Ben Sherman Blog

From Stitch to Selvage: Denim by our Designer Kelly

In amongst all our Designers in our Clerkenwell, London Office, we have a truly talented Denim Designer, Kelly. We managed to pull her away from her Denim washes and Profile Stitches just long enough, to get her to answer some questions about our AW10 Denim Range:

Where did the Denim branding idea’s come from?

I looked back to our heritage, the brand started in 1963 so I wanted to know what was happening at that time, I also wanted to shout about our quality and for example we have some buttons which look like old coins the feeling of old money just says quality to me. The swingtags and labeling all comes from the Great Train Robbery, the biggest heist of it’s time which happened in 1963, the swing tags look like luggage labels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Train_Robbery_(1963)

 

 

 
 

 
The profile stitch... What made you come up with this?

We’ve never had any true denim branding on Ben Sherman denim, denim has 200 years of history of manufacture so we have lots of history to learn from. Back in the 1870’s denim brands over in America realised that having a back patch wasn’t enough and it often fell off after heavy wear, they started adding decorative stitches to back pockets so the jean was clearly identifiable. Our profile stitch comes from the plectrum which we use on our shirts and jackets so again we’re sitting back with the branding that’s already in store. Denim’s a tough one to get right in terms of authenticity and we don’t want to be like these western brands they do what they do and we’re doing something else, clean and on brand.

http://www.bensherman.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product2_12051_-1_24509_82611_10551_24503

 

 
What’s your top style this season?

Our selvage, it’s a brilliant robust red cast 14 oz denim that’s going to last you. It’s developed especially for us with our orange colour from our branding in the selvage at the side seams; back belt loop and match pocket, it’s an absolute bargain too. It comes in Rampton our slim fit and True Icon our straight.

http://www.bensherman.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product2_12051_-1_24509_88801_10551_24503

What is selvage?

Everyone has probably heard or seen the word “Selvage” or also “Selvedge” they both mean the same thing and this name is given to a particular type of denim cloth. Woven on the most realistic or closest to the original looms, it’s a narrow denim that has two coloured edges. This is the most expensive type of denim purely because of the length of time it takes to weave and the narrow loom. It’s for the purist.

 
What’s so specialist about denim why do people get so fanatical?

Denim is one of the most popular and oldest fabrics still used in today’s manufacture, it should be treated with respect, weaving and dying hasn’t really changed all that much over the past couple of hundred years; it’s just progressed to meet the demand. It’s also got a real global history. First recorded mass manufacture was in Nimes in France with narrow looms and wooden shuttles. Then shipped to Genoa in Italy for tailor made pants for sailors (Genoa, Genes, Jeans) then onto America in San Francisco where the “forty niners” boomed the dry goods business with hundreds of companies making these heavy durable jeans. Indigo usec to be natural but the demand was so great that in 1869, Adolf Baeyer in Berlin created a chemical compound to mirror the dye. The dye doesn’t sink in or penetrate into the yarn leaving the centre point natural which allows the colour to change. Denim changes colour and evolves the more you wear your jeans, the jean you buy raw will have a completely different attitude 6 months or a year after wearing.

 

What’s different about Ben Sherman denim to the likes of other big brands?

It’s all developed in house in Clerkenwell London and all washes are developed by me and my wash technicians by hand. Therefore making it truly original to us.

http://www.bensherman.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product2_12051_-1_24509_82614_10551_24503

 

 
To see our Ben Sherman Denim Range, please visit: http://www.bensherman.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category1_12051_24509_-1_24503_10551_24503

BEHIND THE SCENES- Ben Sherman Gets Nicked in New York

 
If you managed to see our video of 'Ben Sherman Gets Nicked in New York' (if you didn't, make sure you go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgZ6tFs9qtc )-then make sure you take a look at the behind the scenes pictures!

Big thank you to everyone that made this amazing video happen!

 
All the shirts were stamped with this logo.

 
Setting up the inside of the windows so they are full of shirts.

 
The night before. The finished window- minus the free shirts...

The next day. We even had the street closed off by the NYPD...oh yeah...

 
Our camera crew set up opposite the store.

 
Windows prepped with the 'loot'...

 
...and then our camera crew are on standby to wait and catch what people do!

And then the carnage unfolded, which was all captured on the video!

NICKED FROM BEN SHERMAN SOHO NYC. BUT YOU ARE FORGIVEN (JUST THIS ONCE)

 

 

Sportswear International meets Pan Philippou

Sportswear International's Editor & Publisher Klaus N. Hang, met our CEO Pan Philippou at the Project Trade Show in Las Vegas! Get a peek of the man behind the magic at Ben Sherman in the below interview!

