Reid And Taylor: Drawing The Damping

We are excited to have the new Reid and Taylor books in the store. The 170-year-old mill has collaborated with Escorial to develop 120 patterns.

The rare Escorial fiber is the worlds finest naturally grown wool measuring 12 microns or finer. The fiber has a helical crimp, derived from its natural spiral shape. This traps air and creates elasticity making it incredibly light, flexible and crease resistant.

We have worked with Escorial for nearly a year now, showcasing the cloth for the first time in New Zealand. These books are a New Zealand grower’s initiative and the fleece is grown right here in New Zealand.

My favorite cloth is the 'London Shrunk' flannel. Synonymous with the Savile Row craft the pre-shrinking or sponging process was achieved by dampening the fabric with a sponge and then rolling it in moist muslin. Textile finishers W. T. Johnson & Sons have performed this bespoke process, a process that hasn't really changed in the last 350 years.

London shrinking is one of the oldest hand treatments of woolens and the result is a paper finish created by moisture, heat and pressure. The 'handle' of the cloth is unsurpassed.

Here is a great link to some early footage of the process.

Reid And Taylor: Drawing The Damping | Dispatch

View more Dispatch posts

Back to Dispatch

Is The Button-Down The Most Versatile Shirt Of All?

For many of us, what we wear day-to-day is becoming more relaxed - and if you’ve traditionally been a steady dress shirt wearer, this can pose something of a challenge. At Crane Brothers we’re often asked what are some key pieces to consider building a contemporary wardrobe around, especially with this new paradigm in mind...

Vintage Queen Street

John Rykenberg ran a store front and photography studio of Auckland photographers from the late 1950s through until the late 1970s. During that time the studio captured Auckland's daily life and produced a particularly interesting Queen Street series in the 1960s - it probably comes as no surprise thatthere are road works visible in some of...

The Last Dambuster

The Dambusters were legendary for their wartime heroics and a constant source of inspiration for me as a child, raised on a diet of Commando Comics & Airfix Models.