• Coat

• Jacket / blazer (suit)
• Denim jacket
• White tie jacket
• Black tie coat

• Waistcoat (suit)

• Trousers (suit)
• Black/white tie trousers
• Jeans
• Chinos
• Shorts
• Track pants

• Shirt
• Bowling shirt

• T-Shirt
• Turtleneck
• Tank-top
• Singlet
• Sweatshirt
• Fleece
• Hoodie

• Briefs
• Boxers
• Bathing trunks

• Skirt
• Dress
• Corset
• Top

• Sports gear
• Hunting gear
• Wedding outfit
• Uniform
• Masquerade, club attire, costumes

• Socks
• Scarves
• Hat, hoodie, beanie

It was a long list – and even a rather not impassioned one too, by the look of it. It seemed just a tad boring, and even maybe a bit uninspiring. “I think I probably have some group and un-grouping to do with the items in this list, and maybe post them together in styles and whole outfits instead.”

He new that many looked upon garments, and craft, with more emotions than practical sense. To get someone’s attention – anyone at all, really – you had to be more fantastical. Starting with your average over-the-top items, and then work yourself down to the things that probably would be the most worn, and thereby your most valuable garments. (Valued achieved, according to days used that is.)

“So let’s do this!” He started writing again. At the top he wrote ‘Bespoke 3-piece Suit’.

He knew this would be a long night, but he just kept on, until he felt he got it right.

He wasn’t a quick writer. Not by far. Every word he wrote was taped with caution while he continuously worried about misspellings and ununderstandable terms. To be a self-employed tailor for 30 years, didn’t necessarily make you a good writer! But he needed to do this – he felt it was important.

As the hours went by, he tried to elaborate on that very first note he had written the other day. The first installment in that list was ‘Making’. Another, further down, was ‘Type Of Garments’. “If I start with these two easier ones, maybe the rest will come more naturally…?” That was what he hoped for, and that was, what he was trying to accomplish.

“I rather get some main areas written down first…” He had already made a list of type of garments he produced for customers, at least those that came into mind – the most distinct and recent ones. And now he was working on the more complex area of the whole tailoring experience – the actual making.

“But, with the vast possibilities in ways of making a garment… How do I know which combination that will be the most resourceful one to choose?” This was such a classic question within the tailoring community. The everlasting search for the most true of tailoring methods. How to do it correct! And even after the recent large addition of many external self-acclaimed bespoke experts, that had been thrown into the mix – criticising every stitch made and every garment cut, but from a customer’s perspective – things had not become any less complicated.

The problem with all of this was of course that bespoke garments were ment to be extremely personal, and individually made, catering to a certain specific person’s needs, both work-wise and privately, even including deeply personal movement and wear behaviour. And that ment of course, that everybody had their very own different ideas on what a correct garment for them should be! Even hailing their own or others opinions, as bonafide truths.

Frome a tailor’s point of view, on the other hand, it was more of a standardization thing. How could you differ a hidden good quality inner structure from a lesser one? By setting some standards of course. But how could you then explain these standards – very complex routines and choises – for someone who’s not knowing anything about it? Most likely by simplifying it.

And there it was. A power struggle between overly simplified descriptions (of technique and routine), and an ever changing opinion crowd – of some even not being customers, just mere opinion-makers. A certain segment wanted it stiff and neat, others wanted it soft and casual. And even some, just wanted to stay in the process not ending with a finished garment at all.

“I think I maybe just have to trust my own knowledge and experience in this area, and present just that, flat out.” he thought for himself. “And then add my own inner criticism!” He laughed. Well, that was the easiest part of it all! He had lots of that – inner struggling criticism. “So there it is!” he decided. And then continued his writing.

Next to Town Hall Square, was yet another much smaller square, which was called Rainbow Square. They had planted cherry trees there that blossomed shortly each summer. “It’s really amazing how much space and room it’s in here, while still being so very central…” he thought. From this large open area the street where he had his studio started out. The street was a narrow and short one – just about 120 m long – and was called Lavender Street since monks used to plant lavender there in the olden days. And on each side of the street there was a tall structure locking it in. To the right The Castle’s imposing courtyard entrance, and to the left Town Hall’s bell tower that continuously kept track on time with its big clock.

