Jacket Required rundown

From L-R: Mark Batista, Craig Ford, Andrew Parfitt [via]

Check out this rundown Selectism and Highsnobiety did for Jacket Required. Also have a look back at the post I did about the menswear tradeshow last year.


Jacket Revisited from Selectism on Vimeo

After the massive success of the show last year the organisers had to seek out brighter and larger pasteurs, so this year they took over Victoria House a regular venue used during London Fashion Week to host the show. In addition to this the number of brands that showed this year increased from around 38 to almost 100. Edifice, a Japanese brand stocked at Liberty, showed for the first time in Europe over the weekend alongside a host of other old and new names which included: Filson, Hentsch Man, Libertine-Libertine, One Nine Zero Six and Vanishing Elephant.

I am really excited to see how Jacket Required evolves because right now they're harnessing the energy from the buzzing menswear scene in the UK and really turning it into something special. I hope to provide you with my own take should I ever get to attend.

Vanishing Elephant SS12 preview @ Jacket Required

Vanishing Elephant is a brand I've been watching for a few seasons now. I was initially drawn to it due to it's eye catching prints, something I hadn't seen much of apart from some collections at Liberty. What excited me even more was the fact that this was an Australian brand a place I feel that is under represented in terms of great menswear.

I for one am excited to see what this innovative brand can do to further differentiated itself in what's becoming a very saturated market.

Elephant embroidered shorts and trousers 
are featured in this forward thinking collection

Nubuck oxfords

A great example of what Vanishing Elephant is great at - bold and unique prints

Cap-toe woven oxford in great shades of brown

Nubuck ankle boots

Jacket Required coming next month

It seems as though London is looking to further establish itself as a hub for menswear. Not unlike the recent New York trade show, (capsule), Jacket Required seeks to make it easier for buyers to get the best brands from all over the world.

The problem the trade show would seek to rectify as outlined by one of the founders, Craig Ford, is that often "buyers would come to [his] showroom from all over Europe but they'd just come to see one brand and they were coming at different times to London to see other brands". What better way to lessen the recurring costs of travel than bring them all together under one roof.

At the moment London is lacking any kind of menswear exhibition and the guys behind Jacket Required want to start something small and really good, getting it right the first time and build upon it but aren't looking to complete, but instead are doing it because London deserves it seeing as places like Seville Row were and still remain cornerstones of great mens' clothing.

The brands represented will include names such as Garbstore, BAPE, HUMAN MADE and Ambush Jewelry with the addition of Bedwin & The Heartbreakers, a Japanese brand that is being shown for the first time in Europe plus many more.

Jacket Required will be held over two days, 7th and 8th August at Rochelle School in Shoreditch, East London.