 

 

Ben Sherman Gets Nicked in New York.

During September 2010, amidst the throng of New York Fashion Week, Ben Sherman put the honesty of native New Yorkers and sartorial sightseers to the test by taking their ‘shop load of shirts’ concept, to the sidewalk. 

Bolstering the brands reputation as ‘The Original’ shirtmaker, the exterior of Ben Sherman’s Soho store, on the corner of Spring and Mercer, was clad in a selection of shirts from their Autumn / Winter 2011 collection, providing prospective light-fingered larcenists with a rather nice freebie!

With the bait set, CCTV was placed on the store to record the action as a series of passersby were faced with an unexpected opportunity to expand their wardrobe, and a moral dilemma; to take, or not to take?!

Well, they took.  A few at first, as apprehensive opportunists on foot, two wheels and tiptoes, walked, ran and wheeled off with their pilfered pickings.  And then, en masse as previously law abiding citizens flocked to the store, scaling the building and fighting off the competition for their chance to get their hands on one of the 600 or so shirts on offer.

With the deed done, the guilty need not look much further for absolution; the inside of every shirt had been stamped with a message that read: ‘Nicked! From Ben Sherman Soho New York, NY Fashion Week September 2010, But You Are Forgiven, Just This Once’.

“We felt New York City Fashion week offered the perfect time to have a little fun,” said Pan Philippou, CEO of Ben Sherman, “We’ve always known the Ben Sherman aficionado to be someone to take that added risk, so why not offer the shirts in such a way that only the brazen would dare to take.” 

  

 

Reading is the Reason

The worst kept secret of the weekend was that The Rats billed on the Lock-Up stage were actually Watford punk outfit Gallows and to a crowd size testament to their popularity they stormed through a set that can only cement their place as one of the best live performers in the UK today. Wall’s of death (where two sets of fan’s race and collide into each other from across the tent), Human pyramids and a wheelchair crowd surfer are things that you seem only to expect from Reading Festival, which, is where I was pitched up for the Glorious(debatable) Bank Holiday weekend.

The line-up was one of the most diverse I had seen in a while and show how much the average festival goers musical tastes had changed in recent years. Performers like Dizzy Rascal were met with great adulation by half and disgusted by the rest. Being in the latter half my weekend was spent drifting from stage to stage taking in as much as I could.

Friday saw a dejected and sodden crowd wake up to a baking hot day, but still a few inches of mud that would making walking around the camp site and painful process. Reading staples Gogol Bordello put on a typical high energy performance that only a bunch of gypsy punks could do. Start Wearing Purple being a particular highlight as a set finishing sing along. Veteran punks NOFX made no secret of their distaste of being on the main stage but still put on a good 20 minute set, although it was their unannounced set on Saturday night that they really put in the effort and made a cracking show. Biffy Clyro and Queens of the Stone Ages both cemented today as the day of rock with some performances that got the by now huge crowd jumping along and ready for headliners G’n’R. Not being my cup of tea I missed out on the near 2 hour wait before they graced the stage, and by all accounts it was not worth the wait.

Saturday was all about two bands for me Gallows and The Libertines, having seen their Forum warm up show I knew their was every chance that they would be able to take that kind of performance onto the big stage, and boy oh boy did they do that. With a front man as frowned upon as much as Peter Doherty it would have been all to easy to write them off completely no matter how they performed. And yet I have not seen a single bad word wrote about them since. Long may it continue. Earlier in the day The Cribs and The Maccabees kept the crowd going along with typical indie rock that although not spectacular were by no means average. So just to confirm they were somewhere between spectacular and average, some might call that, good, but hey not me.

