now and then to share my experiences, but do struggle to find time otherwise to sit down and write properly.

I agree with the insight, implicit I think in your comment, that things can be overly romanticised sometimes, or treated with undue reverence. Perhaps this is unique to fashion, where mystique and drama are currency in themselves.

I did go through a phase several years back of documenting other suppliers of ours. I don’t have as much insight to share as I’m in no way constantly embedded in the way I am in London, but there is e.g. https://www.sehkelly.com/linen-weaver-hebrides-scotland/ and https://www.sehkelly.com/woollen-mill-inner-hebrides-scotland/ and https://www.sehkelly.com/donegal-tweed-mill/. More fluff and less analysis than in the piece of Simon’s blog!

Paul

Great articles, really enjoyed reading them thanks! Are you using any of these cloths at the moment?

 

[sehkelly]

Great articles, really enjoyed reading them thanks! Are you using any of these cloths at the moment?

Cheers.

We don't use cloth from the two Scottish mills currently, but we have used tweed from the mill in County Donegal fairly continuously for the past six years. We have taken delivery of a fresh batch from them for the coming autumn, in fact, for shirts (a cotton-merino blend) and the balmacaan (proper woollen tweed). The latter is for my money as good as it gets.

And I'm on rather a roll with the blogging. Must be my newfound convalescent state. There's a new bunch of words this morning about the shopcoat, which is one of the quite numerous new garments we've been developing since the spring.

It's at https://sehkelly.com/impersonation-of-shopkeepers/.

Paul

 

[sehkelly]

We've had a fun couple of weeks redeveloping the car coat from the ground up.

It's one of the most old and established garments in the collection, but has lost its niche somewhat in recent years. This has been bugging me for some time, and a good enough idea coalesced last month to justify redevelopment.

The existing version has the one-piece raglan sleeve, and we are replacing it with a set-in sleeve with under-arm gusset panel. This will give it a smarter look to the coat with little if any loss of movement. There's quite a lot else new, too -- most noticeably the storm-flap, front and back, which makes it look more like a trench (in my ideal world everything would look like a trench). It will have an open collar, too.

I am excited for this one, but trepidatious a little as the old one is, like I said, quite well-established, and this is a wholesale change. The best parts of the old car coat will be cannibalised into other coats, though, so I think things will work out okay ...

Paul

 

[sehkelly]

Doesn't everyone anthropomorphise their outerwear?

Career change — S.E.H Kelly

Year after year of nurturing along a generation of outerwear has left the car coat without much sense of self.

www.sehkelly.com

 

[ojaw]

My clothing speaks to me all the time, I just don't care for it's attitude.

 

[sehkelly]

It is increasingly that time of the year when we have equally one foot in summer and one in autumn, which in many ways is our busiest time of the year. The factory is asking for cloth so they can get on with making the first tranche of moleskin, corduroy, and woollen shirts, and after that hopefully week comes the new tweed balmacaan.

But, since the weather is still very agreeable, we've used up more of our considerable stock of cotton airweave, and made some more SB3 jackets and field jackets.

(The chest pocket on the field jacket, although as previously discussed of contestable positioning, is still one of my most proud achievements. It is such a hard-working feature.)

I hope airweave, which we first used in 2012 (I think) will become a more regular feature at the workshop -- perennial, even, since it has much to offer outside of summer. Next year, then, maybe we'll try out some new colours in addition to the navy and dark olive. A dark grey, perhaps, or sand. Who says we're not adventurous?

 

[10dence]

Hi Paul, when do you think your new coats and jackets will be up for sale? As of right now I'm refreshing the store page several times a day, since last time I missed out completely on getting my sizes. And those tropical worsted trousers has been my biggest blunder this year. Far too long I was going back and forth on if I should or shouldn't. And when I did decide that I should, I couldn't.

 

[sehkelly]

The cogs are starting to turn, and like you I'm clicking refresh constantly to check on the status of cloth deliveries from Ireland, Yorkshire, Somerset, and Lancashire, as well as production progress at the factory.

I think the balmacaan in Donegal tweed will be first off the bat, and ought to appear soon into September. Then the peacoat, which won't deviate too far from the formula last year, but tweaked too sharpen up its fit. Then the trench, tielocken, Chesterfield, and duffle coat. And I'm sure I'm forgetting one.

Between mid-September and the end of October (at the earliest) we hope for a steady stream of new coats and jackets.

Progress is also going well with knitwear, and we've pushed out the boat in terms of variety of styles -- some new, some returning.

We've been guilty of overlooking trousers in recent years, too, so the number of cord, moleskin, and woollen trousers will be greatly increased this time around. "Greatly increased" is of course a relative term, and compared I expect to any sensible business, our numbers are still incredibly meagre ("limited edition" in marketing speak: I can scrawl "1 of 10" on any purchase for a very reasonable non-refundable fee).

Paul

 

[10dence]

Much obliged. Sounds like the perfect colab with Supreme, imagine the resell values on those pieces!

 

[Spaghettimatt]

Paul, what's the Balmacaan donegal this year? Same hopsack weave as last?

 

[Thibault S]

Hello everyone,

As the new field jacket has been mentioned above, let me tell you that I've just listed mine in the "buy and sell" section. It is the navy kind in size S. I thought it might be of interest for some of you as I'm pretty sure S is sold out on the website