Eton and Eidos collection – Interview with Antonio Ciongoli and Sebastian Dollinger

Eton and Eidos collection

Eton and Eidos collection – Interview with Sebastian Dollinger and Antonio Ciongolietonxeidos-1

Swedish brand Eton of Sweden, maker of some of the finest shirts in the world, and Italian Eidos Napoli, one of the most exciting new brand on the market, have announced their collaboration and exclusive collection which is available in Eton’s flagship stores in New York, Stockholm and most recently London from 10th October 2014.

It was my great pleasure to ask Creative Director of Eidos – Antonio Ciongoli (left) and the Creative Director of Eton – Sebastian Dollinger (right) few questions during the one-on-one interview at Eton’s store in London, discuss their latest collaboration and style of London guys.IMG_1705_ed-s

Eton of Sweden is a brand founded in 1928 by Annie and David Pettersson in small Swedish town Ganghester. Their dedication to high quality and attention to details turn Eton into one of the leaders in shirtmaking.
Eidos Napoli was launched by ISAIA Corp in 2013 as a stand alone brand. Led by very talented Designer – Antonio Ciongoli – Eidos offers garments produced in Italy of full canvass construction influenced by Neapolitan tailoring and approached in a more casual way.

Mikolaj Pawelczak (Blue Loafers): I will start with an obvious question. Because you’re also launching your collection here in London, what do you guys think about London guys and their style? Did your opinion influenced your Eton and Eidos collection in any way?

Sebastian Dollinger (Eton of Sweden): (looking at Antonio) Maybe its hard for you to answer this question

Antonio Ciongoli (Eidos Napoli): Yeah it’s my first time, walking around a little bit. It looked as I imagined it, you know. I was a designer at Ralph Lauren for a long time and there’s a lot of emphasis put on English style and so you have an idea on the way guys dress, a little bit. So I was not surprised walking around yesterday by the kind of things that I saw. I think it’s wonderful, particularly the fabrics. I mean it is very different from what I do, from a silhouette perspective but I love the fabrics and you can not appreciate this kind of idea of a suit armour – very structured or something with very structured shoulder. It almost make you sit up right a little bit and we try to ‘slash’ you a little bit (laughing). We try to make you relax a bit more but it’s impossible not to appreciate it. For me and one of the things that I really like about introducing the collection like this in London is that it is a little bit a point of difference. From a tailoring perspective for sure, what we do, because so much of the way tailoring is perceived in this city, is something that makes you straightened up a little bit and something that is a little bit stiff and rigid. We are something that says ‘why don’t you just take a second, have a cigarette, have a coffee, calm down’, right? Something that is a little bit more casual..

Sebastian: .. And look as good but is less weight.

Antonio: Exactly. So I think that’s really nice. I think it is really nice to offer a little point of difference and obviously we are not the only one doing it. For example Thom Sweeney, I think that is great that he kind of softened the English tailoring a bit..batch_etonxeidos-7

