The Chateau Roux team were kind enough to send over one of their fine hoodies to keep me warm during winter, and whilst it is a warm hoodie, I was still pretty chilly when I dashed outside into the -9C air to take these photos, but then again, I think it would be pretty chilly whatever I was wearing when it’s that cold.
The hoodie is a size XL; when I’m wearing an American Apparel XL hoodie it’s pretty baggy, but as you can probably tell from the photos, this hoodie is a bit of a slim fit on me. It’s pretty thick and I don’t think that it’s too tight (I actually think it’s quite slimming), but it’s definitely a fashion fit and should be purchased as such, so if you want to wear something that’s a little roomy then order a size up.
Every aspect of this hoodie screams quality, I’m very, very impressed with it. Chateau Roux aren’t a bargain-basement kind of a brand, yes, it is possible to get a cheaper hoodie elsewhere, but I doubt that you’ll be able to get a hoodie of similar quality without paying quite a lot more, and with this design being on sale at the moment it really is excellent value.
Costiness=£42 Buy it at Chateau Roux
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It’s not often that you’ll see the word ‘cool’ and ‘crochet’ within a few miles of each other, but this is definitely one of those times. I can’t lie, I was pretty skeptical that I would like these hats when BMC Handmade offered to send a few hats to my way, and my policy is that I never accept a sample if I don’t think I’ll like it, but I took them up on their offer because I was curious, and because I like hats. Beanies from BMC range from $18.50 for the snug fit to $20.50 for the large slouch, which seems extremely reasonable for a handmade hat…. but it’s actually better than you think; for every hat you purchase, BMC will make another one, and donate it to a child that has suffered from hair loss due to chemotherapy. A very worthy cause I’m sure you’ll agree, making your purchase all that more meaningful, and warming your heart as well as your head.
![DSCF9339 Medium 480x360 Cool Crochet Beanies from BMC Handmade [Review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/DSCF9339_Medium-480x360.jpg "DSCF9339_Medium")
As you can probably tell from the photo above, I thought I’d do something a little different and do the photoshoot for the hats out in the snow. It was cold, damn cold, to the point where it wasn’t particularly pleasant operating the camera, and yet, neither my head nor my brother’s got chilly during our time out in the cold. I confirmed this later during a walk around a nearby forest, I was out in about -5C-ish temperatures for about 40 minutes and at no point did I get cold, which surprised me since as these hats are crocheted, by their nature there are rather a lot of holes in them. I’d assume that their hole-y look is a positive in summer, ensuring that they won’t get as hot as a traditional beanie, so it’s a win-win as far as I can tell in that regard. The designs (patterns?) that BMC offer range from flat single colours to a few more colourful options for people that want to stand out a bit more. Personally, I’m happier wearing a single colour beanie like the black or blue ones that they sent, so as far as the designs go, it’s entirely subjective, but even the more colourful options aren’t too crazy, so I can’t imagine anyone hating them.
![DSCF9332 Medium 480x360 Cool Crochet Beanies from BMC Handmade [Review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/DSCF9332_Medium-480x360.jpg "DSCF9332_Medium")
I’ve never owned a ’slouch’ style beanie before, I do like to wear beanies but I’d never been particularly attracted to them, they seemed like clothing that comes with an attitude attached to it, if you know what I mean, but having spent some time wearing the large slouch style that BMC offers, I now get that it’s just a comfy beanie that doesn’t hug your head quite for tightly, and I’d assume that the ladies (and quite a lot of guys too) would be happy to wear a hat that doesn’t necessarily give you a hefty case of hat hair. Long story short, I’m now a convert to slouch beanies. So again, much like with the designs, it’s entirely up to you, snug fit, medium slouch, large slouch, they’re all high quality beanies, you just have to pick one.
BMC Handmade
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I
first wrote about this tee a bit over a month ago, so you guys know that I’m already a bit of a fan of the design, and receiving the tee in the mail has not changed my opinion of it one bit. I still think that it looks like some creey dude hanging out in a forest rather than a sasquatch, but as I’ve never seen a sasquatch (and I doubt the
Badd Habit team thave either) I don’t really think that I’m in a position to be judging whether an intentionally mysterious silhouette is a mythical beast or not.
When I check out a clothing company and say “hey, that tee is cool” I only really take a superficial look at the site and just focus on the shirts. I’ll always maintain that the clothes are the most important part of any brand, any of the ‘extras’ are just a bonus, and should never be a replacement for good design. However, I do have a soft spot for clothing companies that attempt to give something back beyond just selling tees, and whilst I was checking them out in greater depth for this review I found out something cool, they give the majority of their profits to a charity called the 4806 Foundation that help young people recover from substance abuse and addiction. Beyond that, some of the people that work for Badd Habit are young men from the Gray Wolf Ranch, which is a place dedicated to getting people sober, and working at Badd Habit is part of that recovery process. It’s very admirable, and it makes me like them more as a brand because it truly means that buying a t-shirt can make a real difference.
