Monday, October 27, 2008

The Stronghold

Over the weekend I descended upon Houston to meet with the Refueled staff. While being photographed for the next issue, we talked about style and how each one of us brings an individual voice and aesthetic to the magazine.

Style has been a running theme for the next issue of Refueled.

Don Weir, a certain arbiter of American workwear fashion, introduced us to a company that embodies what we plan to achieve. As far as a brand concepts go, it doesn’t get much better than the Los Angeles based Stonghold.

The company was founded in Los Angeles in 1895 as the area’s first denim manufacturer, and operated continuously until its closure in 1949. Fast forward to 2004 when Michael Paradise and Michael Cassell revived the defunct work wear label as a contemporary brand with every bit of authenticity as the original. Stonghold offers off-the-rack denim for $285, as well as made-to-measure trousers which start at $485, and are truly custom. The company develops a pattern specifically fit to your body and allows you to choose all of the components (fabric, hardware etc.) that go into your jeans. All Stronghold garments come with lifetime alterations and repairs free of charge. As you would expect, Stronghold only uses selvage denim in the construction of its jeans.

(Left) Stronghold manager William Sack. (Right) The wall of denim options for made-to-measure jeans. The glass tube display holds choices of hardware.

2 comments:

DON WEIR said...

you're a good researcher. i've tried to do a post on them before but couldn't ever find the right images. where'd you find the one of the jeans?

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