Classics with a twist. It's an oft-overused phrase in menswear but it describes Folk's approach to menswear perfectly. As longtime fans of Folk here at SL, we're sure you know their story by now. But for anyone who doesn't, here's a condensed version:

Folk was launched back in 2001 by Cathal McAteer. McAteer cut his fashion teeth at Glasgow boutique Ichi Ni San, eventually becoming involved in the merchandising side of the business. Folk was originally only sold in Japan before opening a store on Lamb's Conduit Street back in 2007. ‘The street suits our DNA,’ Cathal McAteer, said in an interview with the Telegraph magazine. In Cathal's words, the streets are very un-London - 'you say hello to everyone on it.’

They've won multitudes of awards, with Cathal winning Scottish designer of the year twice and the Lamb's Conduit store winning the 'best for fashion' Telegraph magazine awards. Despite the internet's ability to make companies appear far bigger than they are, Folk are still a relatively small team; there's only ten people in Folk's team and five in Folk's showroom, Macandi. Macandi is run with Folk's managing director Fraser Shand and they look after the UK sales for the likes of The Hill-Side and Feiyue amongst others.

The team-up with Edwin was Folk's first collaboration, a surprise when just about every brand you can think of has at least two or three in the works. “It wasn't one of those 'So two great brains come together and create the wonder idea' collaborations” says Cathal, “It was more a sharing of resources”.

Their most recent development was their new store in Shoreditch, East London. 'The Butcher, Matt (owner of Butcher of Distinction – the space where the new store is based) was a tad jaded with life as a retailer and his other projects were taking up his time. So we said if he ever wants to get shot [of the shop] we'd be happy to discuss it with him. That happened and it moved quite quickly after that. We got the shop and it's a big old space, we're really happy to be there'.

Whereas Folk had always been noted for their knitwear and shirting, the Spring/Summer 2010 collection appeared to have a real focus on outerwear, was this deliberate? 'yeah, [the expansion of outerwear] was intended. 'We've naturally expanded season on season. Sometimes we'd find a new factory, find a new wool. We're actually growing into whole categories of clothing too. We're also selling more garments so it's allowing us to make a bigger collection as well'.

Fraser says that 'We wanted to find the right factories and give them enough business to work with us. Our strength's always been in shirting and knitwear, so we'd always wanted to do more outerwear, but previously we'd always been restricted'. Cathal notes that 'we'd rather not make anything if it's gonna be made badly. You can make anything you want but there's certain standards. If someone is gonna make you fifty of a style, you're either gonna have to pay a lot of money to have it made brilliantly or it's gonna be substandard'.