Billy Tannery: An Exciting Enterprise Launching Today on Kickstarter

In the week of Meet the Manufacturer, that celebration of British manufacture, it's good to bring news of the launch of Billy Tannery on Kickstarter (links below). Another new enterprise from Britain's exciting new wave of young entrepreneurs, Billy Tannery is, as its name suggests, a brand which makes products from kid goat leather tanned in their small-batch tannery or ‘microtannery’.

Image Grey Fox

Founders Jack Millington and Rory Harker (both aged 28) discovered that a growth in demand for goat meat in the UK had coincided with the decline of the British leather industry, leaving thousands of British goat hides going to waste. In response they have collaborated with ethical goat meat supplier Cabrito to use leftover hides to produce premium vegetable tanned kid leather in their new tannery near Northampton. 

Billy Tannery is launching a range of luxury kid leather bags and accessories that are designed and handmade in Britain. I recently had a preview of some of these products and can confirm that they are beautifully designed and made. The first range of Billy Tannery products launches on the crowdfunding site, Kickstarter, today, 24th May 2017. 

Please get behind another exciting young brand whose vision is to design and manufacture here in the UK. Our support is needed, especially at a time when the UK, Brexit bound, needs more than ever to promote its own wares. Here are the web links:

See Billy Tannery on Kickstarter to support them as they launch.

See Billy Tannery for more information.

Meet the Manufacturer.

Cabrito Goat Meat Ltd.

This is an unsponsored feature. If you'd like to support Grey Fox Blog please email me here.

Billy Tannery x Crown Northampton Kid Leather Sneakers

I've been following Billy Tannery with interest since its launch last year. Using goat leather, a by-product of the food industry, they've made some beautiful bags, but have now collaborated with British sneaker makers, Crown Northampton, to make footwear. 

Their goat hides to make the shoes are sourced in the UK and are also tanned here, in Billy Tannery's own tannery. The environmentally friendly tanning technique combines traditional knowledge and modern leather technology, using natural ingredients such as vegetable and bark extract. All waste products are biodegradable and composted.

Billy Tannery x Crown Northampton sneakers

Making the Billy Tannery goatskin sneakers

Crown Northampton, established in 1908, is based less than 25 miles from Billy Tannery’s home. Together, the two companies are releasing the limited edition kid leather Overstone Derby sneaker. The style is a Crown Northampton design, made exclusively in Billy Tannery leather in black, navy & chestnut and a choice of white or gum soles.

I've had a close look at a pair and hope to try some out soon. The leather is nicely grained, soft but strong and the insoles well-padded and comfortable. Each is made-to-order, with a pre-order price of £235.00 from www.billytannery.co.uk  

Crown Northampton

Billy Tannery X Laird Hatters: A Hat Collaboration

 For the past four years Billy Tannery have been taking goatskins, the previously discarded by-product of the meat industry, and tanning them in their own tannery to produce soft, robust and colourful leather from which they make a variety of products from bags to keyrings. In a new collaboration they've worked with another favourite brand of mine, Laird Hatters, to produce a collection of caps with goatskin peaks. The Newsboy and Baseball caps are made from British tweeds and wool cloths which go well with the black or brown leather peaks. Each comes in two colours.

I was asked to model the collection on a beautiful autumn day in Bushy Park in SW London and here are some of the images. The caps are beautifully made (as you'd expect from Laird) and comfortable to wear: these are hats for life. They can be ordered now and will be available from Billy Tannery from mid-December. Baseball cap £85 and Newsboy cap £100. Note orders are now closed due to huge demand, but you can sign up for news of future collaborations and products at the bottom of the page on the Billy Tannery website.

The Billy Tannery x Laird Hatters caps and the forest green ziptop tote

Links:

Billy Tannery

Laird Hatters

This is unsponsored. I have received nothing in return for the feature or photoshoot as I do what I can to support British manufacture and young brands.

Billy Tannery: New Tannery Wanted

Billy Tannery, makers of fine goat leather products, is wanting to move to a new tannery and is seeking crowdfunding support.

Billy Tannery need a new tannery to make their goat leathers

All is explained in this video and you can go to Billy Tannery at Indiegogo to support them by ordering from a range of products, small and large. Click on the video below to view:

This is unsponsored. See other features on Billy Tannery here on the blog.

Comments: Please note that I have now disabled comments on my blog because of the huge volume of spam. However, I welcome and encourage discussion on my Instagram feed where you can leave your thoughts and queries and where I will respond as soon as I can. 

