Week 8 Newsletter- Affordable Options, Niche Brands and Tattoos!

Niche UK Brands, Tattoo recommendations, Vintage Options, Best Dressed and more!

This weeks newsletter includes: niche brands such as Tefkit and Apollon that createw great clothing at an affordable price, I’ve found some of my favourite outfits from this week and researched what it is they’re wearing and then found affordable and sometimes second-hand alternatives to them and some tattoo recommendations with truly unique designs + more!

Brand Spotlight: Tefkit

I’ve chosen Tefkit for the brand spotlight as they tick the three key boxes I look for in a brand: affordability (£100-£200); strong personal brand identity; and high quality well-crafted clothing.

Tefkit is a charming small family run business in the UK that’s been running for 9 years. They take inspiration from nature for their clothing as well as old gardening clothes, which I think really comes through in their designs. The key rules they operate by are that the clothes must be functional and that they be creative with no bounds on the embroidery embedded into their textiles.

Striped Linen Groundcreeping Jacket £160-£180 (Top)

Soundcreeping Drawstring £160-£180 (Bottom)

All of Tefkits clothing is made in their studio in St Leonards-on-Sea, guaranteeing a high level of manufacturing. Im a big fan of the fabrics they use, especially in both of the jackets pictured below, they have a subtle texture to them which is the difference for me in an average piece of clothing and something that I would actually buy and wear.

I’m usually quite sceptical about embroidery nowadays, as it can easily look unoriginal and uninspired, however in this case the embroidery is pretty unique and well done meaning it adds a lot to the clothing whilst not being overbearing.

Denim Dandelion Drawstring £160-£180 (Top Left)

Denim Forecast Jacket £220-£240 (Bottom Right)

They focus significantly on their products being ethical, they’ve switched to organic fabrics in order to be more sustainable and they use hemp as it is grown without the use of pesticides. It’s great to see a brand creating clothing with attention to the ethics of what they’re making.

Hawkweed Shirt £140-£160 (Top Left)

Forecast Fatigues £165-£195 (Bottom Right)

Best Dressed:

I came across Callum’s instagram and thought he had some great outfits, the brands he wears the most are probably Engineered Garments, Studio Nicholson (particularly their trousers), Story MFG and Toast among many other smaller brands. What strikes me most about his outfits is the way he uses colour, there are some really great colour combinations there such as beige contrasted with light blue, or green contrasted with orange.

I thought i’d do something new this newsletter and identify some of the items he’s wearing as well some mid range (price wise) alternatives and then also some much cheaper perhaps second hand alternatives.

What he’s wearing:

Toast- Gingham Blazer £265- He’s wearing a super nice blazer by Toast, with a textured look to it, giving it a some what laid back feel.

Community Clothing Knit £99- As someone who used to really dislike turtle necks, i’ve recently made a switch to actually quite liking them (big news I know!). At £99 this turtle neck is already at a great price considering it’s made from 100% lambs wool and made in Scotland.

Proper Cloth Shirt £102- Great quality shirt, though you can certainly get something of similar quality for cheaper second hand.

Studio Nicholson Bridges Italian Pant £295- Studio Nicholson consistently make some of the best jeans out there, though you are certainly paying for that, it’s still worth it for sure as the denim is top tier quality and the craftsmanship that creates the deep pleats and curved leg shape are hard to replicate. However, I will try recommend some cheaper alternatives that still retain some level of the form and quality of these.

Alternative Options

Jacket Alternatives:

YMC Scuttlers Jacket £150 reduced from £350 (Top left)

POP Trading Company Seersucker £77 reduced from £120 (Top Right)

Foret Textured Blazer £117 reduced from £235 (Bottom Left)

Universal Works Tan Blazer £40 offer £30 (Bottom Right)

Knit Alternatives:

Vintage Lacoste Knit £50

Kallspin Jumper (Used) £28

Shirt Alternative:

Nautica Shirt £6

Jeans Alternative:

Nobody Denim £92 Unisex (Top Left)

JW Anderson x Uniqlo Balloon Jeans £42 These would be my budget pick (Middle)

Levis 569 £25 If you’re looking for budget baggy trousers, Levis 569 are a great shout (Bottom Right)

Best Knit Beanies in the Game: Apollon

Was super impressed by Apollon’s range of beanies, they’re a very small brand that only do high quality knit beanies ranging from around £40-£60, they are based in Japan however, since the price of their beanies is below £135 you will not have to pay extra tax on them. Meaning the main extra cost, were you to buy them, would be the shipping to the UK.

Available Here

Here are a few examples of them styled:

Stone Island Military Jacket:

This jacket is beautiful, however, very hard to find and if you do, you’re going to be looking at £400+. So I thought i‘d try find some alternatives that are more reasonably priced.

British DPM Smock Jacket £40 (Top Left)

Abercrombie and Fitch Jacket £75 (Bottom Right)

YMC New Releases:

Since their change in creative director, I have not been particularly inspired by what YMC has been coming up with. However, they have recently released a few pieces that I think are putting them back on the right track.

Loft Jacket £275 (Top Left)

Salba Short £215 (Bottom Right)

I also think the deadbeat trouser is one of the best in the game.

Deadbeat Trouser £250

Tattoo Artist: @beamish_tattoos

Beamish specialises in a range of tattoo styles, from medieval tattoos, to Picasso and Matisse inspired work. I’ve included some of his flash, and tattoos that he has done below. I think he’s well worth checking out if you’re into or looking to get into tattoos.