The best life I know is not about having more. It is about having better, and less of it. Josh Sirlin on fewer, finer things and the rituals that hold a life together.
Categories: Style, Menswear, Culture
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Health is basic maintenance of the one machine you cannot replace. Josh Sirlin on the simple habits that carry you for a lifetime, and the recovery uniform he lives in.
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Black Bear Brand is not a new company. It is a resurrection. Josh Sirlin on George G. Black, a forgotten Seattle name, and a decade spent bringing it back
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Put a man on a bike on screen and you do not need dialogue. You already understand him. Josh Sirlin rides a 1948 Panhead, and this one is personal.
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Blue jeans did not become the most iconic garment on earth by accident. They earned it on the big screen. Josh Sirlin on denim, film, and the fade that turns your life into the movie.
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Masculine style is not a costume or a checklist of brands. It is character made visible. Josh Sirlin on quiet confidence, and the one jacket he points every man to.
Categories: Style, Menswear, Style & Heritage
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Every good idea I have ever had came from somewhere else. Josh Sirlin on how travel and other people’s cultures shape creative work, from Okayama to the Outer Hebrides.
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Everyone says Japan bought America’s old denim looms. Mostly, that is a myth. Josh Sirlin on the Union Special machines, the Toyoda looms, and why the craft really lives in Okayama.
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Dragons and koi born from woodblock prints, applied by hand, one session at a time. Josh Sirlin on irezumi, the tebori craft, and getting tattooed in Tokyo.
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Black Bear Brand is not a new label with an old look. It is a real Seattle company from the early 1900s, with a real factory and a real slogan, that Josh Sirlin spent a decade bringing back.
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Cheap clothes are the most expensive clothes you will ever buy. Josh Sirlin on building a wardrobe of fewer, better pieces that age into the best things you own.
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Josh Sirlin rides a 1948 Panhead that has outlived almost everything built since. Here is what a 76-year-old chopper taught him about designing clothes worth keeping.
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The self-edge is a mark of how denim was woven. Sanforized means it fits true and stays there. Josh Sirlin on selvedge, the beauty of fit, and the story a great pair of jeans tells over the years.
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The best travel clothes work as hard as you do and look better the more you wear them. Josh Sirlin on the wardrobe that earns its place on the road.
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Tokyo may be the best-dressed city on earth. Josh Sirlin on what a decade of design trips taught him about Japanese style, from the Okayama mills to Tokyo backstreets.
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Almost all denim is dyed with synthetic indigo. Josh Sirlin on the plant-derived blue that came first — and the 13oz Okayama jeans built around it.
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No garment has traveled further than the blue jean: from the mine shaft to the runway. Josh Sirlin on how work pants conquered fashion, and how to wear them well.
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How Japan turned motorcycle riding into a style language — vintage Americana, leather, waxed cotton, and indigo — and why it mirrors Black Bear Brand's rugged-refined soul.
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Dragons, koi, and full-body suits born from woodblock prints — and an ocean-crossing love affair. The history of Japanese tattoo, and why America fell for the needle.
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The western shirt looks simple, but every line on it was solved by someone who needed the shirt to work. Josh Sirlin on the anatomy of the greatest shirt America ever made.
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