Folk clothing is a London based company founded by Cathal Mcateer in 2001. The clothing lines are all about honest, clean and simple pieces, with dashes of colour, a variety of fabrics and intricate design detailing. Folk draws its inspiration for the clothing range from all kinds of sources from what they see in London on the way to work, to the general street styles all over the world. Due to the specific designs and high quality finish of the clothing, the Folk designers literally search the globe to find the right materials and factories to produce the clothing. They currently manufacture jackets in Hong Kong, knitwear in Uruguay and accessories in their native England, so there is a very diverse production base. Due to the increasing success of their clothing range in 2004 Folk branched out into the footwear market in the shape of their sister brand Shofolk. The shoes are designed by the same team that design the clothing range and you can clearly see this reflected in how they use different fabrics, shapes and styles to create functional and stylish footwear. Shofolk take classic designs such as the dessert boot and add a twist to it. The shoes are hand crafted in Portugal from natural raw leather. The men’s footwear collection started out with hand stitched moccasin style shoes, but has now progressed to include track sole shoes, and the desert boot. They use a variety of colours to keep the range different and exciting which helps them to stand out from the crowd. Folks 2010 spring summer collection has a real retro work wear feel to it. From big chunky waffle knit cardigans, to the chambray style distressed shirts. The collection has a real light and fresh feel, with perforation detail on the Henley tops, to uber bright coloured t-shirts. The perfect pieces of Folk clothing to profile their spring/summer collection is the blue stripe long sleeve undergarm knit, with its contrast bright yellow cuffs, and perforation detailing. The second piece would be their navy lightweight cotton over shirt jacket. This is a perfect example of a work wear jacket, with its vintage finish, front pocket detailing, waist adjusters, all of which give this jacket a more durable feel. The work wear jacket is bang on trend for this season with its hard wearing simple clean styling, and it perfectly encompasses the Folk ethos for summer 2010. Folk have two main stores, both of which can be found in London. One is situated in Lambs Conduit Street, and the other is on Brick Lane Drey Walk. The stores have a very earthy clean feel to them with lots of wood, white walls, old vintage furniture, and equipment from old gyms displaying the clothes. As with the clothing Folk have managed to make the stores feel fresh and inviting, showing their playful and carefree side, without being too pretentious or over the top. Folk clothing is the perfect accompaniment for those lazy Sunday afternoons in the park. Read more...
