The Hill-Side Spring/Summer 2010

Can bloggers get any bigger than they are right now? Putting all that cheesy #believe2010 nonsense aside, It’s definitely their year to shine. The Hill-Side’s SS10 look book is jam packed with bloggers, with everyone from one half of Street Etiquette to Allplaidout making an appearance. On the product side there’s bandanas in the mix now as well as the usual array of handsome ties, handkerchiefs and scarves.

After the leap is an interview with the brand and a look at the collection.

(Reposted from The Gentleman’s Corner)

Shifts in menswear have the tendency to revamp certain fabrics. Chambray was long seen as the ugly duckling of fabrics until the current heritage boom brought around its resurgence. Typically used on shirting, designers have been coming up with ever more inventive ways of using the fabric. While creativity in itself is great to marvel at, we much prefer when it’s mixed with functionality. One perfect mixture of the two is accessories label, The Hill-Side.

The U.S brand was given a small scale launch back in Autumn of 2008. ‘We started The Hill-Side gradually, making one-off pieces from deadstock and found fabrics’ states Emil Corsillo, one half of the brother duo that makes up the label. After attracting more customers, the Corsillo brothers eventually launched their first full collection for the autumn/winter 2009 season. Originally focusing solely on ties and handkerchiefs, later collections saw them expand into scarves and other accessories, all lined with their signature selvedge stripe – something Emil once called a ‘honest decoration’.

As you’d expect for a company focusing on accessories that live or die based on the fabric, it’s where the legwork is put in. A typical collection might feature upwards of 23 different fabrics and they work with over 30 at first, whittling it down to the right number and ensuring that only the best fabrics are chosen.

‘Our products focus on utilitarian fabrics not commonly found in neckwear, including selvedge chambray, hemp/cotton blend selvedge denim, left-hand twill, organic “colorgrown” cotton, and waxed canvas’. The fabrics themselves are sourced mainly from Japan. ‘[There's a] great mill in Kojima where the best denim in the world is lovingly produced with an artisanal attention to detail and craft’.

The Hill-Side, along with a slew of other brands, have captured an emerging customer – one who values quality over the myth of a ‘bargain’. “Inexpensive products are not necessarily selling better during the recession; the products that are really succeeding are the ones that do the best job of communicating to a customer how their value is aligned with their price tag.”