In the first of two dedicated bonus episodes, HandCut partners with the Albini Group in Bergamo, Italy; the shirting mill responsible for protecting and maintaining the Thomas Mason brand today, and for weaving all luxury Thomas Mason fabrics. In this episode, Aleks takes a quick walk through the mill floor and sits down with Head of Communications, Gabriele Camozzi, and Marketing Director, Tim Neckebroeck. The trio discuss Thomas Mason’s relationship with Albini, explore the brand’s heritage an...
Mar 28, 2020•23 min
What does it take to become a bespoke hat maker today? And what makes a man want to pursue a craft, which is pretty niche, even by the standards of this podcast? That’s what we set out to discover this week, in a sit-down with LA-based hat maker, Cody Wellema, founder of the Wellema Hat Co . Cody has more or less dedicated his life to the noble art of hat making, and his passion for his craft speaks volumes. He’s open, honest and refreshingly forthright. He chats to Aleks about his love of all t...
Mar 25, 2020•50 min•Season 3Ep. 8
This week, Aleks sits down with Andreas Larsson , the creative director of Scandinavian tailoring brand, Berg & Berg , which offers well-dressed men “a contemporary approach to classic style with a Nordic point of view”. We’d not met Andreas before, so we simply wanted to know what this means, and how he approaches his work as a designer and clothing creative. We caught him during Pitti Uomo in January 2020, and grabbed a quick 40 minutes between meetings to learn a little more about his rou...
Mar 18, 2020•39 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Nick Sullivan is men’s fashion and media heavyweight. The Creative Director of US Esquire has over 25-years of experience in media and in menswear at large – he’s been a senior figure on Esquire’s editorial team for 16 years alone. He’s also one of relatively few journalists who appreciates both classic style and high fashion, and has found space for both throughout his career. His editorial shoots for Esquire are notable for the way in which he mixes global designers and small independents, and...
Mar 11, 2020•41 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Very few brands out there are as special as Husbands right now. Paris’s chicest tailoring house occupies a unique position in the new community of brands taking root in the French capital. Nicolas founded his boutique in 2012, following over a decade working in law and then communications, and this move into menswear has given him a new lease of life. His approach to clothing is distinctly philosophical; he argues that ‘a suit is not just a suit’, but a tool to empower men to become the very bes...
Mar 04, 2020•35 min•Season 3Ep. 5
This week, our guest needs no introduction. Matt Hranek is the founder of the William Brown Project, editor of WM Brown magazine , a creative director, photographer, author of A Man & His Watch and a self-confessed ‘street hustler’, to boot. In other words, he’s about as busy a figure in indie menswear as it gets. Aleks caught up with him a few weeks ago at Pitti Uomo, to talk about his early career in photography, his move from mainstream media to independent publishing, and to contemplate ...
Feb 26, 2020•41 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Mr Olie Arnold is a pivotal figure on Mr Porter’s editorial team – and a thoroughly nice chap, to boot. He started his career working on FHM at the height of its powers, and has worked through the media industry’s transition from print to digital with considerable experience in both channels. Today, at Mr Porter, he’s responsible for overseeing much of the platform’s key content and fashion shoots, styling celebrities, producing editorial campaigns and managing a fast-paced fashion department. O...
Feb 19, 2020•51 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Milad Abedi has to be one of the biggest personalities in European menswear. Young, energetic and fiercely opinionated, the Stockholm based photographer has a clearer view than most of where menswear’s at right now, thanks to his frequent travels shooting throughout Europe and beyond for a mixture of magazines and clothing brands. He took some time out to chat to Aleks about his street style photography, his own personal take on what makes for a great photo, and some of the thorny issues that cr...
Feb 12, 2020•45 min•Season 3Ep. 2
To kick-start Season Three, we could think of few menswear aficionados better suited than Ethan Newton , co-founder of one of Asia’s coolest indie menswear emporiums, Bryceland’s & Co . Ethan’s reputation within menswear precedes him. Together with his partner, Kenji Cheung, Ethan has created a brand with cult status to indie menswear-heads. Bryceland’s & Co’s diverse collection ranges from mid-century inspired Americana to unique strands of Southern Italian tailoring. Ethan’s passion fo...
Feb 05, 2020•48 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Mark Cho 's contribution to classic menswear is among the most significant of the last decade. Nine years ago, he co-founded The Armoury , a menswear emporium with shops in New York and Hong Kong that is now a mythic destination for admirers of timeless men’s clothing. Known for its faultless service, dependable buy and meticulous approach to product development, The Armoury has become the benchmark for all other menswear retailers to aspire to. In this episode, Mark talks Aleks through some of ...
