If you own a black wool sweater, chances are the wool used to make that sweater came from a white sheep, and was then dyed black, much like the way most clothes have to be dyed to reach their eventual colour. Cordarounds however, decided to cut the dying aspect out of the process and offer a sweater made from the wool of a black sheep. Sounds simple, but it’s actually pretty tough to made a sweater entirely out of black sheep wool. Only 1% of the worlds sheep are black, and you need quite a lot of them to make a load of sweaters. Eventually, the Cordarounds crew sourced a farm in Ireland that don’t dip their sheep in hazardous chemicals, and don’t artificially fertilise the fields they graze in (no one does that around where I live either, they just spread poop, it smells as nice as you’d imagine), and with that kind of treatment you’ll hardly be expected to find that the wool is organic certified. Of course, black sheep aren’t really black, so the sweater has actually turned out a kind of grey colour, but I think we can let that slide.
It’s a cool idea, and probably a lot more work to organise than I presume, and everyone needs a winter sweater, so why not make it an interesting one?
Costiness=$125 Available from Cordarounds
I’m sure a lot of you will look at the price of this hoodie ($225) and simply move on, that would be understandable, it’s a lot for ‘just’ a hoodie, but the difference with this hoodie is that it’s made with merino wool. I don’t really understand what merino wool is, but you could easily change the name to ‘magic wool’ and I’d believe it. I bought a merino wool top on sale from a local mountaineering shop (I live about 10 minutes away from mountaineer/hiking mecca in terms of the amount of shops around) that was made by icebreaker and I’ve been very impressed by it. Despite being quite thin it keeps me as warm as a much thicker wool jumper or pretty much anything else I own, and it’s pretty soft too. The problem with a lot of mountaineering wear is that it isn’t particularly fashionable, it does it’s job very well on the mountain, but you probably wouldn’t wear it many other places. That’s why I like this hoodie, all the goodness of merino wool, combined with something I’d actually wear on a regular basis.
One thing about merino wool I should point out, when it gets wet it does smell a bit like wet sheep (another smell you’d be aware of if you lived near me), which isn’t particularly pleasant but after a few washes the smell disappears.
Costiness=$225 Available from Outlier Clothing [via Josh Spear]
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This jacket is in no way cheap ($440), and I kind of suspect that the model is wearing at least a size too small for them, but damn it looks good. I was trying to think where I’d heard the name Matthew Izzo before, and then it struck me, Matthew Izzo had a shop along my walk to the office in Philly. I never actually went into the store, but my brother did, you have to be buzzed in (the doors are locked) and he found sweaters that were more than $600, so this jacket is actually a bit of a bargain!
Costiness=$440 Available from Matthew Izzo [via NotCouture]
Upper Playground are kicking it up a notch and have released a new premium line of hoodies:
The Upper Playground DWP Premium Hoodies are constructed from the finest wool sourced from Italy and overseas. The rib knit trim is also imported from Italy and the hoodies are fully lined with soft, satin-finish charmeuse. The menswear influence does not stop there; the DWP Premium Hoodies have design details that add just the right touch of “gentleman.” DWP Premium design features include a slimmer fit, an interior pocket and UP art label, chest welt pocket and 2 side welt pockets.
Considering that they’re ‘premium’ I’m surprised to hear that they’re only $120 a piece, and they do look pretty damn nice. The hoodies can only be bought at the UP online store and at their bricks & mortar store in San Fransisco.
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