For about a decade, I’ve been a huge fan of supermodern menswear, like Acronym, Veilance, and C.P. Company’s original Urban Protection line. Over the years, I’ve owned a number of pieces from these brands, some of which I still have, others of which I’ve let go of (list at bottom of post).

I’m interested in designing and producing clothing with a similar ethos (functional clothes with a modern urban aesthetic), but I have no legitimate background in design nor production.

The one thing I’ve done was try to reverse-engineer my Acronym J28-K and sew a version of it at home. I will write more about this experience in future posts. I’m reasonably happy with the result, which you can see in the header image, but I also did this in isolation nearly two years ago, and struggled with where to go next.

At this point in time, I’m less interested in sewing and am more curious about what it takes to get a garment sampled and produced by a factory, rather than made at home. I want to end up with something that feels more like a book published by a major publisher, and less like a self-published book.

Everybody’s gotta start somewhere. I thought it would be interesting to try to end up with a professional garment, the kind of thing I’d be excited to buy. And, since it seems so hard to find public information about how people go from nothing to real clothes in hand, I thought it’d be even more interesting to talk about those attempts in an open way.

Anyone with programming experience might have perked up at the name of this blog. Almost all of the software anyone writes (including the programming languages used to write modern code itself) is built on an enormous genealogy of other software. Thousands of open-source libraries, many of which depend on other open-source libraries, quietly power world-class websites and applications.

Producing cut-and-sew menswear, in contrast, remains an incredibly opaque process. Mens’ sewing patterns on offer seem to be either simple, outdated, or in Japanese. In short, nothing that someone like me would actually be interested in wearing. I’m jealous of the robust womenswear community of pattern-makers and home sewists. There are countless modern, interesting patterns aimed at women and intended for home sewing.

I suspect, based on some experiments, that I’m more interested in the designing part than the sewing part. Things may truly be changing. I see men on social media teaching themselves to draft their own patterns and sew interesting garments. Others don’t know how to sew, but design garments, then contract with factories to produce their own micro-brands that they market through Instagram.

However, these resources are scattered, and, because they exist on social media, are quickly overshadowed by other, newer content. I tend prefer longform reading and writing. It feels less chaotic, and more human. More like a conversation than yelling in a crowded room. It’s also historically been a great way for me, personally, to organize my thoughts and learn.

Also, candidly, dipping my toe into the unknown can be scary for me. A lot of my fear/hesitation just comes from feeling like I need to know things magically, but in reality that rarely happens. Going through the process of writing about a problem demystifies a lot of it for me, and makes it clear what I know and don’t know, what I’ve tried and haven’t tried. That’s what this blog is! Hope you enjoy.

Please sign up for emails if you’d like to follow along. And comment or reach out to me with any thoughts–I’m definitely interested in meeting other likeminded people! I’d also love for these posts to serve as useful information that saves others time and money by not having to make the same mistakes.

Oh yeah, I said I’d mention some of the techwear clothes I own / have owned:

  • Acronym
    • J2-SSW (the wool version of the J2 softshell – the first Acronym item I owned)
    • J28-K (the blue/grey collaboration with Nemen)
    • S-J11
    • GT-J11
    • GT-J29
    • GT-J7
    • LA3-DS
    • S6-C
    • P5TS-S
    • J46U-WS
    • J46-WS
    • a stretchy quarter-zip neoprene type turtleneck that I never caught the name of and sold because a coworker told me I looked like Archer
  • Veilance:
    • Field OS
    • Monitor TW Down
    • Metre Short-Sleeve Shirt
  • CP Company Urban Protection (Dynafil):
    • Glove Jacket (in black and brown)
    • Torch/Light Jacket