Final week we held an occasion for readers at Trunk in Zurich, signing books and the journal, in addition to bringing Wool Walkers so everybody may have an opportunity to strive the brand new coat.
It was a beautiful night, buzzy and enjoyable, and I by no means tire of assembly the spectrum of PS readers – younger guys exploring fits for the primary time, older ones who’ve had their fits made at Anderson & Sheppard for generations.
A couple of buddies popped in too – Andrew Borda, a author for PS; Paul Fournier, a menswear good friend for a few years; Ingo Zorc at Bucherer, who we did the massive billboard shoot with two years in the past; and Pawel, the reader Manish bumped into in Thailand.
It was a variety of enjoyable, though as per traditional the factor I discovered most attention-grabbing was studying about Zurich – a metropolis I’ve solely ever been to as soon as earlier than, after which solely in a earlier life.
The Trunk and Monocle shops are subsequent to one another within the stylish south-east a part of city, and that’s the place we stayed too. It was splendidly relaxed, and we went swimming within the lake each days (fortunately it was nonetheless 24 levels).
Mats (Klingberg, Trunk founder) was telling us about how the store opened, again in 2018, and notably discovered its ft throughout Covid.
Throughout these odd years, individuals in Zurich have been allowed to fulfill up with as much as 5 others at a time, so everybody frolicked having dinner at one another’s homes.
Monocle was in a position to stay open as a result of it was a newsagent, not only a store, and lots of people ended up hanging across the space, taking away coffees (and later negronis) and chatting on the road.
I at all times overlook that (impressively) Monocle doesn’t do Instagram, and focuses all its efforts on gatherings like this – there was one on the identical evening as our occasions too, in partnership with a German division retailer.
It’s a deal with smaller teams of individuals – much less of a attain – however maybe a richer connection to these individuals. It definitely appears to work for them and the gang on the occasion.
Considered one of our first inquiries to readers we met was what different menswear shops we must always go to on the town. The final reply was that there isn’t a lot, and Trunk is definitely in a small group on the prime, however one which got here up repeatedly was VMC.
We went to VMC the next day, and it actually was spectacular. You could possibly inform instantly it was the type of place PS readers would love, as a result of the workers all had the look (an off-the-cuff, workwear one) and knew the manufacturers inside out.
In contrast to workwear shops in London, the model combine was actually extensive – each when it comes to value and magnificence. There was a variety of Freewheelers, Actual McCoy’s and At Final, but in addition Goldwin fleeces, Smedley polos and several other craft manufacturers we’d by no means heard of. These included Rakki and Casa-Isaac, and I ended up getting a Rakki sweater.
In an attention-grabbing parallel with Monocle, VMC doesn’t promote on-line and by no means has. It’s nearly 40 years outdated, and a variety of retailers I do know that took that stand in opposition to e-commerce (typically Italian) folded consequently. VMC appears to have survived, maybe on account of its closeness to prospects.
Elsewhere in Zurich we popped into the Ludwig Reiter retailer, as there isn’t one in London any extra. A few of their chunky derbies are good choices for that model of shoe – the roundness is mitigated by a skinny welt, and so they use fairly a cushty, barely banana-shaped final.
We additionally went to Dee-Cee, which was based by an ex-employee of VMC and has an identical vibe. That they had some extra trend manufacturers among the many Japanese repros and conventional outfitters, akin to Kapital and Stone Island.
There wasn’t a lot else – a few first rate shops, Pelikamo and the Swedish model Rose & Born – and it was at all times a pleasure to return to Trunk and Monocle’s quiet nook of city.
Trunk is celebrating its 15-year anniversary for the time being (London, not Zurich) and there are some attention-grabbing collaborations coming within the subsequent few weeks. In retailer, I used to be after one other pair of Paraboot Barth sneakers, however apparently they’re gone for the 12 months now. Oh properly, I’ll wait.
Thanks to everybody who got here out final Thursday, and I’m so proud PS is of a lot use to so many individuals. Thanks to Adrian, Gretchen, Mats and everybody at Trunk for internet hosting us as properly. See you all subsequent time.
I used to be carrying: Sartoria Salino jacket in Maison Hellard ‘Mildmay’ material, being lined in full quickly. With a cream knit on the shoulders (it was chilly within the night… shoulder season).