Sebastian: I think there are two main styles as I see England. I see England as either extremely professional, you got the professional guys and girls that need to wear suit for work, wear black shoes and ‘suit-armour’ for work, right? Then as English society or British society, there’s a lot of characters. There are lots of people wearing what they like, especially the guys. They are not so devoted to trends, they are much more into developing their personal, own style. And that’s why I always felt home about UK because I am a suit guy but I do love what I do for living. It’s my interest, it intrigues me to be a nerd with textiles. I’ve always felt there are lots of dressy people here. I also had a store on Threadneedle St just by the Bank for 6 months, just finished working for Harrods, and I saw what the guys were wearing, they were people on extreme high income but they have only been wearing these suits for work, you know. ‘I will only wear it for work and I do not care about it’. That were really decent looking suits but they were completely worn out on the inside. And I was in shock, these people earning £150-200k a year and do not care about the suits at their workplace. But then again there’s tons of people here that appreciate tailoring, they do not have to wear it for work or wear it at all but they do like wearing it because this is their individual style. That’s key for both Eton and Eidos collection that we both want to take the guys that simply have to wear it for work and give them an opportunity to be comfortable in it, enjoying it, while still fitting into the crowd without being too extravagant in their field. But also getting the mid section of the people that only wants to have innovation in traditional items and that’s when we come into play. We really want to give people more relaxed feel but still with the same sharp look. Working on lapel for example or construction of shirts and collars and heights, quality of fabrics and have innovation in the field where there’s not really much innovation. I think that’s desperately needed. Sometimes we both feel a little bit lonely on this side of the mason because there is so much tradition always putting only the same blue, blue, blue. Blue is nice but you can do it in so many nice ways, look at that for example, that’s exciting (pointing at the jacket from the collection) in a blue jacket, it would be exciting as a blue suit but there is actually so many other blue suits, many people knocking them out, that they are kind of killing people’s view on tailoring. Tailoring should be fun, maybe shouldn’t be overtly played with too many things but if you simply give new hints of details which really sparks interest in guys minds, they can feel that they can individually adapt in tailoring clothing their own personalities. And this is why a collaboration like this is important because we don’t want people to go into the store and buy like ‘I want everything on that wall, everything on that mannequin etc’. We think you should really go out there and ask yourself ‘who does the best ties? Who does the best shirt? Who does coat, shoes?’ – mix and match. I think that is healthy consumer, you know, buying from specialists, buying from people that know what they are doing and then it doesn’t have to be boring. I think that is a really well set up for both of these London type of guys and especially a lot of younger people that start their love for tailoring. London man is definitely an important guy on my ‘wall’ when I make things.

Mikolaj: You touched at least few important topics that I would ask you more questions about. I will start with your collaboration. What do you guys both bring into this and what Eton is giving to Eidos and vice versa?

Sebastian: Well, it is actually very evident in our stores. The collaboration gives us the ability to show how we like Eton to be worn, the opportunity to show our customer how to look and how to dress and make it available for him as well. Here it is. You can look at it Eton way just by coming to our store and have any other item, not only Eton. It helps us on a scale of showing the world what we just talked about – this is the way we want our brand to be perceived. It kind of proves it and shows it. This is what we really believe in. We believe in specialists, traditional but detailed tailoring and I think it is like a putting your words where your mouth is.  We’ve always been talking about the love for what we do and believing in what we do and traditional stuff that is still fun. It just gives us that visual help that we always need, you know. That is what Eidos does for us. It comes with a fresh feeling, with a sort of great playful mind on things that are generally considered as classic, here they are in the least classic way possible. Still incredibly crisp and cool in a shear essence of the word. So, it gives a lot to us. That wasn’t why we did it. We started doing it because we like each other and we appreciate what we do, but that is what Eidos has given us and it’s been really cool.

Antonio: Yeah, I mean on the opposite side of the same coin it is almost a stamp of validation for us. If you think about it, Eton has got such a broad reach of consumer and we are fairly new, we’ve been doing it for almost 2 years. So for us it is the Eton guy, what is the guy like, what jacket does he wear, what suit does he wear. These guys are saying that Eton guy wants the Eidos so for us it is kind of stamp of validation and showing that guy, who is so well established already, showing the kind of shirt he’s wearing – this is the kind of jacket he should be wearing or sweater or coat. It’s been tremendous for us from, kind of, brand awareness perspective, trumpeting this is the kind of tailoring that we believe in and we appreciate it.

Mikolaj: We’ve talked about the customer and the guy you want to buy your clothes. How do you think the current trend on menswear, especially on the internet, influences your brands?

Antonio: I think it’s great. It allows brands like mine, which are younger, to exists basically.

Sebastian: I was just thinking the same thing. It allows brands like this to exist!

