The Donegalistan


I have been silent for some time. Please accept my apologies.

I have been dealing with things like bank loans and logistics, which do not a scintillating blog post make.

Briefly though,  Looptex, the factory I am working with in Lahore, are about to start production, so at last I will have some stock! Their workmanship is looking excellent.

Back in Londonabad I have started work on a new jacket, The Donegalistan. It is quilted and combines super-soft Donegal tweed with pale shu. I think the two together work really well. It's going to be the best yet.

A sample jacket should be ready early next month and I will post it here as soon as I have it in my hands. But in the meantime, to tickle your interest, here is the original drawing and a photo showing a section of Donegal tweed piping against shu. The dark areas in the drawing - the inside of the collar and piping on the collar edge, down the front edges of the jacket and at the cuff - indicate Donegal tweed. The quilted lining is a  sandy coloured heavy-weight twill.

Telling the Story

I have been working on a series of drawings that will tell the story of how Hindu Kush clothes are made and are transported to the UK. They will form the 'Story' part of the website.

The main drawing shows the sequence of transport and manufacture. I have uploaded it below, even though it charges through the navigation bar, but you have to see it in one go!

We start off with the making of the cloth in the Hindu Kush....

The cloth then travels by super-glamorous Pakistani truck over the mountains and down into the plains to our factory in Lahore, where our garments are carefully put together...

Then it's by sea to the UK!

Accompanying the main drawing are popup pages which will give details on specific parts of the process:

Please forgive the spelling and grammar in the windows below, they are work in progress!

Locating the Hindu Kush

The special sheep that provides the wool for our cloth. These sheep know their worth. 

The traditional clobber of the Hindu Kush. Texting is not so traditional...

Tolls used in making the cloth and the families that use them.

Pop Up Shop

Sorry this post is most belated! But over December I took part in a popup shop in Fashionable East London's Redchuch Street. I would describe Redchurch Street as crypto edgy. The odd bit of rubbish floats past as one walks down it and graffiti covered roller shutters abound. However, this is a somewhat of a veneer as most of the shops sell very, very expensive things. Taking this into consideration, I misjudged my stock rather: I ordered in 3 lots of screen printed sweatshirts, thinking that they would be just the thing for East London. But in reality they sold poorly (I am still trying to flog them at knockdown prices on ebay). Instead people were interested in buying my much, much more expensive jackets made from the special shu cloth. I only had samples, so I couldn't sell anything! But I did get some very positive feedback. The subsequent kickstarter campaign, through which I took orders on shu cloth jackets, went well (I ended up exceeding my target by 300%). So all in all my first retail escapade was not wholly unsuccessful.

For the shop I had teamed up with the chocolatier, Paxton Chocolates and the knitter AnnaSöderström. Hence the chocolate sheep, which toured the surrounding streets handing out flyers and making friends.

Baroghil and Yak Polo

Where the Hindu Kush and Pamir ranges meet there is a valley called Baroghil. The valley shelters a high altitude pasture where Wakhi nomads graze their yaks and on top of every ridge sits a marmot ready to squeak at passers by. It also boasts a superabundance of wild flowers, including the Himalayan edelweiss. All in all it is a pretty blissful place.

I didn't have a very blissful time getting to it, however. Nearly falling down a crevasse, getting drenched up to my armpits in a fast flowing river, spending a night with no cover in the snow and a horse which could sense my fear and repeatedly bucked me.  Still, it was a great adventure and the local people I was with were very kind, although a bit bemused by my calamity proneness. Why did I keep on falling into rivers? Was I doing it on purpose?

We were all heading to a polo festival where matches were played on the back of yaks. Yaks are too stupid to be any good at polo. One problem is that they are frightened by the ball and often run away from it. Another issue is that they don't obey their riders commands and when tiring of the game will charge off the pitch scattering the audience  and ploughing on towards the horizon with their hapless riders still attached. They do look spectacular though, like something out of Star Wars.

Having just crossed a glacier with Guja nomads.

The Guja nomad's summer camp.

In convoy with the Guja nomads. (Note the polo mallets wrapped up in the bedding roll).

Approaching Baroghil polo festival. I could see the plume of dust from miles away.

An elegant polo player.

Dancing in the evening. Aficionados can dance with a full tea cup balanced on their heads. Regretfully, I didn't manage to photograph this daring feat.

Frequently yaks would disappear over the brim of the hillocks with their riders powerless to stop them.

Buzkashi, a gentle game whereby players wrestle for a headless goat carcass (you can see the carcass in the right of the picture).

This yak nearly got me. But I did manage to capture its rider's psychedelic cardigan and shell suit combination.

Yark, the man who owned more yaks than anyone else in the valley. His turban, tweed jacket and aviators combined signaled very clearly who was boss.

Pressed flowers from the high altitude pastures. Edelweiss is bottom left. I also recorded their Wakhi names and some basic medicinal uses. The drawing is of a traditional spinning wheel.

A mountain that we walked past on the way to the polo festival. The sky was turning dark and the weather was coming in quickly.

Look Book

Sorry I have been a bit uncommunicative lately, but I have been busy with a popup shop and a kickstarter project. I shall post on those next. But in the meantime, here is a look book I put together over the weekend with the modeling help and photographic advice of my friend, professional photographer and semi-professional footballer (currently resting)... Mr Jack!

  

Kickstarter Rewards

Pledge £50 and I will send you a snow leopard and markhor chase scene scarf. The image is digitally printed onto silk crepe de Chine. I have one scarf left in grey and 5 in sepia-grey (you can see the difference in the bottom image).

Kick Starter Rewards

Pledge £10 and I will send you 50 cm of hand-cut reflective tape. This tape is used to decorate trucks and rickshaws in Pakistan. I have put it on my bike for high-vis and elegance!