Ardour Brand leather simple wallets..... by Shaun and Saul

We have this weekend made the first of many leather goods live on the Ardour site.

We are proud to present the Ardour Brand Bi-fold simple wallet.

Made from high quality veg, tanned leather (outer being hand-dyed Navy or Oxblood) and using durable waxed linen thread the wallet is dyed, cut, stitched & edge burnished all by hand.

Simplicity in the design and an attentive focus on detail is order of the day here, using the highest quality materials that have been hand crafted to produce an impeccable, yet simple, everyday wallet.

Details Include:
A Main compartment for notes.
Four Card holders - Designed as a single slot which grips the card as you insert it and holds it into place, with no stitched backing to avoid bulkiness.

It is finished off our hot branded logo on the inside.

Each dye pattern is unique and applied in an uneven manner. Spots, uneven patterns and tones all add to the uniqueness and character and therefore give you a unique piece.

You can find the wallets via this link.... Ardour Brand Wallets

*photos taken in natural outside light to give a true representation*

Shep Pettibone live mix 1983.... by Shaun Dangerfield

You know full well when picking up vinyl that if Shep Pettibone is on the dub and remix that most tracks will have a quality about them and a raw 80's edge that sounds as good in a club now as it did then, as Saul likes to call them 'Facemelters'.

Personal favourite of mine when crate digging and in terms of musical style he is right up there for me when it comes to musical leanings so thought I'd share this mix as I've not put it up before.

Straight out the Mastermix dance party, Shep Pettibone DJ'ing live in New York 1983 aired on WRKS Kiss FM including adverts for clubs during the mix.
It's great listening starting off with Warp 9 'Nunk' which again is a firm favourite of mine that was sampled by Freq Nasty from when I went through a breaks phase, Crown Heights Affair, Shalamar and the amazing First Choice 'Let No Man Put Us Under' that never fails to get me going, 1979's Salsoul smash Jingo from Candido also in the mix but enough chitter chatter put it in ya lug holes.

Ardour Brand update... by Shaun Dangerfield

Coming back fully refreshed and recharged with fresh intentions. 

We will be reworking the website this week updating the photos and getting ready for our new products which are on the horizon. 

First up will be our hand made, hand stitched leather wallets available in Oxblood and Navy to start with and will be online to purchase next week. 

Our next collection of scarves consisting of Japanese cord in Navy, Burgundy and Sky blue microdot will be dropping in 2-3 weeks. 

We have a beautiful collaboration with U.S.A Ebbets Field Flannels in the form of a 6 panel deep mustard wool cap with leather adjustable back and cream lettering to the front that are in the last stages of completion and should be with us in a couple of weeks but we can share the proofing design below.

They will be part of a continuous Ivy inspired range from ourselves which we will be diving head first into as we indulge our passions.

We have in the pipeline some more leather goods that should tickle the tastebuds, and also very excitingly our first venture into apparel with some shirts being made in collaboration with a tailor in London but we will reveal more on this in the coming months. 

Back on home soil.... by Shaun Dangerfield

Back after a nice week away in the sun and a well earned rest.

Not sure I was ready to come home but things to do people to see and all that...

Garbstore Oxford Cross Shirt.... Shaun Dangerfield

You just can't beat a good Oxford, especially a purple one with shaped panels from elbow to cuff on the back of the arms.

English school institution striped panels, no button down and a single chest pocket, nice and simple with a couple of twists.

Especially liking the hiking label..... what with me always hiking (or not really, but I love the patch).

Boogie Cartel mix for the NYC Downlow radio.... by Shaun Dangerfield

Little mix I made for the NYC downlow recently, think early evening or early morning, roaming hands and heavy petting (no animals were involved in this or indeed harmed).


Mtume - Juicy Fruit 
Surface - Happy 
Controllers - Stay 
Roberta Gilliam - All I Want Is My Baby 
Boogie Cartel - Deep Grind 
Horse Meat - Reflections 
Freekwency - By My Side 
Freekwency - Don't Tell Me That It's Over 
Lisa Richards - Hooked On Your Love

Oliver Spencer Fisher.... by Shaun Dangerfield

I was after this when it was originally out which was last winter but as you do when seeing other items I forgot to pick one up.

Luckily the Liquor Store in Brum had one left in the sale and perfect timing for the colder months ahead (not that I'll need it yet as I'm flying out tomorrow to warmer climate, great timing with all the rain incoming).

Pennington red wool body and grey wool sleeves, tab collar and made in England, perfect schmutter.

Thank Funk It's Friday (Now Monday)...By Saul Wilks

Yeah yeah, I know it's now Monday and all but here's a full on 80s funk and boogie mix I slung together Friday just.

Save it, play it, listen to it - do whatever, there's some bangers in there so it might just get your through your week.

Ardour Brand update.... by Shaun and Saul

We are pretty busy at the moment putting the final touches (and stitches) onto the items we have in the pipeline.

First up will be some quality hand made and stitched leather wallets that we have designed.

There will be a run on this style of bi-fold wallet in various colours, but we are starting out with two options.
The first being a beautiful Ox-blood outer leather with tan leather interior (a glimpse below in the development stage) and also an equally easy on the eye Navy leather outer with tan leather interior, due for release via our website in the coming weeks.

