Chicago

A mega update. Barbour coats, cold weather travel, storage units and all of the cool new clothes I saw.

Last Thursday I drove over to my storage unit to look for a parka that I had stashed away. I have a fairly deep bench of coats from my days in New York which I only need once or twice a year when I travel in the winter. I had already been over to the unit a week ago but didn't dig deep enough to find the coat and eventually I gave up. On my return trip I was resigned to move whatever I needed to find the cold weather layers I was looking for. I climbed over all sorts of things which should definitely be donated, sold and or discarded. Finally I found a large bin all the way against the back wall. Inside that container I found no less than six Barbour coats which I honestly didn't even know I owned. This was concerning. All were in good condition and viable jackets. Some how along the way I purchased a Bedale and Beaufort in various sizes and multiple colors. I also found the elusive Barbour Border coat that an ACL reader insisted I take from him because he never wears it. That was 2011 and I have likely worn it twice. I also found all sorts of Nigel Cabourn outerwear, Neil Barrett outerwear, vintage military stuff and no less than 2 NWT Arc'teryx GORETEX pants and ski jackets. I had an Arc'teryx pro-deal from some work I did with the brand and I guess I would order new ski stuff every year. As we all know after the most recent podcast — I tore nearly every important ligament in my right knee in 2014 while skiing and haven't thought about that stuff since. 

After all of that searching I couldn't find the Spiewak parka I was there looking for in the first place. I have a brand new one at home that is a special edition made from vintage green military fabric and deadstock Talon zippers. I can't allow myself to wear it because it's new and i’m a psycho. (I should talk to my therapist about these things.) I looked at the weather in Chicago and Vail, the two cities I was visiting on this trip and considering the forecast it seemed like the Bedale would be fine. I picked one of the two seemingly identical green Barbour jackets from the bin, closed it and piled everything back into the storage unit.

My trip to Chicago was for the Collective, a menswear trade show at the Merchandise Mart. My friend has been telling me about how great it is for a few years so I finally decided to make the trip to see for myself. This might be a bit nuts, but I was excited to actually be some place with cold weather which requires a lot of the clothes I never get to wear anymore. So off to Chicago I went.

Big Wilco guy.

What I packed:

Clothes: This was the perfect trip to bring my ACL Golf Shetland in navy. I also packed an Alan Paine Geelong wool sweater that I bought from Harrison Limited. If I am only bringing one pair of shoes then the Crockett & Jones Pembroke with Dainite soles are my favorites. They work with everything I will wear and are ok for cold weather so long as there’s not a lot of snow. My preferred woven shirt is the Gitman Bros Vintage OCBD shirts and I packed three of them. I’m still working through a big stash of jeans from years ago and still wear Levi's Made & Crafted Tack Slim jeans (these are the closest thing in the collection to what I wear). My cold weather socks when I know I am going to do a lot of walking are the wool hiking socks from Patagonia. My Albion Donegal hat and Hestra gloves were perfect for the Chicago weather.