Oct 02, 2019•52 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Like many guys with a passion for clothes, Greg Lellouche’s first choice of career wasn’t menswear. Instead, he embarked on a successful career as an investment banker, but all the while an idea was slowly forming in his mind. Looking for a change of scene, he left the corporate world in 2013 to create an online store where other men like him could come to access tailored clothes made by artisans, at a time when, pre-Mr Porter, there were almost no options to pick up classic menswear outside of ...
Sep 25, 2019•53 min•Season 2Ep. 9
This week, Aleks sits down with Agyesh Madan and Nicholas Ragosta, the co-founders of New York based brand, Stòffa . Stòffa is known for creating refined made-to-measure outerwear, knitwear and trousers, offering clients the backbone of their casual wardrobe with superior attention to quality and fit. Moreover, Stoffa is a brand with a conscience, Madan and Ragosta have worked smart for the past nine years to develop a brand that produces its clothes ethically, sustainably, and to put what they ...
Sep 18, 2019•59 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Patrick Grant is an award-winning British menswear designer and a champion of British manufacturing. In 2005, he quit a career in engineering, remortgaged his house and sold his car to buy Norton & Sons , a failing Savile Row tailoring house. He’s since transformed it into one of the Row’s most elegant and successful bespoke tailors. He went on to establish E.Tautz , a modern British sportswear brand that’s informed by its rich history of clothing innovation. Most recently, he founded Commun...
Sep 11, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Aleks sits down with Paul Croughton, the editor-in-chief of Robb Report US , one of America’s most respected luxury lifestyle magazines. An experienced British journalist, Paul began his career in London, cutting his teeth on magazines like Heat and Arena, before he moved to The Times newspaper and finally across the pond to Robb Report. He and Aleks explore the challenges of editing a luxury magazine today, the changing role of digital media, and how Paul is contemporising the magazine for toda...
Sep 04, 2019•55 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Benson & Clegg is one of those undiscovered gems in British menswear. Founded in 1937, today the company is a discreet Royal Warrant holding bespoke tailor on London’s Piccadilly Arcade. The house’s Head Cutter is a warm-hearted craftsman called Oliver Cross, with one heck of a story tell. His route into bespoke tailoring is nothing if not conventional. He talks to Aleks about the 10 years it took to realise his dream, why Benson & Clegg is special, and how the brand is moving forward to...
Aug 28, 2019•48 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Alice Walsh is the founder of Alice Made This , a modern accessories and jewellery brand that champions British manufacturing and precision engineering. A former industrial and product designer, Alice began her career working at Tom Dixon, before freelancing for various design studios and ultimately deciding to do her own thing. A struggle to find suitable cufflinks for her husband to wear to their wedding inspired her to start making some that were up to scratch, using British workshops, materi...
Aug 21, 2019•48 min•Season 2Ep. 4
The duo behind Stockholm-based tailoring Brand, Atelier Saman Amel, are two of the most down-to-earth individuals in menswear. Dag Granath and Saman Amel met as toddlers, and have been friends (and latterly business partners) ever since. Atelier Saman Amel is now nine-years-old, and during that time the pair have worked tirelessly to create a dynamic menswear brand with clothes that are neither formal, nor casual, but for those ‘in-between’ moments in a man’s life. They create clothes that make ...
Aug 14, 2019•47 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Gauthier Borsarello is a vintage collector, curator, a menswear designer and a journalist. One of the pivotal figures in Parisian menswear, he’s charming, opinionated and sure of his convictions. This week, he and Aleks talk about his various projects; from running Le VIF Vintage to launching and editing L'Etiquette magazine, the problems of ‘Insta fashion’, why menswear journalism isn’t always a good thing, and what it really means to be ‘elegant’ in the world today. This episode is fast-paced,...
Aug 07, 2019•52 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In Season One, one brand came up as a favourite of our guests more than any other: Drake’s. Mr Michael Hill is the man responsible for this popularity. He is Drakes’ Creative Director, and it is his vision that has transformed the brand from a humble tie maker in London’s East End, to a globally recognised menswear brand with two factories and shops in London, New York and Tokyo to its name. The two discuss Drakes’ slow and steady evolution over the past 10 years, why Mike doesn’t think of Drake...
Jul 31, 2019•42 min•Season 2Ep. 1
To close Season One, Aleks sits down with Gianluca Migliarotti, filmmaker, petrolhead and co-founder of Pommella Napoli. A proud Neapolitan, and a creative spirit, Gianluca tells Aleks how he grew up immersed in Naples’ tailoring culture, how he fell in love with Pommella Napoli’s bespoke trousers and took the business on two years ago. He also waxes lyrical on his love of 1960s and ‘70s supercar design, where he thinks design brands make mistakes in a crowded market, and explains his passion fo...
