Garmology - A podcast about clothes, and stuff.

After a long career in textile design and fabrication, Sam Goates set up shop as a solitary weaver in the port of Buckie in the North of Scotland. Bringing a down at heel bitsa this, bitsa that Hattersley single-width loom back to life to weave custom cloths for discerning customers worldwide. We talk about Sam's time in Australia, how she is not weaving Harris Tweed, the frustrations of keeping a...

First out in season 3 of Garmology is Richard Tyler of Men's Accessories company Tyler & Tyler. Tyler & Tyler comes from the stable of a British family-controlled business that has been manufacturing in Birmingham since 1908. They design and make all the extra shiny finishing touches such as cufflinks, tie clips, blazer buttons and lapel pins. They also offer a swathe of ties, leather goods and mo...

Keen waxer of waxed jackets, Ryan Mallinson, is back for a follow-up. We get into a few of the ideas behind slower fashion, buying what you actually need instead of what is available, taking care of your kit, repairing and improving, building a business from scratch, taking risks, creating a brand and building a community, being genuine in business, and more! You can find Mallin & Son on Instagram...

Gary Newbold returns for this episode to talk around the topic of "buy better, buy less", what choices we make in how things are made, which fabrics we use, what it's like to work in the clothing business and more. There is a lot of talk of which fabrics and fibres we should avoid, but which should we seek out? This is probably the most ASMR episode yet, for those in the know. You can find English...

One of the most fundamental pieces of human knowledge is tying knots, and even more so when it comes to our footwear. Lacing and tying shoes is something we learn at an early age and most of us use this knowledge daily all our life. My guest today is Ian Fieggen, self-styled Professor Shoelace, inventor of better knot and keeper of the definitive website for lacing and tying. We talk about how thi...

An icon of men's style, fashion business guru, the face of #menswear, a voracious collector of garms and a non-fungible digital Lego figure. Nick Wooster is the guest of this weeks Garmology!  We talk about his early days longing for a cashmere sweater in Salina, Kansas, moving to New York and eventually scaling the grades within fashion, the randomness of becoming a style icon and what it's like...

This weeks guest is Mark Larese-Casanova, an old friend of mine from the heady days of menswear forums. Mark is a fellow fan of well-made, well designed and interesting menswear, so much so that he has recently changed from being in front of students to becoming a student. We talk about making garments and how knowledge changes your perspective on what you wear. Oh, and designing and making your o...

My guest in this episode is Jack Millington, founder of Billy Tannery, a business that started with the plan of using the otherwise discarded hides of goats. We talk about the inspiration to start a new business, the reality of bringing a crazy idea to fruition, the situation for goats and how collaborations make it possible to create a viable business.  You can find Billy Tannery on the web here...

The wife and husband team of Sarah and Paul have been running SEH Kelly since 2009. Quietly designing, making and revising a stream of garments that have found appreciative owners. All made in the British isles, from British cloths, and all backed by Sarah's tailoring and Paul's prose. From their HQ, which is basically a cold shed in Shoreditch, they are a great example of doing things well and be...

It has been said that if you don't notice the clothes used in a film, the designer has done a good job. Sometimes though, the clothes, like the music, the sets and props, become more than just background. For me, the films of Guy Ritchie embody this, so to have a good chat about precisely this subject, I sat down with Christopher Laverty, author of "Fashion in film", the Clothes on Film website an...

Arguably, one of the most compelling television shows in recent years is The Great British Sewing Bee, a fierce, yet friendly, competition between keen hobbyist sewers, with warmth, humour and great opportunities for learning. I can only imagine countless new sewers being inspired to thread their machine and start creating. My guests are Matt Gage and Liz Grylls from the 2020 season and we talk ab...

Tanmay Saxena has enjoyed an unusual route to where he is today, from studying IT in India to starting Lane Fortyfive in London. We talk about how he got started, being noticed in Japan, how making to order allows a unisex and made to measurements approach, slow fashion, sustainability and how people should think of dressing more as art than a way to merely hide their bodies from sight. You can fi...

Sam Binstead enjoys the good things in life. Coffee, wine, cheese and now, a slow fashion style. We talk about what slow fashion entails, where to find the good stuff, the issues in how we dress and ultimately, is "slow fashion" a good name for it? Sam vlogs about a considered lifestyle and buying better and less on YouTube, see link in the notes. You can find Sam Binstead on Instagram as @Sam. Bi...