Sunday saw sporadic showers and sunshine that made sure leaving the tents was never a safe option unless running to the bar or the dreaded toilets. Finally the clouds parted long enough for a sizeable crowd to watch undeniable start of Shooting Starts Angelos Epithemiou and his bag grace the Alternative stage. And supplied with an entire 3 jokes his 20 minute slot seamed surprisingly short. On the main stage comedy rap act (well, in my mind they are) Limp Bizket brought back the sound of ‘99 to an audience who were barely out of nappies at the time of album Significant Other. After a, what I imagine to be great set by Cypress Hill that I missed thanks to the loss of my time schedule along with my wallet, Weezer took the stage. If asked to name their songs I would get Buddy Holly straight away and then struggle for awhile. So it is testament this vastly underrated band that even I knew most of their 16 songs they played. Although it was a cover of Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag that was greeted with some pretty pop filled crowd pogo-ing. Surprising my favorite band of the day came about as a total fluke, after missing out on pie-n-mash I went in search of some food that wouldn’t melt my guts the next day, I then stumbled across the Introducing stage and a 4 piece called Redtrack who hail from Southend-On-Sea close to my neck of the woods. A small crowd had gathered which wasn’t a good representation of the 4 or 5 songs that I witnessed. Songs like The Trier and Imogen were played with a real tightness that shows that these guys mean business, I doubt the crowd next year will be as small. Apparently they have already won a Hollyoaks music competition but I won’t hold that against them, as since getting home their songs have been practically all that has graced my spotify playlist. 3 last words, CHECK THEM OUT. If Limp Bizket took us back to ‘99 then headliners Blink-182 tied us down till '04 with a hit laden set. Although in my opinion they seamed sloppy and under-rehearsed there was one shining light that blew the crowd away. Drummer Travis Barker who I think is one of the best drummers around was soo frantic in his display and yet never missed a beat. They highlight being a Tommy Lee style drum solo where Travis and drum kit where lifted up into the air and rotated upside down and still never a symbol was hit out of place.

So with Reading 2010 over with, the question is does the quality of the bands outweigh all the rubbish hats, crap weather, cost and the over zealous security. By the skin of its teeth I would say yes, but the line up next year will have to be just as good to convince me not to attend a few smaller festivals instead.

 

Ben Sherman Marketing Intern vs V Fest

Find out what happened when our Marketing Intern Charlotte took on her first ever festival. Wellies included...

 

As this was my first proper festival, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from V. Coming from near where the Chelmsford event is held I understood that its all about the music, the ever changing weather, big crowds and great fashion but what was the real attraction to this massive festival? I sure understood come Sunday night!

 

First day, wristbands on and first necessity had to be to purchase a programme lanyard to ensure no acts were missed (I soon discovered that wearing this lanyard causes a hell of a lot of people to use you as their information point!). Lanyard brought, it was time to pinpoint who to see first. Drink in hand it was straight to the music. First up, Plan B, and wow was what a crowd! We caught a couple of songs, but not enough for my liking! This just gives me an excuse to go to his gig in the O2 next year!

 

 

Now we couldn’t go to V and miss our new collection act perform. Madness hit the Main stage in Weston Park and provided such a great performance with some of their new songs and also their classics, One Step Beyond being my favourite – I have never seen so many people dancing! They also made a very funny apology to Calvin Harris for locking him in a portaloo at Camp Bestival a couple of weeks before which amused the festival-goers greatly...

 

   

For the rest of the Saturday it was a case of running between bands including Calvin Harris, Paulo Nutini, Faithless and Jamie T before ending the night with half of each headliner. Kasbian’s set was really entertaining, I had 'Fire' stuck in my head for the rest of the night and so did most of the other fans it seemed. Overhearing a bloke singing his heart out whilst in the toilet has to be one of the most humorous sounds I heard all weekend! We finished the Saturday with The Prodigy, and I must admit the big beat group put on the best performance of the whole festival. The show they put on and atmosphere they created was amazing! They are well and truly nuts! My favourite part of their act had to be Maxim, he has such an amazing stage persona, telling the whole crowd to crouch down to the floor in the middle of Smack my…and then making thousands of people to jump from that position when the music started again, I would have loved to see it from the stage! The Prodigy’s set also provided the most random crowd moment I witnessed at the festival when one fan pulled a huge branch from a tree and proceeded to hold it above their head and walk it through the crowd until they got right down at the front of the stage....such a hilarious sight and I know what to do next time I want to get close to the acts!

 

And then it was Sunday…the final day. The sun was shining after the rain on Saturday meaning no wellies!The perfect start to the day was The Magic Numbers whose tunes have a great summery feel to them. It got us psyched up and ready for the day ahead. We continued with seeing new band Chew Lips, who although with a tiny crowd, put on a fantastic act with some excellent tunes and I highly recommend taking a listen.  

 

 

Over on the main stage, the ‘Modfather’ Paul Weller, was supplying the crowd with some entertaining renditions of 'Town Called Malice', 'Start' and other great classics as well as some of his newer songs. Florence and the Machine, what a show! Florence’s voice is just astonishing and filled the huge field; her stage presence was awesome! She owned the 4Music stage! The performances of 'Dog Days' and 'You got the Love' were definitely my two favourites. And then it was the final act of V 2010…Kings of Leon. 6 words describe this set: 'Woahhh your sex is on fire!' An immense show to finish this years V festival in Weston Park

 

Well what an awesome weekend! I experienced everything and more at V from the rain and the mud, the moving tree, the drunken singing and being showered in beer; it was truly a different way to spend a weekend! I must admit I may now have been converted into a festival lover and most definitely will be attending next year’s festival…better get those tickets now!

