Old Town

[Salv]

Old Town Clothing and Tin House

A quick mention for one of my favourite English clothes makers - Old Town Clothing in Holt, Norfolk, make classic 20's and 30's styled British clothing and have recently launched a new range, and website, called Tin House, which concentrates on their workwear. Tin House uses all natural fabrics such as cotton twill and cotton drill, denim, cotton canvas and wool serge. Particularly nice are the High Rise trousers:

the Orford trousers:

and the Overall jacket:

On the main Old Town site you can also find these clothes in various tweeds - the Overall in the grey windowpane check is very stylish!

Their shop is in a small market town in Norfolk, not far from the North Sea coast. It's not the sort of place you can easily visit on a day trip from London, as there are no motorways in Norfolk and the trains aren't very frequent, but if you make the effort the shop is a real time capsule, and the clothes are wonderful.

Everything is made to order, though, so don't (as I did) visit and expect to walk out with a tweed Overall jacket. Also they don't take credit card payments and only ship to the UK, so apologies to all non-UK Loungers who may have been tempted to order some high-waisted, belt-back work trousers...

There's a short interview with one of the partners at the shop, Marie Willey, in an article from May last year about The New Englishness
here which explains how they fetched up in the wilds of Norfolk. Lovely shop, lovely people.

 

[herringbonekid]

i've had one eye on their stuff for a while. it looks nice.
i wonder how much business the shop does out there in Norfolk ?

 

[Salv]

They have a few regular local customers, but mail-order and out-of-town visitors are the real money makers. We went up there last year as a wedding anniversary treat and stayed at Byford's Posh B&B in the town. There were a few vintage clothes shops up there as well, mostly (as usual) women's wear but I found a men's Utility overcoat that was (as usual) too small for me. After leaving Holt we went on to Cromer for a walk on the pier, some excellent fish & chips, and a few of the famous local crabs. It was a very English couple of days.

 

[herringbonekid]

Salv, i'm getting the distinct impression you have difficulty finding vintage clothing. what's your chest size ? i have a 40s overcoat that is too big for me .

 

[BellyTank]

I love Old Town's gear- like your tie Salv-

B
T

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Now i remember them. Someone mentioned them over here some time ago.

Nice looking gear ...

bk

 

[Salv]

Salv, i'm getting the distinct impression you have difficulty finding vintage clothing. what's your chest size ? i have a 40s overcoat that is too big for me .

I've just about given up looking for vintage suits and trousers, but I do have a very good, heavy wool overcoat I bought years ago in Flip that I recently dusted down. I didn't need the Utility coat but it deserved a good home...

I found Rocacha again last year having lost track of them after their shop in Kensington Market closed. The suit I wore to the London meet is one of their Cotton Club 40's SBs that I bought in December. I plan to buy a few pairs of trousers from them this year, and possibly another suit, so I'm not too fussed about finding good vintage suits any more. I still have a couple of their suits that I bought over 20 years ago that just about fit.

Back on topic ... oddly enough I was buying clothes by Old Towns designer at the same time as I was buying suits from Rocacha in the early 80's. The designer, Will Brown formerly known as Willie Brown, first had a shop in Shoreditch called Modern Classics and was part of the Blitz/New Romantic scene, although his clothes were never frilly and always had that essential classic British style (I drew the line at kilts for men though...)

After that shop closed he sold some stuff through a shop called Axion in the Great Gear Market in Kings Road, then became part of the Demob collective in Soho. Demob opened a second shop that mainly featured Willies clothes, and was the original Old Town. I still have an original Old Town jacket that was featured in the national press, with rip-off copies appearing in every market in the country. It was a navy-blue hooded anorak with a black and white checked band around the middle and looked like something the Metropolitan Police would have worn.

Demob closed and he turned up a few years later at the Bluebird Market, back in Kings Road, just before Terence Conran bought the site and developed it. I bought a pair of Dreadnoughts then in a stiff cotton drill which I still occasionally wear. By that time I think Willie and Marie had moved to Norfolk, and Old Town Mk II opened in Norwich soon after. The shop in Holt is therefore Old Town Mk III.

I love Old Town's gear- like your tie Salv-

This one:

I nearly wore it on Tuesday, but changed my mind at the last minute.

 

[herringbonekid]

their shop looks very stylishly laid out.
like a lost and found office of a war-time railway station. they've really captured a certain aesthetic...that clean-lined utilitarian feel.

 

[Salv]

If anyone's interested, Old Town will be making one of their infrequent trips to London to show their clothes on 11th, 12th and 13th March - that's this Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Their website doesn't say where they'll be so phone them for further details on 01263 710001.

 

[Mr. 'H']

I have these braces:

You, the ones that don't have the straight single verticle line going up the back. Specially designed for highrise.

 

[BellyTank]

I want the high-rise trou!
Have done for several years...

B
T

 

[herringbonekid]

maybe its just those photos but they look a little tight around the butt.
i don't think men's vintage trousers should ever grip the butt.

 

[BellyTank]

It's nice if they have a certain amount of 'fit' above the arse-apex- but they should definitely hang off that point- hang I say! Straight and wide-

Ever tried a pair of British Army WW2 era denims..? No fit whatsohoover-

B
T

 

[InspectorMorse]

Amazing thread- such a wonderful shop- thanks for sharing!

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

Wow! I just checked that Old Town Clothing site, some fabulous stuff. Also checked out the link to Rocacha. I'd love to get some of this stuff, but i'm in the US, and they likely won't ship here, plus, that's a LOT of money.. i'm not sure i'm comfrotable spending over $100 for pants.. but i'd really like to find some new, but vintage style trousers with buttons for braces available somewhere here in the US.. unfortunately i'm in Missouri, the armpit of America, and there are no good local places, so, I have to get most/all of my stuff online.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

I have no idea why they won't ship to the US, bizarre. Maybe I can have them ship to a friend of mine in Sussex and she can ship them to me!

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

Hmm.. that's not a bad idea, maybe I can get in touch with one of my UK pals. Seems like an awfully big hassle though for a pair of very expensive trousers.. but they are REALLY nice trousers... :eusa_doh:

 

[Salv]

The other problem with Old Town is that they don't take credit card payments - you may be able to pay with a money order, but they usually just take cash or personal cheque.

 

[Salv]

Just resurrecting the thread to point out some new items at Old Town and Tin House:

The Tin House Great War Hospital Shirt in natural calico:

Old Town cap in khaki or navy melton:

Old Town Moss stitch scarves, handkitted in Shetland wool:

Old Town Fairisle pullover:

More details from Old Town.

 

[Feraud]

This shop makes vintage styled clothing.
The shop is called Old Town.

A major influence on Old Town and an interesting period in art and design were the years either side of and during the Second World War when a rather self-conscious British style emerged.

The British way of progress isn’t to look the future coldly in the eye but to constantly move forward by looking back. An example might be William Morris’ idealised view of medieval England then Laura Ashley’s take on William Morris. We move forward by looking out of the rear window to see where we’ve been.

Does anyone know of the place and have any comments to share?