David Evans, otherwise known as Grey Fox, has been blogging about menswear for 10 years. Championing menswear for the older man, be it classic suits, vintage denim or outdoors tweed, David has built a wide following. We talk about the madness of social media, the problem of both liking new clothes and being pro-sustainability, and how old cars fit in with heritage brands and enjoy a good laugh. Yo...

A popular guest from season one makes a welcome return! Sara from Sartorialab is on the pod for a light chat about fits, fails, hairstyles after hair loss, hats, the fallacy of buying the same stuff over and over, dressing for weddings and quite a bit of this and that! You can get in touch with Sarah on Instagram as Sartorialab or on the web . Garmology is researched, booked, hosted, edited, publi...

Daniel Harris started the London Cloth Co , a micro-mill in London in 2011, with one ancient and broken loom. Since then he has accumulated and restored many more, woven for many illustrious customers, mingled with gangsters and aided the International Space Station. Oh, and put the cloth on the back of Han Solo in the recent Star Wars epic. You can find London Cloth Co on the web and londonclothc...

Award-winning British fashion innovator Christopher Raeburn joins the podcast to talk about how he got involved in upcycling military surplus, creating high fashion from vintage escape maps and parachutes, how change is happening even in huge companies such as Timberland and how the spread of ideas and inspiration is as valuable as producing a saleable product. We also get into buy better/buy less...

A slight diversion guest-wise today, as it's my sister Emma, a psychologist, that picks up the phone for a fly-on-the-wall style chat about topics within the Garmology sphere. We talk about the psychology of social media, why retail therapy has become a thing, peak hipster, why women get poorer clothes, the issues and pitfalls of ordering online, where the real deals can be done, our mums' taste i...

This weeks episode is all about Harris Tweed, a legend among cloths and arguably the most socially significant of fabrics. My guests this week are Lorna Macaulay and Rebecca Hutton from the Hebridean Islands. Lorna is CEO of the Harris Tweed Authority, promoters and protectors of the tweed, and Rebecca Hutton, an independent single-width weaver at Taobhtuath Tweeds. We talk about the history of we...

The guest this week is Rebecca Perkins, acclaimed author and midlife coach. We talk about confidence in mid-life, finding your purpose, not being limited by labels, being ourselves, learning to sew and write and the problems of living your life through social media. Rebecca's links: https://themidlifecoach.com/ https://www.recoveryfromwithin.life/ https://fourwomenfourdecades.com/ Best Knickers Al...

My guest this week is Jason Kirk, director of the family firm Kirk and Kirk eyewear. We talk about how we go about buying glasses, why they can be so expensive, the differences in the material used for frames and the varieties of lenses, whether it matters where things are made, buying from the behemoths of the optical world versus an independent shop, how glasses fit and whether you should use a...

Sheffield was the birthplace of stainless steel and pivotal in the Industrial Revolution. Cutlery and knives have been proudly stamped "Made in Sheffield" since 1871. My guest today is Michael May, an independent maker of knives in the old Portland Works in Sheffield. Michael keeps the old craft alive, in one of the buildings from when it started, having his precious Damascus steel hammered out in...

A new year and a fresh season of Garmology! In this episode, my guest is Sophie Bainbridge, co-founder of Stanley Biggs Clothiers and total enthusiast for the roaring '20s. Stanley Biggs a heritage clothing brand, unashamedly inspired by the past, in style as well as in spirit, taking a firm stand against fast fashion and offshoring by producing hats, knitwear and more in the UK. Sophie and I talk...

By popular demand, we have recorded a special festive bonus edition for your enjoyment. Featuring regular co-hosts Shaun, Dachi, Jon and Nick. We reached out to listeners to ask for their questions and suggestions for topics, so what is delivered here is clearly the pinnacle of what committed listeners of Garmology want to hear more about! We get into what we'd wear as a Santa, whether wool knitwe...

It's time to call it a wrap and close season 1, so I gathered three of the regular guests for a free-form chat about this and that, the problem of vintage rags, the siren call of the unfindable, why we are the nightmare of retailers, finding rabbit holes, pencil-sharpeners, how Britpop killed UK fashion, dads in parkas  and the question of what Patrick Grant really smells like. This is an unusuall...