We covered the Paul Smith “Favourite Shirts” event from Tokyo not too long ago. Well, Rapha is not making it easier to get your hands on their special collaborative gloves over here in the West. “The Rapha Grand Tour gloves use ‘African Hair Sheep’ leather to produce the softest and most durable gloves on the market. African hair sheep live on the arid savannah of Eastern Africa. To cope with the heat and dry conditions, the hair sheep have extremely thin but strong skin. The hair sheep leather is ‘table cut’ by skilled craftsmen and worked by hand lengthways and crossways to give the leather beautiful texture and suppleness.” Available from Rapha now.

More looks at the Rapha for Paul Smith Grand Tour Gloves after the click.

Sailors and seamen are very good at several things. Staying warm in wretched conditions perhaps being most important and transferable to land life. The Submariner Sweater was devised as a layering piece. Don’t just take my word, here are some from Neill Starr of manufacturer North Sea Clothing -

“The Submariner Sweater was War Office issue to the Royal Navy in both World Wars. In the 1950s motorcyclists adopted them to wear under a Barbour or Belstaff jacket to keep out the cold. They used be available from army surplus stores until about 10 years ago until original supplies “dried up”.  I had many enquiries from devotees who wanted one of these classic sweaters, so decided to get them remade in the same heavy-gauge knit as the original, but improving the fit slightly as the WW2 issue was very long in the body.  These hard- wearing sweaters are manufactured by a family firm in Nottinghamshire, England, using pure new wool and will last for many years.”

As the brief history implies it was good enough for the sailor and then perfectly adapted to land use. Today, the North Sea Clothing Submariner Sweater is available from Garbstore.

Full images of the “hard-wearing” piece after the jump.

Ever since Coming Soon started, it’s been an extremely interesting (and un-googleable) brand. While Yohji Yamamoto’s had a few troubles lately, his youth-orientated brand has gone from strength to strength. This next collection continues to move towards a slightly relaxed silhouette with rose-infused camo trousers and, our favourite, the camo blazer. The rest of the collection strays into the usual summer styles (nautical tops and blazers, lightweight coats, chambray) – all with the usual Yohji Panache.

Take a look at the rest of the collection after the leap.

Albam, who’ve been on a roll this season in regards to great new pieces, have just released this tasseled loafer in collaboration with Grenson. While we love a tasseled loafer, they still attract some derision from the ‘blokey’ crowd, which is why Albam even has a semi-defensive product description describing them as an ‘acquired taste’. They also note what you could wear it with in case the idea of wearing loafers is too much for you (crisp shirt, slim jeans and an Albam coat in case you were wondering). We’d advise the full-on dandy look ourselves, there’s no shame in our game. (Albam)

Take a look at another shot of the shoes after the leap.

The Spring/Summer line from Burkman Bros. plays with the notion of an “American in Penang.” Following the general inspiration points of the brand – comfort, travel, variability – the Canadian brothers (yes, the Burkman Bros. are actually brothers… and Canucks) built from an interest in the lightweight fabrics of Southeast Asia resulting in a collection pulling together the three above points. Authentic madras shirts are complimented by oxford lined shorts. There are also Asian inspired prints and color blocked windbreakers.

Select looks at the Burkman Bros. Spring/Summer 2010 collection after the jump.

We’ve almost run out of superlatives for Margiela’s knitwear this season. Given all the hoo-ha around the house itself, we were pretty suprised to see that the collection has turned out so many desirable pieces. We don’t usually recommend grey pieces as they’re usually quite dull. This pieces avoids those pitfalls by a ’sailor style’ collar and deep V-neck, allowing the wearer to show off that fancy club collar they’re wearing. It’s also hand knitted (although by who we don’t know) if you’re into that sort of thing. (Tres Bien)

Detailed images after that leap.

01. Industrial-Strength Mobile Tool Storage (above)

“I used to have a car that spent a fair amount of time in the shop. During servicing I’d routinely ignore the NO CUSTOMERS BEYOND THIS POINT sign and walk into the garage to talk to the mechanic. Not because I cared about the car–I just liked looking at the garage’s tool carts, which seemed to hold and organize an insane amount of tools and attachments. I finally found the site of the company that makes those things: Montezuma Manufacturing.” (core77)

02. Communication Arts Annual Winners

“We rounded up some of our favorite packaging (and most are previously unseen here on The Dieline) from the new Communication Arts Annual. Visit Communication Arts to see all the projects, a few more posted after the jump.” (dieline)

03. R1 Radio

“R1 radio by il-gu cha is an analog radio which requires one to tune the radio by physically rolling it on a surface. studying how people manipulate rather than bury their interactions  with a product, the radio brings about a new kind of behavior between itself and the user.” (designboom)

04. Video | ‘A Single Man’

“Earlier today Kottke posted the trailer to A Single Man, the new feature film from ex-Gucci creative director Tom Ford. The movie is based on the book of the same name, which was written by Christopher Isherwood in 1964, about a gay, British college professor working in Los Angeles. The movie has a great cast including Colin Firth, who won the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor at the Venice International Film Festival, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode.” (+kn)

(via cqc)

Well, you cannot wear them unless you like flat breads. Dadada sells these perishable loafers by R&E Praspaliauskas. they’re baked and carved into the shape of your favorite house slipper. Their bread slippers come packaged in shoe boxes (recycled it would seem). Personally, I would like a set with instruction to carve my own so I can serve it with soup. Some people drink from their boots, right? (likecool)

More looks at the R&E Praspaliauskas Bread Slippers after the click.