The design is a real winner for me. The large print really helps to reinforce the appearance of it being more like art on a t-shirt rather than a design that is just placed onto the shirt. The fact that the tee colour
itself.looks a lot like canvas probably has something to do with me forming that opinion, but even if that was just an unintentional side-effect of the color palette I think that it works really well. Something I like about this design is that taken on their own, most of these elements don’t look like the things they’re meant to look like (come on, does that
really look like a tree on the left?), but taken as a whole the scene really comes together, even if it does have that slight ambiguity that I mentioned earlier.
In my first post about the tee I said it was a black and white colour palette, but in reality the shirt is actually creme with a brown print, both colourways would work in my opinion, but creme/brown is good for evoking a vintage photo look. The tee itself is from the American Apparel organic range, so I assume that just about everyone reading this will know that fit, the organic shirts fit the same as the regular Earth-hating ones in my experience. Print quality is top notch too, soft and thin so that even though there’s a lot of print area, it isn’t at all heavy.
Costiness=$24.95 Squatch is available from Badd Habit
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![PICT2452 480x360 Feel by Blend Apparel [hands on review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PICT2452-480x360.jpg "PICT2452")
As ever, I’m behind on the reviews, but this is a great tee to review, because despite it’s fairly simple appearance, it’s actually really interesting.
You probably recognise the print as being braille, we all recognise those dots, but if you’re anything like me you probably don’t read braille, so you’re just going to have to believe me when I say the text reads “feel” (just as I’m believing Blend Apparel when they tell me that). So that’s a pretty funny visual pun, though the ladies may want to be careful with the perceived invitations it offers, and of course I’d presume that actual blind people would love it.
The print is raised up off the tee too, so it is obviously a pretty thick print so that you can get that effect, but with the dots being not too huge it doesn’t make it feel weird like you’re wearing it, if there was a large black of print this thick it would probably feel like the tee was bullet-proof but you can’t really tell the difference from a regular thin print in this case. I’m just specualting here but is it also possible that a really thick print will stand the test of time better than a thin one, or does it actually make it more likely that you’ll accidentally rip off one of the dots?
![PICT2451 480x360 Feel by Blend Apparel [hands on review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PICT2451-480x360.jpg "PICT2451")
The tee is no regular shirt either, as it’s made from bamboo. From what I’ve read bamboo is a much more environmentally friendly way of producing clothing, in fact everything I’ve heard about bamboo makes me wonder why it isn’t used more, anything that can be used as a
construction material, food, and clothing, seems crazy to me. So, it’s delicious, but how does it wear? Well, I like it, bamboo t-shirts in general are extremely soft and this version from Blend is no exception. The fit is a little snug, but bamboo tees seem to stretch rather more favourably than a cotton tee, though that may be because bamboo tees usually have less print on them. On that subject, and this is where my lack of technical knowledge comes in, is it harder to print onto a bamboo t-shirt and that’s why bamboo prints tend to be fairly simple?
I’ve always heard that bamboo tees are anti-bacterial, and whilst I can’t think of a way to test that, there’s no reason for me not to believe the claim. I’m not really sure how it would benefit you but I assume it’s no bad thing, perhaps it stops the tee from smelling when you’ve got a bit sweaty, and combined with the comfiness of the tee this could be a great tee for going to the gym in.
Costiness=$24.99 Available from Blend Apparel
![DSCF9339 Medium 480x360 Cool Crochet Beanies from BMC Handmade [Review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/DSCF9339_Medium.jpg "DSCF9339_Medium")
![DSCF9332 Medium 480x360 Cool Crochet Beanies from BMC Handmade [Review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/DSCF9332_Medium.jpg "DSCF9332_Medium")
![PICT2452 480x360 Feel by Blend Apparel [hands on review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PICT2452.jpg "PICT2452")
![PICT2451 480x360 Feel by Blend Apparel [hands on review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PICT2451.jpg "PICT2451")
![PICT2456 150x150 Feel by Blend Apparel [hands on review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PICT2456-150x150.jpg "PICT2456")
![PICT2451 150x150 Feel by Blend Apparel [hands on review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PICT2451-150x150.jpg "PICT2451")
![PICT2452 150x150 Feel by Blend Apparel [hands on review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PICT2452-150x150.jpg "PICT2452")
![PICT2453 150x150 Feel by Blend Apparel [hands on review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PICT2453-150x150.jpg "PICT2453")
![PICT2454 150x150 Feel by Blend Apparel [hands on review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PICT2454-150x150.jpg "PICT2454")
![PICT2455 150x150 Feel by Blend Apparel [hands on review]](http://hideyourarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PICT2455-150x150.jpg "PICT2455")
