A buddy lately put me in contact with the German model Stefan Brandt, which makes garments out of an unique, extra-fine cotton jersey, in addition to supplying it to style manufacturers.

The founder, Stefan, is obsessive on the subject of high quality. He arrange his personal manufacturing in Ecuador in 1994, with the intention to make use of a superfine Peruvian Pima cotton and create processes to greatest develop its attributes. These embody all-natural methods for eradicating pigments and pollution from the material, which makes the fabric stronger and extra naturally elastic. The materials are notably good for these with allergic reactions or delicate pores and skin. 

Solely the really obsessive do one thing like this. Going again to the uncooked materials is one of the best ways to manage the method and produce one thing really distinctive, but it surely’s actually laborious. It jogs my memory of tales Graham at Optimo tells about slogging spherical Europe looking for previous hatmaking equipment, or of the best way the Japanese began making denim within the final century. Besides Stefan has gone all the best way upstream.

Stefan and I’ve talked a good bit in current months, and he comes throughout as extra of a scientist than a style man, sprinkling in phrases like dimensional stability and localised stress fields. He has additionally had a transparent purpose to disrupt the market and make a cotton jersey that’s actually totally different, that appears like silk. 

Stefan despatched me a couple of issues to attempt on, so I may see the merchandise in individual: a T-shirt, some boxer-briefs, a shirt and a polo shirt.

They actually do really feel stunning. I’ve tried high-end jersey fairly a bit through the years, primarily from the Austrian firm Hanro and Swiss maker Zimmerli. I visited the Zimmerli manufacture in Aarburg, Switzerland for the guide The Most interesting Menswear within the World. We have been put up in a freezing chilly village within the mountains, dusted with snow.

Anyway, I’ve worn Zimmerli underwear through the years since that journey as properly, so I’m pretty aware of the competitors. And I do discover a distinction with the Stefan Brandt jersey – it’s lighter, silkier and smoother. 

I’ve been Stefan’s items on and off for a couple of weeks, and I’m impressed by what he has produced, in addition to respectful of all the things he’s put into it. However I’ve to say the product isn’t actually for me. 

Silkiness might be nice in lots of issues, most clearly a silk shirt. It’s a beautiful and possibly under-appreciated menswear possibility with tailoring, and infrequently for summer time garments too – rayon being the much less pure possibility that usually will get used. 

However a silky, stretchy polo shirt will not be one thing I take pleasure in. It clings a bit, and appears somewhat luxe for that fashion of clothes. If I used to be going to put on a wise polo I’d somewhat it in a high quality merino, as that’s often extra matte and to me has a cleaner look. 

T-shirts make extra sense, and the items from Stefan that I’ve worn persistently since getting them are the T-shirts, as undershirts. They really feel pretty in opposition to the pores and skin and carry out very properly. 

However even manufacturers who’ve extra of a luxe look – akin to Saman Amel, above – often put on knitted T-shirts with their tailor-made trousers and cashmere overshirts, somewhat than jersey. They may be in cotton, merino or cashmere/silk, however knits are usually most well-liked for his or her physique and the best way they drape.

I had the same feeling to the boxer-briefs from Stefan Brandt, although there I additionally had a private choice: the Brandt mannequin makes use of a cotton layer on the surface of the waistband and stretch one on the within, whereas I discover it extra snug to have a single materials. 

Mine are principally from Sunspel nowadays, by the best way, given Zimmerli is £99 a pair. Though to be truthful Stefan Brandt underwear does very properly from a price perspective, being half that at £49 a pair (Sunspel is £37).

I believe this expertise is a helpful one to deliver up on PS, as a result of it additionally raises a broader level about luxurious. 

There’s a tendency amongst those who search the finer issues in life to imagine that issues which can be actually finer are higher. It’s a part of the rationale superfine wools have been such a development in fits for years, with everybody competing to make finer and finer product. The identical occurred with superfine shirtings too, regardless of them being an absolute bastard to take care of. Folks simply love a numerical system; it means they don’t should suppose. 

Fortunately we’ve come by way of the worst of that, and luxurious shoppers (or not less than PS readers) respect {that a} furry Harris Tweed has its personal, solely separate enchantment. That goes for heavy flannel too, or cordovan.

And in reality for cheaper supplies. Good flannel and cordovan are costly, however the form of coarse cotton you discover in workwear chinos does not should be, and a baseball cap needs to be made out of an inexpensive cotton. As a result of its enchantment is the best way it fades and frays – that is the aesthetic. A luxurious baseball cap is senseless.

I suppose there’s additionally some extent right here about ostentatious luxurious – about people who need supplies that look costly to indicate they’re rich. In any case, if the wealthy don’t put on logos anymore, they’ve received to do one thing proper? 

Superfine supplies might be nice, however they need to be thought of on their fashion deserves as a lot as their luxuriousness. 

I discover superfine merino helpful for a selected kind of knit, for instance, usually as a layering piece. But when breathability is the precedence, one thing high-twist however not essentially as high quality is best. 

Superfine jersey is a fabric I don’t have a lot use for in my mode of dressing. However I’m certain there are readers on the market who love that silky contact, even when it’s simply in a base-layer T-shirt. To them, I would definitely suggest Stefan Brandt, on high quality and on worth.