Antonio: Yeah, because when you think about, I am not saying the only one doing it at all (internet), but if you think about us before the blogs and the internet, the only product that was marketed towards younger consumer has been very driven by fashion. It is very topical, very superficial. It’s all about what it looks like and it needs to photograph really well so in order to photograph everything needs to be exaggerated. Jacket needs to be way to short, the lapel needs to be way to skinny. All of these things, it doesn’t matter what the quality is like. It gives a major fashion publication something new to talk about for one month and then they can flip it the next month and talk about something different so that they can sell some magazines. With the introduction of blogs, which are largely written by people who are unpaid, just passionate about it, they care more about it and they can write about things that are approached from more thoughtful and passionate perspective. That is a huge component of why we started Eidos – the idea that I as a younger guy, interested in tailored clothing and interested in the process, I am an complete nerd about the product, wanted there to be an option for someone that didn’t want something disposable, who wanted something that did not have a shelf life but at the same time was interesting and cool, right? Something that I was not going to spend a bunch of money at and throw it out the next season. I actually want something that you can give to your kids, find in a vintage store.batch_etonxeidos-3

Sebastian: And it is something that you’ll find in a vintage store 40 years from now. Like this coat, it will still look great.

Antonio: Exactly. It is there because the guy died (laughing). He didn’t want to get rid of it.

Sebastian: Or outgrew.

Antonio: Yes, right. So I think it had a tremendous impact on putting clothing with substance and character and thought to the front and giving it a voice. I think it is wonderful.

Sebastian: When you actually look at it, it is wearable but at the same time provocative compared to traditional items. I think that is the key. We didn’t want to make it another basic collection. (Absolutely). We wanted the client to have options to wear, instead of basics, but getting away with it.

Antonio: Yeah, we wanted something that fits you (Exactly), that’s really the issue.

Sebastian: Because you know as well as we do that when you buy something that is a almost too much for you but you buy it because you love it so much. You only wear it once or twice and then you’ll go like ‘Ergh..it was maybe too much’. You get bored with it but if you find that little bit of artistry that’s between classic item and something too risky, it really is tricky. I think this is what we really want to do. That’s why you have to play with the fabrics, fit and all those colours as well. There are millions of brown and blue combos out there but how many of them are really..

Antonio: …exciting! How do you make brown and blue exciting, right?

Sebastian: Exactly. Look at that Casentino wool coat there. For me it is really something that get’s me going and is very interesting. It is kind of classical overcoat but look at the way it’s been cut, look how the lapel rolls down or the other things. This is what makes it sexy.

Antonio: Yeah, the difference is in the details and everything was thought about. Or details like how you brush the flannel of the shirt to make it last a little longer or how do you make it look a bit dressier. How the lapel is cut in order to play a little visual trick to make your shoulders look more broad and your waist more narrow as to opposed just saying ‘guys like skinny look so let’s make a jacket with skinny lapel’. The idea of every single detail having a purpose. There’s a reason for what we’re doing.

Mikolaj: Do you guys think this collection is any different from what you normally do for your brands separately?

Sebastian: Since we both know what we like I think we would bust our nuts if we were trying to make something that is entirely new and comes out of, you know, ‘I think this is the way it should look’. We would probably hate each other or it would go like this (snapping fingers). These are all things that we would have in our own collections, something that we have had or would have in our collection and that’s why it worked so well. Because here are two brands that really fit together, that doesn’t have to have six months per year of product development. It’s been so well from the beginning that it was almost a matter of copying and pasting things together which I thought was absolutely great. Quality is working together, colour stories, it was just selecting from what was great from both and putting it together and all of a sadden you have a fantastic looking brand.

Antonio: Yeah, I think part of the reason why we wanted to work together is because you see an overlap. So for me the joke is always like ‘it was a true collaboration because neither person was happy’. It was a compromise because you had to sacrifice on things that you did and you had to sacrifice on things you didn’t..

