Laurie Hopkins Menswear Blog

For a few years now, the humble scarf has been transformed from a necessity into a fashion item and this year sales of the Scarf have gone ballistic with sales of scarves reaching record levels.

No longer is your scarf just there to keep you warm, its there to make a statement about you and your fashion sense!

At the recent Premiere of the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, a number of the ‘celeb’ guests were seen sporting scarves, not with hats and coats but with waistcoats and shirts, worn instead of a tie and in a similar way that your would wear a cravat.

Here at Laurie Hopkins Menswear we have one of the largest selection of Scarves available including, Silk Scarves, Wool Scarves, Camel Hair Scarves and even 100% Pure cashmere Scarves.

Mens Scarves - have you got a Scarf

So if your looking for the ultimate must have Mens fashion accessory for this season and need inspiration for a Christmas Gift Idea then look for a scarf and where better to look than Laurie Hopkins Menswear?

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We recently had a customer who needed an extra long inside leg trouser, his wife had bought him a 34″ Inside leg but it just was not long enough.

So after a quick phone call to Meyer in Germany they came up with a solution and supplied him with a pair of 36″ inside leg cotton trousers from their stock service range.

This makes a great alternative to having to have made to measure trousers and is so much quicker.

Whilst we don’t stock this length inside leg as a rule, we are more than happy to order these trousers on a special order and it usually takes around 4 working days from them to arrive.

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We are continually being asked for new ideas for little presents, keep sakes, momentos etc for the Groom, his Best Man and the other men in the wedding party.

The obvious ones are cuff-links however, we have now taken delivery of a range of Black Socks that are specifically aimed at the wedding market.

These socks come in Groom, Best Man, Father of the Bride, Father of the Groom and Usher flavours!

At only £4.95, they are great value for money and are guaranteed to stop that perennial wedding problem that is commonly known as ‘White Sock Blight!”

Black socks for the Groom

Buy Groom, Best Man, Father of the Bride, Father of the Groom and Usher socks here.

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When we buy for the coming seasons we tend to see many of our suppliers on different days and its not always easy to remember just exactly what you have bought from one supplier and another. Obviously we make notes as to what we have bought, styles, colours etc but getting exact shades is often difficult.

This season Jayne has put together an almost ‘perfect’ display of a Gabicci Sweater and Shirt, A pair of Meyer Trousers and another shirt from Melka.

A stunning display of Gabicci Sweater and Shirt, Meyer trousers and a Melka shirt.

The colours, shades and textures in each of the garments blend perfectly, complementing each other and creating a stunning combination of garments. Even if I do say so myself, we didn’t do a bad job with the buying from these ranges from 3 seperate agents on different days.

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This week we received a delivery of Milestone Leather jackets and as usual, they are superb quality.

Both jackets are Nappa Leather, ( Nappa leather or Napa leather is a full-grain leather, typically dyed, made from unsplit kid-, lamb- or sheep-skin by tanning with salts of chromium or aluminium sulphate, and noted for softness and durability. It is often used in high-quality leather products such as high-end furniture and accessories such as wallets and luggage. One example would be interiors of luxury vehicles - source Wikipedia) made using lamb skins and are extremely soft to touch.

Conker Brown Milestone Nappa (Lamb) Leather Jacket

Milestone Nappa Leather Jacket in Brown

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German Jacket and Suit house Benvenuto have launched a brand new exclusive fabric onto the market for their Autumn Winter 2008/9 Jacket range. That fabric is called CashGora and is a mixture of Cashmere and Angora.

Cashgora Jacket from Benvenuto

According to Benvenuto:

‘Cashmere and Angora: The best of both worlds.

Cashmere and Angora are two of the most valuable fabrics we have ever seen. No other materials are as soft, light annd precious as Cashmere and Angora.

Workers manually comb the rare animals to obtain a premium-quality undercoat hair that is not only fine and soft, but also makes garments that feel great to wear. After the combing, the fibres are spun with extremely fine wool and polyamide: Polyamide gives the jacket a robust, sporty look and makes it extremely durable.

Only in selected factories the valuable fabrric in addition with other high class materials will be produced to a jacket, which will excite you with its elegant sportiness and lightness.

CASHGORA - only from Benvenuto’

Why not call into our shop and have a look at the stunning new jacket range from Benvenuto and feel the smooth texture of the fabric that is Cashgora.