ArdourBrand.com

Agitagueda... by Shaun Dangerfield

I have just plucked this from the Coggles newsletter.
I've not heard about it before but it looks great, there's not a lot of English translated information about it and is mostly in Portuguese but from what I can decipher it's a 23 day festival on the streets of Agueda in Portugal (about 35 miles from Porto) and is a collaboration between the bars, shops and local council to put on an arts festival called Agitagueda.
Part of the commissioning is this amazing street covered in umbrellas above, the photos are by Patricia Almeidaon....

Ally Capellino Re-wax.... by Shaun Dangerfield

"I picked the bag up from the floor at the back of the decks on stage.  I was slightly wrecked so only glanced at it for a few seconds.... looks a bit dirty (now if I recognise this wrecked at 5am I know it's actually really filthy) but it's too late to think about it now the damage has been done"

I put my bag in the taxi and headed off to an after party not too far away.
I nestled into the apartment on arrival and threw it into the corner like the filthy bag deserved, used and abused everyone looking at it in disgust knowing full well it was an absolute filth bag, when they say dogs look like their owners I've never felt more twinned with something.  I couldn't even look at it.

All drama aside I've hammered this bag, it goes everywhere with me and over time it has turned into an unwaxed lemon tinted leather twisted mess, it was a big job but someone had to do it.

I'm only messin' it's what's supposed to happen to it, and as sad as this sounds I love the clean up operation and re-wax.  I know, mock me all you want, but I couldn't wait to get it in the bath, the filth bag.

A good wash later and a soak of the leather for straightening out and it was hung out to dry for 24 hours before I set upon it with a twitchy eye, a racing heart and a tin of Barbour wax.
I climaxed.

That's obviously a lie.

It was good though.  I was going to coat it twice to get rid of any patchiness but I like it just as it is.

Breakbot Bedtime Stories mix.... by Shaun Dangerfield

He knows what he's doing and his song choices are always on point, various stompers in here from Raydio, Kerr, Larry Graham and Cherrelle to name a few.
Feel good sunshine disco and boogie, well worth a listen while sizzling your sausages later x

Ardour Brand focus.... by Shaun and Saul

We are now fully functional online and would like to thank those who have ordered from us so far, this first week has been great.

As we continue to work on our future products we will be keeping you in the loop of whats going on.

I have taken 10 minutes out for some extra shots from our current range seeing as the sun is being so nice !

All products available at www.ardourbrand.com

Letterman Love...By Saul Wilks

It's been some time since I last posted something clothing related, especially where I'm talking about something I've recently purchased, so heed this novelty with great anticipation because it's been a long time coming.

I'm sure I don't have to point how just how busy both Shaun and I have been over the past few months and as a result of that sadly the posts have become less and less on here. The good news however is that, although we're still ball breakingly busy, we have got a little more time to fanny about posting pictures of clothes and record a few mixes etc...

So that's cool.

Moving onto the good stuff, I've always had a soft spot for classic American sportswear and the whole nostalgic vibe you get with vintage garments and I've always felt a certain fascination with the old Letterman sportswear.

Varsity, coach, college, baseball jackets and campus knits, whatever you want to label them as, they've always appealed, they hold a definitive charm for me - they hold history and stories - granted it was probably pre owned by a classic all American jock, who was most likely a complete tosser, who most likely bullied kids at school and what have you... although he probably scuttled a couple of cheer leaders in his time, so it's all swings and roundabouts and that all important history.

I've been looking for a decent fitting Letterman jacket for ages, they occasionally used to pop up at Spitalfields market on a Thursday morning but were either too small or ridiculously expensive, so I decided I'd take to the internet to track one down and track one down I did.

I managed to snare this original 1940's Nebraska example imported from the states and it's probably the most single killer piece of clothing I've ever bought. I don't care if it's cliché' for a white Welsh bloke to be talking about Letterman jackets and snap-back caps as dope, but that's exactly what these are, no question.

Being so old, the leather on the sleeves has worn to a beautiful softness and is a mosaic of wear patches and scuffs, which only makes it more ace in my eyes. The wool is in excellent condition for its age, coming in a deep crimson red - it contrasts with the off-tan leather quite perfectly.

It comes as no surprise that this purchase spurned me on to pick up the quality Ebbetts Field X Brooklyn Circus collaboration wool snap back in Burgundy - I've been known to sport a flat cap every now and then but caps and especially ball caps were never on my radar, but I honestly haven't had this off my nut since I picked it up last week in Brum, it's proper slick rick.

I'm not sure I'd wear the two together, that's maybe a little bit too street for my tastes, but what I love about both these pieces is that they are versatile in what I can wear them with - the Jacket goes beautifully with a button down Oxford and tasselled loafers, as does the cap go with the more cheeky hooded numbers lurking in my jacket wardrobe... mix and match innit!

Anyway, I promised myself when I started writing this that I wouldn't fill a whole page with good old Jonny Waffle, so I'll drop the shoulder here and leave you with some more snaps.

Enjoy.