Striped Pendleton Blanket: Things I Have

Yesterday I made my first foray into the San Francisco location of Unionmade Goods. They stock a huge selection of apparel, footwear, accessories: Levi's Made & Crafted, Alden, Unis, Folk, Aesop there is a long list of quality (and quite often made in the U.S.) goods on offer.

While there were quite a few items that caught my eye (these Made & Crafted chinos with the wooden buttons?!), I couldn't resist this fantastic wool blanket from Pendleton. I loved the stripes and the color palette, but also loved how thick and warm it will be when the weather in NYC turns to full-on winter blast.

You'll see on top of the blanket I also picked up the latest Free & Easy, one of my favorite Japanese menswear magazines. I've been missing Tokyo, and missing my days of flying through Narita and loading up on 30 lbs. of fashion goodness.

If you can't get to a Unionmade store (SF, Marin, Los Angeles) then get on their website and do some perusing there.

Coat from Taishi Nobukuni: Things I Want

On one hand I am preparing for my first NYC winter and want a warm coat. On the other, I can never get myself to move away from really wild and eye-catching prints... merge these two and you get this amazing piece from Japanese designer Taishi Nobukuni.

Besides the great print (the red/white/blue makes me think of a psychedelic Thom Browne), I liked the double breast and the large collar.

Could definitely see myself wrapped up & warm in this when the snow hits!

The good folks at Selectism have more shots of the collection, which are definitely worth a look.

United Arrows Fall Lookbook: Things I Love

Japanese retailer United Arrows always impresses me... every time I am in Tokyo I have to stop by and check out their wares.

For Fall they've done a really fantastic lookbook bringing together pieces, colors, textures.

This was my favorite -- loved the hat, overcoat, and the vest:

But check out the rest of the images over at Selectism.... you won't be disappointed.

Things I Have: Wallet by Porter

With all of the fashion, design, art blogs I read there are a lot of mentions about Porter bags.  All of the collaborations they do, how functional yet cool they are, that they're from a company with a long history.  And that they are from Japan.  This is the kicker... because I have had a lot of problems finding them in the U.S.  Of course Opening Ceremony (which I LOVE) carries a few of the pieces, and I even saw Barney's pick up a few.  But not in a wide selection.

So when I was recently in Tokyo I went lookin' for some cool Porter bags.  And I found a ton.  They were great --- materials, colors, shapes + sizes.  I dragged my poor colleague all over Tokyo, but still couldn't decide on which one to get.  

Thus I did some research on where to find Porter in Hong Kong (my next stop) and dragged another colleague to the Sogo in Causeway Bay.  There I found this really great wallet.  It's compact, it's a bright blue, I love the white zipper. Done.  

Whew, that was a long story to talk about a new wallet... but I am definitely a huge fan of Porter.  Now they just need more distribution in the U.S.