Jun 19, 2019•49 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Emmett London is a small family business with a big heart. The 27-year-old British shirtmaker is helmed by Robert Emmett with the help of his son Sam, who moved from Switzerland to the Kings Road in London to set up his business in the early ‘90s. Today, Emmett is an established maker on the British menswear scene, known for well-made modern shirts and confident designs. We talk to Robert about his move from cookery to shirtmaking, his decision to move to London — and some of the successes and m...
Jun 12, 2019•49 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Henry Lloyd-Hughes is a British actor, known for his roles in comedy series, The Inbetweeners, period drama, Indian Summers, and the new series Killing Eve, coming soon — as well as his film and theatrical work. But, little known fact, he’s also a clothing fanatic and the founder of new British sportswear brand N.E. Blake, which he’s established to create cricket kit that is as stylish as it is functional. We discuss his long-standing passion for sport, his early days selling clothes as a jobbin...
Jun 05, 2019•48 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Becky French is Turnbull & Asser’s Creative Director. Following an impressive career designing for the likes of Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Aquascutum, and founding her own brand, Marwood, Becky has joined Turnbull & Asser with a fresh new vision for the brand, gently contemporising this 135-year-old British shirtmaker in all the right ways. Becky talks through her vision for Turnbull, and why it’s so important for heritage brands to be more ‘open’ in today’s retail landscape. We talk abo...
May 29, 2019•47 min•Season 1Ep. 7
This week, Aleks sits down with an old friend, prominent street style photographer, Jamie Ferguson, better known on Instagram as @JKF_MAN. Jamie’s been shooting menswear for five years, following a few years spent as an actor, and a few more working in fashion marketing. Today, he’s known for his compelling editorial and street style photography, shooting for a wide array of independent brands that make, in his own words, ‘interesting, wearable clothes.’ He talks to Aleks about his career path, ...
May 22, 2019•48 min•Season 1Ep. 6
This week, HandCut Radio hosts British style icon and ambassador David Gandy. Gandy’s career is unparalleled in the fashion industry. He was talent-spotted during a televised modelling competition in 2001, and shot to global stardom as the face of Dolce & Gabbana’s iconic Light Blue campaign in 2006. Today, he’s transitioned from a world-famous model to a consultant, entrepreneur and philanthropist – making him an unorthodox figure in the fashion industry to say the least. In this episode, h...
May 15, 2019•43 min•Season 1Ep. 5
This week, Aleks chats to Benjamin Glyn Phillips, Assistant Manager at Drake’s Clifford Street shop in London. Like most of Drakes’ staff, Ben is a passionate advocate for the brand, and the ideal model for Drakes’ signature look. Ben is also a refreshingly straight-forward figure within British menswear; his root into the industry was unconventional, and in the podcast he touches on his former career as a tattoo shop owner, his growing passion for clothing, and how taking up Brazilian jujitsu w...
May 08, 2019•42 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Aleks sits down with Isabel Ettedgui, owner of Connolly England, a discreet British brand with a reputation for timeless design. It was founded in 1878 as a coach hood maker’s makers and saddler. Isabel spotted Connolly’s potential to be a successful retail brand in the 1990s, and has transformed Connolly into a modern British fashion house, synonymous with luxurious and versatile menswear. We sat down to unpack what makes Connolly unique today, how Isabel has built and rebuilt the brand over th...
May 01, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 3
In this episode, Aleks sits down to chat with two of British menswear’s most interesting personalities, Tony Madsen-Sylvester, and Scott Fraser Simpson. Tony is a writer, musician, and a content creator for modern British tailoring house, Timothy Everest. Scott is a DJ, vintage collector and the founder of Scott Fraser Collection, a brand that makes modern menswear inspired by mid-century and vintage clothing. Both are known for their eclectic personal style, and for their impressive understandi...
May 01, 2019•52 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Simon Crompton needs no introduction. In classic style circles he’s a household name; the founder of renowned men’s style website, Permanent Style. Simon’s built his online following over a period of 11 years, to the point where the website is now his full time occupation; delivering authoritative advice on the work of independent brands and craftspeople, as well as in-depth style advice articles for menswear fans. In this episode, he talks about his decision to go full-time and his role as a me...
May 01, 2019•47 min•Season 1Ep. 1
There’s a new podcast coming we think you’ll like… Aleks introduces Season One of HandCut Radio and hints at some of the podcast’s debates, interviews and guests to come. Whether the power and problems of social media, the challenges of growing and protecting small businesses, or bolstering the embattled magazine market, Season One presents 10 interviews with prominent figures of the British menswear scene. We tell their stories, air their views and debate social and commercial issues that affec...
Apr 01, 2019•1 min