Billy Tannery Goat Leather Brief Case

I first mentioned Billy Tannery on the blog nearly two years ago when they launched on Kickstarter to create a tannery to make leather from goat hides which were otherwise going to waste as a by-product of the meat industry. Their bags and sneakers have introduced many of us to the supple, robust delights of kid leather and their recently introduced brief case makes good use of this attractive leather.

Billy Tannery goat leather brief case

Made in Somerset, the brief case is 40cm wide by 30cm deep (plus the handle) and it really benefits from the soft and nicely textured goat leather. Accessible through a wide opening with a copper zip, the interior will hold a 15" laptop (sorry to be mixing unites of measurement here) and has been well-designed with cotton padding and several zipped or open pockets for all the all you need. Outside is a pocket for a phone or notebook and a pair of robust bridle leather handles.

Over the years I've tried many bags as part of my blogging life. Most are fine for the job, but a few stand out as being perfectly designed for the job. It's these that become the grab-and-go choice if I'm going out for the day. The Billy Tannery brief case is perfect for those days when you just need to take a few items and I find I'm using it now for most of my visits to town. It will take a mid-sized camera, my pens and notebooks, something to read and an iPad and still leave room for a tweed cap and pair of gloves in the winter. 

Priced at £450 and available in black or chestnut, it's competing with many similar products at lesser prices. But it has to be remembered that this is a beautifully designed British product made from the best kid leather which has been been produced sustainably here in the UK. Nobody has been underpaid, the bag hasn't been flown around half the world to get here, you're not going to see everyone else using one and it will outlive you. Compared to many lesser quality products with international designer names stamped on them, this is a shrewd buy. 

See Billy Tannery's website.

I was sent a brief case for review but was not compensated for this feature. All views are mine alone.

Where to Buy Gifts for Father's Day

Father's Day is on Sunday 16th June 2019. As someone looking forward to becoming a grandfather for the first time I've been through a gratifying number of Father's Days. Gifts can be hard to choose for the man who has everything so I thought that, rather than suggesting specific gifts, I'd list some websites where you'll find something suitable at a range of prices from around £40 to several hundred pounds. 

Some of the brands mentioned below (from top left): Laird Hatters, DR Harris, Hamilton and Hare, Billy Tannery, Penelope Cream, Sartorialab, Geoff Stocker, Budd Shirtmakers

Many of the products are British-made and I've included a few small brands for you to support:

Pocket squares and ties from Penelope Cream and Geoff Stocker.

Leather bags Bennett Winch and Billy Tannery.

Styling: give him a personal styling voucher from the outstanding Sarah Gilfillan of Sartorialab.

Grooming: some of my favourite grooming products and fragrances come from D.R. Harris.

A watch: The Rake's online store contains a large selection of clothes, grooming products and more. An excellent buy is the Baltic HMS watch; outstanding value at £370 for an automatic movement and a stunning design.

Monogrammed underwear and robes from Hamilton and Hare who offer a monogramming service at their 39 Chiltern Street flagship store in London.

British-made clothing from small manufacturers: Emily & Khadi, Kestin Hare, Flax London, Pajotten and Yarmouth Oilskins are just a few of the many smaller menswear brands who focus on British manufacture.

Hats from Laird Hatters - maybe a panama for the summer months?

A shirt from Budd Shirtmakers.

Leather belts, watch straps, wallets and other small products: Ettinger, Equus Leather, Tim Hardy.

Finally, if you're still looking, you'll definitely find something here - Outdoor supplies, from bags to wallets to knives, all beautifully and ethically made in the UK and elsewhere from The Level Collective.

Styling My Community Clothing Co. Suit With Sarah Gilfillan

Community Clothing Co. make clothing for men and women in the UK. We tend to think that British-made products are more highly priced than those manufactured abroad due to higher manufacturing costs - despite the costs of shipping, import taxes and other charges which have to be added to imported goods. In fact, this needn't be the case and CCCo. show the way by selling well-made and competitively priced British-made men's and womenswear.

Community Clothing Co's British-made khaki cotton jacket and matching relaxed chinos

I was after a summer suit and had a look at CCCo.'s website to see what they offer. I noticed that the cotton twill jackets and chinos are made of the same cloths, so can be made up into casual suits, so I selected these in khaki (they also come in navy blue). The unlined/unstructured jacket and trousers came to a total of around £140 - a bargain wherever made. They are well made, the cotton twill is robust and soft and the fit is better than I had expected.

I wanted to try out various ways of styling the jacket and trousers and Sarah Gilfillan, ace stylist of SartoriaLab, kindly agreed to look at my efforts and give her frank and honest comments on them. I'm grateful to her for this; it's her expert thoughts that have helped me so much in my search for style. You too can use her personal styling services; links below.

