Words by Cameron Mclauchlan
Another instalment of Something for the Weekend is here! and we think we have finally found the perfect basic T-Shirt. For everyday use. At an undeniably good price.
Whilst there are many T-shirts available below the £10 mark from your local retailer. I challenge anyone to find a better quality T-shirt for the same price as our first item in this weeks edition of something for the weekend…
It may come as little surprise to those of you who have shopped at UNIQLO before, that our ultimate basic T can be found there. For those of you who are yet to pop a head in, I recommend having a nose when you can! Current stores in the UK include Manchesters Arndale, Bluewater, and Londons Oxford St. As well as online.
UNIQLO. One of, if not the largest fashion retailer in Asia has seen an equally impressive rise in popularity across the EU & US. The brands origins can be traced back to Yamaguchi in Japan, post World War II—1949. Beginning its days as a textiles factory.
UNIQLO which was abbreviated from ‘Unique Clothing Warehouse’, opened its first store in Hiroshima in 1984. Nearly a decade after its first store opened, the great recession hit Japan in early 90’s. This prompted UNIQLO to flourish as cheaper price-point clothing was met with consumers looking to save where possible.
The brand now operates globally and owes much of its success to founder Tadashi Yanai, now CEO of Fast Retailing, the parent company of UNIQLO. UNIQLO as a retailer operates selling predominantly the same clothing for the entire season, leveraging its quality and affordable pricing as a reason to return. The brand has built some really interesting collaborative relationships with the likes of Jil Sander, Undercover, Kaws, Engineered Garments and more recently and more recently JW Anderson.
To shop the T-shirt hit the link below, sizes vary from XS to 3XL, sizes tend to sell out quickly so would advise heading in-store if there’s one close by!
2. Stan Ray Slim Painter Pant – £85.00
Workwear brand Stan Ray, similarly to Dickies we featured last week is a brand coveted for its durability. Earl Beard founded the brand in 1972. In Texas US where it is based to this day. Earl entered the market at a time where the large majority of brands outsourced their production to the Far East & South America. American brand/American made was — and still is Earls vision.
The brand name ‘Stan Ray’ didn’t come until later, inspired by Earls son’s name — Stanley Ray. Stanley now oversees the family run company particularly when it comes to the operations at their manufacturing facility in Crockett, Texas.
Now selling through roughly 2500 stores worldwide, the brand seem’s to have emerged into the UK and EU markets more notably in the last 5 to 10 years as a result of the tidal wave demand for street and workwear.
3. New Balance 990 v5
Originally created at the beginning of the 80’s as an all new running shoe. The 990 has now become the king of ‘dad sneakers’. Whilst the latest iteration is named the v5, the 990 has actually seen a total of 7 variations since its birth in 1982. Other variations over the years include the 99X (2001), 991 & 992 (2006). With the 991 & 992 being created in celebration of the brands 100th Birthday.
So as you can probably guess from that last sentence, New Balance was officially kicked off way back in 1906 by William J Riley. Rumour has it that one day Riley was watching chickens strut around his back garden when he noticed how well they balanced with their main three points to use as balance. Inspiring Riley to design arch supports with three points of support.
Formally called New Balance Arch Support Company the company didn’t begin making actual trainers until 1961. By which point Riley and his main partner Arthur Hall had sold the company to Arthurs daughter Eleanor and her husband Paul Kidd in 1956. The new owners saw continued success selling the arch supports alone, until making the Trackster in 1961. Probably as a result to being approached by numerous companies to co-create a shoe with their now renowned arch supports.
Since the Trackster, like many shoe company stores we have featured in this series, New Balance has built itself into a highly successful sportswear brand through the creation of iconic silhouettes which have etched themselves across all aspects of culture over music, sports and fashion. Visible today with their sponsorships of European champions Liverpool FC and ongoing partnership with Londons sneaker store FootPatrol.
To shop the v5’s hit the link below, sizes tend to go like hot cakes but the v5 seems to have received a higher number of stockists than the v4, so if the link below has run out of sizes check out : Size?, New Balance or END.
Thank you for reading another week of #SFTW