Every morning he passed through The Castle Courtyard on the way to work, and then greeted The Bell Tower before stopping right there in the middle of the street, turned left and headed into the building where his tailoring shop was situated. And almost every evening, he went the opposite way, saying goodnight to The Bell Tower before heading back home over the same courtyard. Unless it was in the middle of the night – then he took another way around instead. The large courtyard could be very dark and intimidating, badly lit as it was.

“A picture on me hand-washing…! Let’s try that!” As usual he was already set to make one of his updates for a customer of his and his many bespoke shirts, so why not use that as a test image…? “This is such a great idea!”

He did that a lot, hand-washed for customers. But only garments he had made for them of course. He did it to ensure that the garments had the best environment possible out there in the ‘real’ world, constantly treated with respect. He called it updates to stress that it wasn’t just about getting garments cleaned and pressed – they were also looked after, overviewed for wear and tear, there was mending, altering and also a collecting of information for the customers’ further garments to be made.

“Let’s do this!”

After waiting the usual amount of time you should with the old system Polaroid pictures, he quickly ripped off the front and… well…

Disappointment.

“It must be an old film then… Let’s see if we can find another one…” The picture was all bleached out. Didn’t look great at all.

Of course, an instant success wasn’t all that easy to obtain. He went looking for an unopened package of film, if there ever was one. And yes – there were actually a few of them! Again, he was lucky! “Let’s try again…!”

“Okay. Slightly better…!” The hand looked awful – unnatural and old. And the colours were off. And strangely enough, the framing of what he wanted to get into the picture was hopelessly difficult to get. “I guess this is what you get with instant cameras… They’re quick, but art it is not!” He quickly decided to take another one – just to be sure.

“I guess I just have to practice as I go along…” He felt that well-known creeping feeling of failure coming on. He knew it all to well from his tailoring trade where extreme passions rode high, but time, money and overall boundaries for working hours were seldom and far, and few, in-between.

He was determined though, to not let this set him back in any way. Okay, the pictures were not great – even he could see that. But he had to remember that that was not the main focus here. He knew all along that this project would be difficult, but the goal was to share knowledge and thoughts! That was important to keep in mind. Not to be the best in image-maker ever. Because that, he knew, he would never be.

As the hours went by, and he continued to work on his suits, he sometimes and in-between looked at his Polaroids. After a while he actually started to like them…! They had a certain very dreamlike feeling over them, as if they captured a time long since passed.

It was often like that. Difficult to find things. In the mix of the hundreds of little bits and pieces that made up the very heart of the tailoring studio, things got lost. Almost… Because they could of course always be found again – it just took time. Time that maybe could have been used otherwise. But, he found it. Placed in a large box with embroidery tools and a odd mix of shears that was ment to be sharpened. “How did it get in here…?” Well, no use in speculating about that… It was found. He was pleased.

So that was set. Images. With the camera. For the documentation. But what about text then? Of course he could make some notes right on the Polaroids, but that wasn’t enough. Or was it? “You probably need to explain more, if you want to be serious.” he thought. “Lists, references and stuff…” He actually had no idea of how to go about a serious research project, since he had spent most of his life sewing – as tailors usually do – but he had picked up that there should be a certain set of rules, to make it just the slightest academic, or just plain acceptable at least.

“The typewriter!” He just remembered that he had an old typewriter stacked away in his archive room. (Well, it was more of a storage room for fabrics and slopers, but anyway…) “That will be great! My second tool of achievement!” The feeling of checking boxes pleased him. It felt less complicated than the actual writing probably would be. To just plan, how to do it, before you actually did it. Planning was always easier…

He found the dusty typewriter and tested it. It still worked! He started on a new list. ‘Main focus areas in the art of tailoring.’