Community Clothing Co. cotton jacket & relaxed chinos in khaki, scarf Geoff Stocker

Sarah says; "Overall I like this look but feel perhaps the scarf looks like a bit of an afterthought? It might work better if he swapped the shirt for a lightweight crew neck sweater and the scarf was worn loose like this, but tucked slightly under the lapels so you get the colour but with a sweater you don’t have the problem of it competing with the collar of the shirt".

The great thing about the chinos is that they come in three fits: slim, 'relaxed' and pleated - an idea that others should adopt. You can be ahead of the fashion curve with the full-cut pleated version or mainstream with slim. I selected the medium 'relaxed' fit which is comfortable high-waisted and full enough to look contemporary without going down the rather safe slim fitting route. I wear the relaxed fit above as part of my 'suit' and a pair of pleated chinos in the image immediately below.

Here I wear CCCo. cotton jacket in khaki and full cut pleated chinos, shoes Loake, shirt Emily & Khadi  

Sarah says of this look; "It’s great that you can split this suit up and put it with different items like these lighter chinos, so you can get maximum use from it. As David has a tall and very slim frame, at least one part of this outfit could do with being a bit more fitted and structured though, so he doesn’t get overwhelmed with fabric. I’d prefer to see this shirt and jacket with jeans, or the jacket and trousers with a shirt that was more fitted, in a crisper fabric with a more structured collar. David likes to wear a lot of textures and patterns normally too, so perhaps a coloured woven belt that brings in the colours of the outfit and shoes would add a nice bit of detail". 

In an earlier blog feature I argued that the suit's future lay in the concept of the 'casual suit', a garment that is comfortable enough to be worn at any time, yet capable of being dressed up for at least smart casual, if not totally formal wear. 

A relaxed look with polo shirt (Spoke), cravat (Cravat Club) and sneakers 

Sarah says; "I’m quite surprised that I like this outfit! The soft blue and khaki look great together and I think it hits a good balance between formal and casual. I wonder if the cravat and Converse are a little too much at opposing ends of the smart/casual scale though – he could maybe replace the cravat with a cotton pocket square instead to add a bit of detail".

More smart casual: shirt Triplstitched, brogues Barker 

Sarah says; "I love the pink and khaki together, and I like the style of the button down shirt. I think I would have opted for a burgundy cravat so it’s a bit more tonal as there’s no other blue in the outfit. I prefer the more summery feel of the suede shoes from the previous picture as I feel the leather shoes are a touch too heavy/formal"

Woven polo Sirplus, goat leather sneakers Billy Tannery 

Sarah says; "This may look good on some people, but for me, it doesn’t work on David. The collar of the top looks very large on a slim man like David, and it’s also quite a low cut which elongates his already long neck. He’s not much of a trainer wearing guy anyway and everything looks too baggy, casual and unstructured for his frame".

Shirt Budd Shirtmakers bespoke, tie Augustus Hare, shoes Loake

Sarah says; "Ah… back to well-dressed David! This to me works really well – a bit more structure in the collar of the shirt and the higher collar stance suits him much better. I like the fresh look of the striped green shirt and the textured grenadine tie works really well (silk would be too formal). It’s great to see that you can dress the suit up or down making it a very versatile buy".

Denim shirt Jaeger, Tie vintage, shoes Edward Green

Sarah says; "I think this is my favourite look! The slightly more casual nature of the chambray shirt looks great – and it’s a bit neater and has more structure than some of the other soft collared shirts. I really like the cotton madras tie with the suit. This looks like something David would normally wear but a touch more casual and a looser fit that we’ve been used to. 10/10 for this one!

I'd like to than Sarah for her help with this feature - she can be contacted through her website at SartoriaLab.

This is an unsponsored post.

Casual Wear: Off-Duty Men's Style with Sartoria Lab

Casual clothes for the older man? I tend to wear tailored clothing much of the time while out and about. At home, of course, I wear knitwear, jeans, chinos, loafers. Given that men dress casually most of the time, I decided to redress the balance and put together a few off-duty outfits for the blog from the clothes I have at home. 

Casual look ideas for the older man - styled with the help of Sarah Gilfillan of Sartoria Lab

I've carried out similar exercises before here on the blog and have received much help from ace menswear personal stylist Sarah Gilfillan of Sartoria Lab, so to her I turned again and I'm grateful to her for rummaging in my drawers and coaxing me into the outfits you see here. She also took the photos. Links to the products are under each image, but note this feature is unsponsored.

Sarah Gilfillan writes:

Outfit 1:

Raincoat Cordings, Shoes Loake, Cords Spoke, Roll neck Sirplus, Socks London Sock Co. Scarf can't remember.