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If you were to ask me to list the staple items that everyman should have in his wardrobe (irrespective of his age) then the humble Navy Blue Pure New Wool Blazer has to be one of the first on the list.

Here at Laurie Hopkins Menswear, we sell 2 different styles of Navy Blue Blazers, we have the traditional slightly ‘flannel’ type cloth that is in the Brook Taverner range (and which comes complete with the Huddersfield Coat of Arms on the gilt buttons)

Huddersfield Coat of Arms Blazer Button

as well as the more smooth finished Super 120’s Pure New Wool Blazer by Digel.

The real beauty of a blazer is (as we are often heard to comment in the shop) you can wear it to any occasion and not feel out of place. From a Wedding to a Funeral via Christenings or Bar Mitzvah’s, the Navy Blue Blazer will never let you down and best of all you can keep on re-inventing it as the current trend of the day changes.

So for instance, we have the younger end wearing the Blazer complete with a bold patterned or stripped shirt and a pair of Jeans

Navy Blazer and Jeans

or the more mature man is seen in the Blazer with Grey flannels, shirt and tie – neither of which looks out of place.

Blazer and Grey Flannels

The Navy Blue Blazer really is a must for any man’s wardrobe.

You can buy a Pure New Wool Navy Blazer online from Laurie Hopkins Menswear either online or by visiting our shop in Lindley, Huddersfield.

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This morning saw the arrival of Philip, an agent we have dealt with for a number of years now since we opened an account with Heinricks (Club of Comfort) trousers via the now defunct Sigi Man Agencies of Manchester.

Over the years, Philip has shown us many collections including trousers, shirts, knitwear, suits & jackets and coats. Today he presented his Spring Summer 2009 ranges for:

• Club of Comfort (Trousers)
• Redford (Shirts)
• College (Knitwear)

As well as 2 other ranges which we chose not to buy (only because we have bought elsewhere), today really was a busy buying day and we saw some quality garments.

Club of Comfort trousers have always provided superb quality trousers made from the finest fabrics, their 2009 season was no different, we bought a stunning range of Pima Cotton trousers. These are without doubt, some of the lightest weight cotton trousers we have ever bought and should prove very popular with anyone looking for lightweight trousers for traveling.

Spring Summer 2009 will see a great mixture of checks and stripes from Redford shirts (part of the Seidensticker group), they produce some terrific value for money shirts with 100% cotton shirts starting from as little as £24.95.

For anyone who likes their knitwear to have bold patterns, then College Knitwear is a range to look at, it combines bright colours with unusual patterns and ultra light cottons for comfort. With patterned knitwear being harder and harder to find these days, College knitwear makes a refreshing change.

So thanks Philip for showing us such a well balanced and quality collection, I look forwards to seeing it on our shelves next February and March.

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WOW, today was busy for us, not only were we busy in the shop but we were also busy buying product for our Spring Summer 2009 collections.

First thing this morning saw the arrival of Frank who represents Douglas & Grahame. We have been dealing with both Douglas & Grahame as well as Frank for over 15 years now, although not always together, Frank used to represent Farah.

As usual, we bought a wide range of garments from him, including Sports Jackets, Casual Jackets, Trousers and knitwear.

This afternoon, Jayne and I (Michael) had to go to Leeds to visit another agent who we have dealt with for many years, Andrew Howie. Andrew now represents Claudio Campione, Digel Menswear and Milestone Leather Jackets amongst other products (don’t mention the Herbal Life!).

We started with Claudio Campione last year and the product went down well with our customers, their use of colour and fabrics is outstanding and their range of Linen Shirts is without doubt on of the best we have seen in a long time.

Jayne and Claudio Campione

Summer 2009 looks to be following on from 2008 and we are expecting good results from their garments.

Jayne buying Claudio Campione in Leeds

Sorry for the quality of the images, they were taken using my Mobile Phone.

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As Elton Johns said in his now famous song ‘Its cold as Christmas in the middle of the year’, well this summer really has been a shocker hasn’t it?

If your feeling the cold, then why not get in early this season for your new Winter Coat? We have just taken delivery of 2 ranges of Cabano Winter Jackets.

Last season saw us selling most of our Winter coats very early, obviously the cold weather had a lot to do with it but we also believe that the smoking ban in public houses was also a contributing factor. We had many people buying coats who had never previously had a true ‘winter coat’ - so our advice to you this season is to get in quick and keep warm this coming winter.

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