“There! It’s a good start. Let’s test the camera tomorrow.” He went back to the neverending work of making those bespoke suits. Again, there was new deadline looming. And he was dedicated not to miss it.

Sure, he didn’t have any academic training and wasn’t especially good with words or writing either. But, at the same time he was sure that this had to be done. He had a story to tell – a compelling need to share his love for his trade. Since he felt that many seemed to have given up on the idea of meeting ‘a locally based tailor, who made things from scratch and had a glowing will to make things as passionately thoroughly as just possible’ (as a local journalist had written about him some 10 years ago) he felt he had to make this documentation himself.

“Given up on the idea… well, maybe more lost contact with…” he corrected himself. He wasn’t sure that people in general had rejected passionate garment-making, maybe it was more of a communication thing – that people thought time had lost contact with skills like his, that they simply didn’t exist anymore. Thoroughly made garments, that is… “Well we have to change that, won’t we?!”

He was ready to get started!

The last few days he’d tried different approaches. First, he had made descriptions of what tailoring actually ment to him both personally and traditionally, and merged it all into a list. Then he had added technical processes – things like ‘pattern-making, measuring, cutting, pad-stitching’ and soforth. But it was all still a riddle to him.

The point was, to understand why he workwise did the things he did, the way he did, and then maybe find some new directions that would give a much better resonance between him and his customers. A new path to steer into. But how to do that? After stitching together garments since he was six years old, and being self-employed for the last 30 years, you undoubtedly had certain routines that you just followed. And that was all okay. But recently he had detected a switch in the world around him, or maybe more of a shift in the community of people that he met and frequented.

References had become harder to make. And he felt that the knowledge he put in his products had become increasingly more difficult to explain. “How on earth do you explain something added into a hem, by hand, that you can’t see, but gives weight, fullness and richness – and stability – to someone that never have had any experience with sewing or tailoring, but at the same time most certainly had been told that the two-dimensional look of it all, the finished appearence in a picture, is the most important thing ever…?” he wondered. The communication of what he did for a living, as a tailor – a bespoke tailor – had become increasingly threatened and difficult to engage in. And as a result, some people just couldn’t see the splendor and joy he could, in his work.

“So, there’s no way around it! I have to solve this. The must be a way to tell the story in someway.”

He went back to his papers. Even though it was late at night… “I can do this!”

After a while he got an idea… “Maybe I could document things with a camera insted…? Or drawings? Or both…?” It was way past midnight when he started looking for his camera.

• Durable
• Comfortable
• Black
• Practical
• Easy to get cleaned
• Warm
• Made into layers, to regulate one’s temperature with
• Breathable
• Combinable
• Easy to travel with
• Not too complicated, should be fairly easy to make, alter and mend if possible

The list was easy to make. But, he suddenly felt something was missing as he went down the line… He read it through once more. And then he got it. Non of the more traditional ‘tailoring-ish’ phrases had been penned into his list! “Hm… I’d better do another list – an additional parallel one.”

He wrote ‘Tailoring for others.’ to the right of his first list. “Now. Let’s see…”

• Luxurious fabrics
• Suits
• Shape
• Padding
• Pattern matching
• Individual slopers
• Pad-stitching
• Worked buttonholes
• Floating canvasses
• Horn buttons
• Sleeve setting
• Correctness
• Own ideas incorporated
• An excess of working hours
• A process of testing different solutions, until finding perfection

“Interesting!” He looked at the two lists and realized that the difference between them was striking. To the left was a list describing mostly practical things. To the right, more traditional techniques. How had it come to this? It seemed like there was a devide between what he made for him self, and what he made for customers. For him it was more practical. His customers often went for a more classical style. He needed more garments and didn’t have a lot of time making them. The customers often treated themselves with fewer, but more exclusive garments. So it seemed at least, from looking at the lists he’d just made.

“I really have to change the names of these lists… I don’t want them to be opposites!” He crossed out ‘… for me.’ to the left and changed it into ‘Practical Tailoring’ and to the right he changed ‘… for others.’ into ‘Classic Tailoring’.