Sebastian: If you ever said that you need 2cm higher collar , that would get nasty

Antonio: Yeah and at the end you are like ‘I am not really a psychopatic, neither he is, so we’re ok’ (laughing). What I think is really nice about it is that we actually took the best out of both things that we absolutely feel like ours and absolutely feel like theirs and mixed them together and all of a sudden you get something that feels really fresh and at the same time familiar. That’s all we wanted to do so neither of us was interested in trying to reinvent the wheel and make something ground braking and something that someone has never seen before. I am not interested in doing that at all in general. The idea is to give something that feels fresh but familiar.

Sebastian: The only thing I thought in the beginning knowing that it was American/Neapolitan was – ‘uuu..how about the fit?’ Maybe we have to look at the fit slightly but then when it finally arrived I was like ‘wow, Holy Mother of God..!’. It was just extraordinary. It was like a Scandinavian fit which is absolutely fantastic but it’s comfortable. Normally it looks damn well but feels like you’re in an armour, so I was just blown away by the fit and thought to myself that I can finally shut up now.

Mikolaj: Sebastian, how much more innovation there still is in the shirt making or cloth weaving?

Sebastian: I think we found new things everyday. Actually there are two designers at Eton, the other one is Master Weaver – his name is Valerio. He was brought up in a weaving mill, both of his parents are weavers specialising in treating fabrics. So we have an absolute Doctor Who in terms of weaving which just make new things possible like the flanella for example. This has never been seen before, you know. Every time you touch and feel a fabric like that and show it to customer, he’s like ‘oh..that’s nice’. These things are new, everyone thinks that it must have been around for a while, it can’t be new. But it is, so I think there is still so much to do. I am never happy with how things are, I always want to improve things because that’s what is lovely about that. We don’t bring things that are ground breaking like a collar which is also a fridge or something. We do small changes over time that will eventually perfect the product. The secret is that it is never perfect so you always tweak, because things change, tailoring changes, it changes over time – lapel roll, lapel width, so you are never done. There is a continuum in what we are doing but excites me most since I think we are more or less four of the best fits that you can possibly find with the addition of our Super Slim and you have a MTM on top of that. Then there are the fabrics. We focus so much on the fabrics, now we are trying to find what is the summer version of the flanellina.

Mikolaj: Linellina?

Sebastian: Exactly but maybe linen is to dry for me. Linen in order to wear it in that style or look it’s too dry and you sit and wear an accordion. So it has to be something like 2% of silk, 18% cotton and then 80% linen. It is just playing with what ultimately is the perfect combo, maybe we should even put some cashmere in, God knows. We will never stop because we are hungry and we’ve got fresh minds and we’re not coloured by the business, if you know what I mean. We are not schooled tailors in that regard, otherwise it would be like we are 52, based on Savile Row and we don’t give a shit. We want to have a respect for it but make completely own things, just trying continuously, defining new ways of weaving. Valerio can build his own mill if he likes and that’s what is really cool about Eton – it is the knowledge about product and complete control over it because it is almost like no middle hands.

Antonio: Yes, most brands don’t do that, don’t do their own fabrics like we do. I can tell you that. Most of them go to the fabric show in Milan and picks stuff.

Sebastian: I will that for a shirt, this for a jacket, this is nice for a tie, then put together, label on and you’re done.

Antonio: The idea, the thought process is like for Fall we are going to develop a flanella sport shirt and what is the Spring version of that. Thinking about it from the yarn level up. Nobody does that.

Sebastian: It needs to be a specific cotton for a certain blend. Should it be American, Peruvian or Egyptian. What should it be? So there is so much thought that goes into..

Antonio: Nobody does that, nobody. Because it takes so much time, requires an enormous amount of time.

Sebastian: Do you remember we talked about a specialist. And this is why being a specialist pays off because you can make a fantastic product for achievable price and then you can also continuously perfect this product, as I said before, we continuously work on it. I think that makes us own the shirt business more or less on the market that we are in because we focus on our own product. Don’t also forget that it is a natural product, it’s a cotton, it is not a static thing. It moves, it leans, it breathes and it’s got a jazz into it..