 

The Reunion - Part One

Seven years, five albums and countless column inches had all boiled down to this. The first public performance for The Libertines. Wednesday 25^th August was the date, the HMV Forum the venue and at 9:30, the four slightly older band mates took the stage and ripped straight in to a version of Horrorshow that would make even the most skeptical of fans realize that this isn’t one last cash filled hurrah, oh no, this was it, this is what it always would be, this is the raising of the good ship Albion and with a new found energy maybe this time they will make it to Arcadia.

 

Having been signed up for Reading and Leeds festival the excitement between fans as to what warm up shows would be played was pretty much a fever pitch. Expectations of impromptu gigs at the Rhythm Factory never materialized and with only a few weeks to the festivals word came that the band had only just started rehearsing. Now call me old fashioned but if I’m preparing for one of the most crucial weekends of my musical career, the kind that could bring euphoria like that seen with The Specials last year or the utter appalling showings as seen when the Beatles reformed in 1995 (so I’m told), then I think I would like start dusting off the old song book a bit sooner than 2 bloody weeks before hand. But hey, that’s just me and maybe, just maybe that’s why I’ll be sleeping in a tent at Reading this year and the Libs will be sleeping in a bigger tent...of money!

 

I digress, last week the news everyone was waiting for was released, The Libertines would be playing a one off show and the only way to get tickets is to enter a ballot. A mad rush ensued people like me would sign up everyone I could get my hands on, and after initial rejection I managed to get a ticket, even though it was upstairs standing, nothing would spoil this great occasion. And as it turns out, all you need is a few like minded people and in the furthest corner of the Forum we had created our very own little ‘pit’.

 

The set was all about business, no larking about no stage dives just a pure focus to play the songs in the best possible way they could, and boy did they get a bingo. Every track was a reminder of the good old days, but as Pete says, ‘there are no good old days, these are the good old days,' and nothing could be truer. If this is to be a mere warm up to greater things to come (new songs maybe) then I for one will be at the front of the queue, boarding pass in hand ready to sail into that sunset.

 

 

 

Set List

'Horrorshow'

'The Delaney'

'Vertigo'

'Last Post On The Bugle'

'Tell The King'

'Boys In The Band'

'Music When The Lights Go Out'

'What Katie Did'

'Can't Stand Me Now'

'Death On The Stairs'

'The Ha Ha Wall'

'Don't Look Back Into The Sun'

'Time For Heroes'

Encore

'Campaign Of Hate'

'Begging'

'Lust Of The Libertines'

'What Became Of The Likely Lads'

'The Good Old Days'

'Up The bracket'

'What A Waster'

'I Get Along'

Alex Gets Offended.

So me and the lovely lady went to a gig different to the ones we usually frequent last night. We went to see one of the most mental bands I have seen since Prodigy at Reading festival last year! Does it Offend You, Yeah? As the name asks, it did. They were crazy! And also fresh from supporting Prodigy on their recent world tour. It's not often I go to gigs with mosh pits! I enjoyed it very much as an event but it was more show than substance for me. With some great dance rock tunes, they are what I deem a weekend band. Music to party to.  They also had a support act that really interested me. The band Worship really stood out. With galactic sounding songs that reminded me of Radiohead, I really enjoyed them. Also their bassist/ keys player is my band's recording engineer and producer. So I promise I'm not being biased!

 

 

Also on that note my band, Golden Hours, are recording at the moment so hopefully we will be releasing some of it very soon! Got some really awesome stuff coming up so I will do some more blogs ASAP!

 

Keep up to date with our Brand Ambassador Alex by following his Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/alexwookie

 

Does it Offend You, Yeah? will be supporting Kele in a series of gigs in the US with Nylon and sponsored by Ben Sherman! Check back here and on our Ben Sherman Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/bensherman) soon, for details on how you fans from the States can bag yourself some tickets!

 

Ben Sherman's Creative Director Mark Maidment braves the camera...

Our Creative Director, Mark Maidment is becoming more famous by the day!

Check him out here talking about the Ben Sherman brand in an interview for Swedish television!

CAUGHT ON CAMERA?

 

Ben Sherman’s Berlin store was a victim of its own success during Bread & Butter as passers by robbed shirts from the store windows.

Hard to believe, take a look, we sneakily caught it all on camera!