“There! Much better.” It felt good to have turned the lists into two sides of himself – two parts of one – instead of two struggling directions. “I wonder what happens if I mix it all up, and add in a direction? A process?” He went back to tailoring he’s suits and thought some more… “Ah! Now I got it!” He paused from he’s work. “I have to add technique, of course!”

He took a new piece of paper and started writing.

As always, when he was stitching along, new and old thoughts and ideas went through his head. It was like, an almost meditative state. Routine motions done for hours and hours has that effect on you – you can let your thoughts wander. And now, his thoughts was slowly taking shape around the denim jeans he was creating. Thread colour. Fit. High waisted or low rise? Choices, choices…

“But” he wondered, “are these choices a real blessing?” And, furthermore, was the choices in front of him actual real ones? If the background for these choices weren’t presented together with them, how could he even make a good decision? Was he coached on his way by others, or, was he completely true to his own path in life – whatever that was…?

It was a strange trail of thoughts he suddenly approached. Could he himself actually decide on how he should create these jeans at hand, without knowing in depth how others did, and had been doing earlier on? Didn’t he have to study big brands and historical garments, before designing his own? Or, could one just trust in that one’s own instinct was an original one, not just shaped into a copy of what was considered ‘correct’?

Well, this felt a bit too complicated for him right now. It had to wait – time for that later, when he wasn’t just as busy as right now. He quickly decided on a fit he remembered from his youth – just a basic tight fit, with a rather high waist, and with a brownish thread colour, reminding him of the golden one’s from back then, memories of the 80’s.

“There! Made it!” He felt blessed that he could even make a pair of classic denim jeans in his workroom! A product most people often thought only could be made in factories far, far away. And was it tailoring? “Well, I think so!” he thought while inspecting the newly made trousers. “Maybe I should start taking notes about how I make these garments I do? Just so I will remember… Maybe a kind of structure, or coherent idea will come out of it…?”

He took a piece of paper and started writing.

Sten Martin tried to explain himself to the customer he just fitted a suit for. Why on earth would he – Sten Martin, the classic bespoke tailor – want to go through all that work, just to make a pair of jeans that seemingly looked like those you could easily buy in a store? Why not solely concentrate all efforts on suits and blazers instead – you know, the traditional stuff? Classic things! Exclusive things! The customer was baffled.

“But, you know… I kind of wanted the feeling of these jeans, being all mine. Making them as a part of my own process… Not just accepting how others think, and want things to be. Like… make them fit me.”

Actually, he had made denim garments before in the late 1980’s and 90’s. Not jeans, but jackets. And not in denim fabric – but in a heavy velvet curtain material since the ‘alternative approach’ was considered cool back then – still, the cut and overall look and feel of it all was absolutely and certainly ‘American rural’. Or at least he thought so. Then.

In more recent years he had tweaked this approach somewhat and even bought himself some American ‘heavy duty’ denim, to perfect the look into a more contemporary way. But now, he wanted to make jeans. Of course it was harder to make them and fit them, than those jackets he’d made earlier on, but that didn’t hold him back.

The day before, he had started on a pair. It wasn’t all that easy – but then again, nothing was in bespoke tailoring. Patience was a virtue and complicated shapes and routines was nothing new to him. In this case though, the trick was, to make something to look a certain specific way, without knowing exactly what was giving it that specific look and feel. So he had to discuss his process with others, he thought. And that he did today.

But they didn’t get it. They didn’t understand his point of view. On the question of what made a pair of jeans great, the counter-question of “why?” appeared instead. Why to make it? And on the question on certain cuts and looks, the idea that the trousers had to come from a specific brand was prevalent. A tailor who made jeans, was apparently not the thing. But ‘tailor-made’ jeans from a brand most certainly was. Very confusing indeed…

“Maybe I just have to sort this out for myself?” he thought after testing the idea with a couple of his customers. “Maybe I have to find my own views and ways, within the process itself – and then try to explain it to others?” There it is, he decided. “I’ll make them first, and then maybe start a conversation.”

He went back to the old leather sewing-machine, and started stitching.