Mikolaj: Taking into account all the attention that menswear gets nowadays, do you think it will stay like that for a longer time or is it a trend only, temporary hype maybe?

Antonio: I certainly thing there is trend aspect to it but the nice thing about it, for me, is that the huge component of it is also education. This trend is education. I love the trend when it is rooted into the idea of quality. Because once the guy knows that, he’s not going to forget that. (And he will tell someone else about it). Exactly. So you are already seeing in New York for example guys that around 3 years ago were wearing a ton of soft suiting and switched into more streetwear things but still the knowledge that they got, what they learned, thanks to internet and blogs, informs every decision and I think for guys that are trying to find, most guys are not fashion guys in a sense that they want to wear what’s next in retail. Most guys want to find whatever works for them and then run with it. So the strength of trending, kind of classic, I hate that term – classic with a twist, menswear is that because it is rooted in the quality, the guy when it finds it and figures it out he’s sold to it forever. Because that’s the point. He can find something that he can believe in. We are giving him something that is going to last for a very long time and you can rely on that. This is a trend that you can rely on. If you invest the money in it, that you are going to have for a long time then you don’t have to worry and think about it so much. So the best part about the fact it has been a trend is that we are getting a customer for life.

Mikolaj: Yeah, I think when a guy tries it on he never goes back to what he used to wear. He never goes back to H&M’s or similar.

Antonio: I think it is all about trying it on. If you were a guy buying a skinny black suit at H&M or Topman and then all of a sudden you try one of our garments, then you’re like..’How do you go back into that?’ It fits differently, it feels different when you’re wearing it. Unless you decide I am not a suit guy anymore, I will only wear black leather jacket and black jeans. I think once you discover quality I don’t think you can really go back.

Sebastian: You start to think about those items from quality perspective and you are like ‘what was I thinking?’ Actually quality is kind of subjective, because they will tell you in H&M that they have quality clothes. Quality is very subjective. You can’t define word quality. When we talk about it we talk about longevity-quality of the item, as you say – shelf life. Talking about longevity, look at the picture of people from i.e. 1952 wearing tailoring, that picture is still cool. Look at people from the 1980’s wearing all those fashion, you think ‘Oh God..’. It’s just a disaster. Look at people from 1990’s, rather big, but still looks good so it’s an investment for your wardrobe. It doesn’t age, doesn’t age at all. I think we haven’t seen a peak of so-called trend. I don’t think it is a trend, I think it’s an awareness. It all started with people called hipsters, with food culture and started the whole red wings thing – heritage companies. Now it is just continuing, it is not expo-national curve but it is definitely going up. I think it is here to stay. If we can provide, and you guys on your side (internet/blog), idea that you don’t have to be a banker or a lawyer to wear clothes like this, you can be interested and it is just another look. It is achievable as well, it doesn’t have to be bespoke, there are brands like us that kind of cater for you.

PART 2 below

batch_D9009900137_1 batch_D9009900229_1 batch_D9009900345_1 batch_D9009900629_1 batch_D9009900933_1Mikolaj: It is interesting because obviously from Savile Row tailor point of view, bespoke is the ultimate success in your wardrobe..

Antonio: Agreed. I think it is fantastic but what I want to really do is to give you a place to start. If you’re get to the point when you’re able to do that that’s wonderful but we’re trying to do is to offer you a starting point and that starting point is something that will be valid forever. It is not fully hand made garment by any means but quality is made without compromise. We are not compromising on anything. Obviously if you’ve got unlimited funds you can do better but this is a wonderful, wonderful garment that’s going to last you an incredibly long time.

Mikolaj: And obviously even for a short small guy or very tall and skinny one there are options for him as well?

Antonio: Definitely, we can get you as close to your size as it is possible. We haven’t enabled a MTM service for this collaboration but all garments are alterable and can be adjusted easily.