This was one of my favourite looks [Sarah writes]; very classic and elegant, but casual. A lot of men will have a raincoat in their wardrobes but tend to save it to wear with more formal outfits. Drag yours out of the cupboard if that's you and give it an airing with your jeans and jumpers too. 

Roll necks are very 'of the moment' and if you have a long neck like David [ed. do I?], then a chunky roll neck like this is likely to look good on you but if your neck is shorter, then I'd switch to a crew. We chose navy cords for this outfit which make a change from denim and are an easy alternative. 

The scarf really shows that David is in tune with what's going on, it just wouldn't be the same if he had a scruffy, bobbly acrylic black one on would it? 

Outfit 2:

Jacket Grenfell Tourer, Roll neck Sirplus (as above), Trousers E. Tautz, Shoes Hotter.

Confession time! I wasn't 100% sure about this look to start with. I actually think it looks good in this image though, so let's go ahead and dissect it. 

We started with the trousers as we wanted to see if we could style them in a more casual way so they could be worn in everyday situations and not saved for best. We put them with a chunky roll neck jumper and casual jacket, which I think they work with as the trouser cloth is a heavy wool and the pattern renders them a little more casual. 

The Chukka boots he’s wearing are "Hotter", traditionally know as classic 'older man attire' [ed. I am an old man!] but though I would have preferred a less squared-off toe, we liked them. David reported, as to be expected, that they're super comfy to wear. 

The black Grenfell jacket is classic and will look good with jeans too. The vintage Tootal scarf adds some colour and personality to the outfit. 

Outfit 3: 

Corduroy jacket Kestin Hare, Linen shirt Flax London, Jeans Community Clothing Co, Shoes Crockett & Jones Cravat Cravat Club

Although David frequently looks city smart, he has a tendency towards what I would call an 'earthy' style. He loves natural, rough textures and fabrics and they suit him too, which shows in this outfit. 

We started with an off white, heavy linen shirt. Linen is usually thought of as a summer cloth but the weight of this one makes it perfect for cooler weather too. Not everyone can work a Fairisle tank top like David can but this one (vintage) was the perfect thing to layer on top. Then we added the casual jacket which has an element of the country style he likes and is in the trend driven fabric of the season - corduroy. 

The dark slim cut jeans with turn ups keep it looking contemporary, and the shoes are a tad smarter which make the look appropriate for town so he doesn't look like he's off for a hike with Harry in the Lake District.

Outfit 4:

Jacket vintage Grenfell shooter, Fine roll neck Mr Quintessential, Trousers Susannah Hall, Shoes Loake.

This outfit was inspired by the Pitti peacocks who mix tailoring with casual and wearing workwear style jackets with formal trousers. The vintage jacket is in a stiff, fairly structured cotton which keeps a good balance with the trousers. Grey flannel trousers would normally form part of a smarter look but dressing them down gives more versatility in your wardrobe. 

We added a navy fine knit silk/cashmere roll neck sweater. Knitwear keeps things casual and if you don’t like roll necks you could also wear a half zip or polo style instead. 

The scarf and the shoes tone together and finish off the outfit nicely, along with the subtly patterned green socks. 

Outfit 5:

Jacket Pajotten, Shirt Grove & Co, Cord trousers Spoke, Shoes Billy Tannery x Crown Northampton

We’ve gone for a much more casual outfit here. David doesn’t normally tend to wear trainers but he wears these plain goat leather ones at weekends. We went with cord jeans again to make a change from chinos, and put another workwear style jacket on top. Finished off with a green flannel shirt, which is a cosy alternative to a sweater for mid-Autumn temperatures. We went for more Fairisle in the scarf , which brings all the colours together nicely. 

Outfit 6:

Jacket Yarmouth Oilskins, Shirt Jaeger, Knitted waistcoat Woolovers, Jeans Spoke, Shoes Loake as before.

When you mention a denim shirt to people they automatically tend to think of a Western style and ageing rocker comes to mind. But David looks far from ageing rocker in this denim shirt, which is a classic cut from Jaeger and is great for casualwear. We added layers of a sleeveless knit in toning blue and then contrasted it with the tan cotton worker style jacket. 

Light grey chinos add another contrast and alternative to denim and the tan brogues keep a little bit of formality and tone in really well with the jacket. Again, we’ve used a scarf to bring all the colours together really well.

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I'd like to thank Sarah Gilfillan for her help. As a menswear personal stylist she's without equal - you can contact Sartoria Lab here.

Note: this feature is unsponsored - I give supplier information above but note that some may be out of production.