Sebastian: We have got four different fits and if that doesn’t fit you then we have also got a made-to-measure service. I think it is almost impossible not to have a well fitted shirt with us, without waiting for it 4 weeks.

Mikolaj: A little more personal question now. In everyone’s life there is always a person that helped you at some stage. Helped you develop either with your career or personally so have you got any person like this in your life? Someone like a mentor?

Antonio: Yeah, sure. When I was a designer at Ralph Lauren I worked with two people. My direct boss was a guy named John Nieng (apologies if this name has been spelled incorrectly) and then my overall boss, because I worked for a sub-brand called Rugby, the head designer of menswear was a guy named Lee Norwood. These two guys have a lot to do with the designer that I am today. John particularly is an enciclopedia of menswear, he’s been working in the industry forever and knows everything and I mean everything. When I got there and I started designing a jacket, we sat down, I showed it to him and he said this is a disaster. I asked why is it a disaster? Well, you based it on a M65 jacket but the pockets are from a much earlier model and it doesn’t really make sense. So he went through and showed me that there is a need for the thought process behind what you do. The huge component of what the designers at Ralph Lauren do well, is that it is rooted in the tradition of having things that make sense. There’s still some stuff that doesn’t make sense at all but huge component of it is things should be harmonic and when you look at it you should understand where all these things come from and that demonstrates the knowledge and understanding of where these things start. That’s something that I have tried to continue going forward in the process of what I do for sure. Lee Norwood in general just took a chance on me as a young kid with a tons of passion and not a lot of experience and believed I could do it so these guys really kind of guided me through and put on path that I am today.

Sebastian: I try to listen to people that are more clever than I am. Well, there are few people that guided me through life, that I have taken on board but they are not in the industry. They are other type of, they’re like Carl Sagan for example or Mark Twain or Tom Waits and these kind of guys. They kept me warm you know. But regarding work it is just listening to people. I am cocky and confident, I can be a handful but when I meet people that know more than me I shut the fuck up. There are so many people that know so much more than me on everything so it’s just listening to those people and thinking about applying it to my things. There’s been a few of these guys, one guy I used to work with knew everything about shirts, it was just ridiculous. In an oldschool way, I take those things and think a little newschool way and think how we can do things differently. To speak with a seamstress that’s been working or only making collars for 42 years! She will tell me one thing or another when I want to present a new collar. So it’s just listening you know, i.e. suppliers, if you really want to make something new and they say it is not possible we need to say yes, yes it is possible. We then ask another person ‘how would you do that?’. Finally someone has an idea and we go for it. So it’s important to ‘use’ people’s skills and knowledge in a right way, listen to what they think because they have a tremendous knowledge and I have so much respect for them. That is what makes me continue working with what I do, what’s keeping me here is that I am so lucky working with these people on a daily basis. It doesn’t have to be making of a garment. Yesterday I had a meeting in Stockholm with one brand guy, so when he talks..it’s just like ‘Sebastian just be quiet and listen to this guy because you can learn something’. I love that, I think it’s great. That’s also the only time I shut up (haha).

Mikolaj: The last question will be about the collection itself. Which item do you guys think will be most exciting for a London guy and which one will suit him best?

Antonio: Yeah I keep talking about the Casentino coat.batch_D9009900535_1 batch_D9009900535_2

Terry Donovan: I think it is absolutely beautiful.

Sebastian: How do you see it in London?

Terry: I think it is discovered in London

Sebastian: But it will still work with this kind of ‘Oi’ guy with a buttoned up shirt, no tie, it would easily work with braces. I can definitely see that. On suit guys, on everybody.

Antonio: Yeah I think the fabric in itself is wonderful for climate like this because the treatment that the wool has to make it peal gives the jacket a little bit of water resistance so I think it’s great. It’s substantial, water resistant, this is the one kind of coat you need for winter. I think it fits very well here. Also thinking about the three-piece chalk stripe suit that I think of as very English as well, the gun check jacket again, so I think there are touches of English influences all over the collection and that was definitely a purpose, even though the collection from Eidos component was largely inspired by Florence.batch_etonxeidos-6batch_D9009900029_1

Sebastian: The shirt collars are very English, we were working with cut away collar which actually is more English than Italian

Antonio: Absolutely, the Florentine tailors that I thought of when I was putting the collection together are huge fans of England, so the fabric selection for everything had that in mind, for sure. The idea of English look with Italian cut and feel. It is nice to get a guy who stands the whole day in his suit armour and get him a slash a little bit (laughing). Give him something he can relax in a little bit. It’s a nice point of difference for me. Who made that jacket for you?

Mikolaj: Oh this is RTW – Suitsupply.

Antonio: Really?! It doesn’t surprise me at all. I think it is a beautiful garment. Look – it’s a Suitsupply, God damn it!

Sebastian: The only thing I don’t like are their campaigns. they’re terrible. Sexiest and make no sense. But this is a great garment. On the other hand though, when you don’t do wholesale but just retail you can have these things because of straight margin. You can do that when you have a multi million dollar industry at your back – you can go straight to stores. But if you have to grow it by one store here, one store there, it will take longer. But hey, it’s the same ride it is just a different vehicle. Still, they do a damn good job with their RTW.

Antonio: Suitsupply I think is fantastic. As far as our industry, I love what we are doing and Suitsupply in contrast to H&M and Topman is reaally a best place to start without diving into something that is, because they offer full canvass garments as well, low quality garment. What we are doing compared to them is a little bit different from quality point of view but you have to appreciate the silhouette and the fabrics that they use. I see their designers using some of the same mills, for example Carlo Barbera, you could certainly do a lot worse then them. I have a friend that got married and they, then soon to be married, weren’t ready to spent the Eidos price for his groomsmen so I sent them to Suitsupply. He was like ‘should I go to menswear house?’. I said absolutely not! Go to Suitsupply, they will take care of you. In general I love the idea of having a great look available at different price points because it raises the minimum bar and for me this is what Suitsupply does. It raises the lowest area which is fine. It only forces us to do that much better job developing exclusive fabrics and making things that are a point of difference. Suitsupply is great but you should see what we’re doing and this is why starting next Fall we have started developing our exclusive fabrics trying to do things that are a point of difference. So that you can get the look at Suitsupply but you can’t get the fabrics. We’re doing some things that are very different and that’s all Eton, right? You can’t get anything what they offer anywhere else.

Mikolaj: Do you guys wear any other brands?

Antonio: We’ve been asked this question in Stockholm. Well just like with a collaboration you want to support friends so I have a few friends in the industry that I love. For example Salvatore Ambrosi, for me makes the best trousers in the world, is a friend and i got a couple of his trousers. Christian Kimber is a friend, small shoemaker from Australia and he is a great guy so I love his shoes. He is wonderful, he is a wonderful guy and you support people like that. If I could afford it I would wear Nigel Cabourn every day (laughing). He is also a very nice guy and much better than me at my job and I love looking at his stuff.

Sebastian: I do not really wear any other shirt. I think I have 2-3 other shirts which are all Gitman, they’re really nice, I love them. I love Super Duper Hats from Florence, for shoes Crocket & Jones..

Antonio: Thats a typical Swedish answer (hah)

Sebastian:Yes, they are great, they work with everything for me. Well, I generally buy from specialists and the only thing I buy crap is t-shirts. Mainly because I wear them out, I really do. Working with fabrics, I do not want to spend £200 on t-shirt because I know the difference of buying that many meters of cotton for H&M compared to any other t-shirts and I only wished someone would make a great t-shirt but I haven’t found it yet.

Mikolaj: Ok, thank you very much guys for your time, I think you got me covered. I really appreciate it, it was a great pleasure, hope to see you soon. Thanks again!

All images courtesy of Eidos x Eton.

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