New Collaborations with Tricker's and Iron Heart
This week, we tell the story of how we, along with two key partners, consistently look to leverage the paramount productions of heritage to create advanced offerings. With Iron Heart, we’ve created a proper wool CPO Shirt to find the missing link in any elevated, vintage-inspired wardrobe. With Tricker’s, we have two Horween leather selections for some limited run, foundational collectables sure to find themselves in immediate rotation. As the niche in which we operate is far more global than national, we have no problem procuring the finest British wool cloths to be made into garments with beyond workwear standards in Japan, and our favorite leather articles from the most esteemed US tannery sent to Northampton for some seriously unique footwear collections.
While heritage is defined by old world productions rooted in classic styles, our position is to invest in the highest quality level from fabric through manufacturing, never skimping, always enhancing. We’re grateful for the brands we work with embracing projects that require them to reconfigure, sometimes re-tool, and often rework an existing pattern, or create a whole new style to fill what we see as a gap in our client’s wardrobes. We are fortified further by the DR Army’s patronage, receptivity to new iterations, and support of our efforts to always push for the best versions possible. For a release that communicates the meticulous Division Road method of developing up-productions rather than re-productions, we present you the grand introduction of the Iron Heart x DR 434 Fox Brothers Wool CPO Shirt and some Division Road collaborations with Tricker’s using Horween’s revered Dublin and Chamois Roughout leathers.
Iron Heart x Division Road
Resultant from an undertaking that started three years ago, soon after our beginning with Iron Heart, we are honored to bring you the IHDR-434 Fox Brothers Wool CPO Shirt. The modest idea was to create an evolved version of the original Chief Petty Officer Shirt with a fit that enables seamless, stylistic transitioning from wool shirting to overshirt in a fabric that grants year-round utility along with the robust durability and finished feel required for both configurations. Defined by its simple utilitarian design, the CPO is a vintage staple shirt with a strong collar, flap front patch chest pockets, and a buttoned front placket and cuffs. The basis of this design is the famous Fox Brother’s Flannel that is the finest example of worsted wool cloths, created and corded for duty in the outdoors and a hand feel of cashmere.
The CPO Shirt is designed around the 14 oz. West of England Flannel recipe known for its luxurious finish and feel that combines with an engineered structure and drape, and introduced in a limited run Gunclub Check and a signature Houndstooth Plaid cloth for two unique identities and palettes to serve any collector’s needs from the workshop, backwoods, or battlefield. As some of the most elite wool fabric on the planet, Fox Brothers is our go-to for taking things to the next level and the baseline for the precise fit development of this timeless garment made for any product sophisticate. Iron Heart labored over securing the exact, above military grade melamine buttons and cotton twill trim lining to hallmark the original with their improvisations, and everything from collar and pocket edging down to a hidden pen pocket were debated and determined through development to present the best CPO done to date, and good luck trying to find a better one.
Tricker’s x Division Road
Years ago, through our Allied Archive Project, we first experimented with sourcing Horween leathers for our Tricker’s collaborations with resounding success. Everyone, from the diehard Tricker’s collector to those unfamiliar with this legacy maker, has become enthused with the blend of a more ruggedly American-tanned, premium hide being procured for the definitive country footwear producer of England to further refine a build made for a rough life. Since then, we’ve leaned into this Tricker’s-meets-Horween formula for a perspective that reinforces the core identity of this legacy heritage producer. For another celebrated series, we present our signature Churchill Officer Boot pulled out of the archives with our original Horween procurement in the treasured Natural Dublin and the brand’s legendary Stow Boot in a rare, classic Brown Nut Dublin for two perfected pieces made in a distinctive vegetable tanned leather and combined with a Ridgeway sole for a work boot with an elegant sensibility.
Horween’s Chamois Roughout, an industrial boot leather on steroids with a heavy dose of natural oil so infused, has a constantly renewing glossy nap for protection and a unique texture. This Chamois Roughout comes on the steely Petrol Bourton Brogue Derby Shoe and Charcoal Low Leg Logger Boot paired with Commando Soles and coordinated details. Utilizing the 2298 and 4497 Lasts throughout the collection to offer the appropriate profiles and functional leanings, provides each style its own personality. It’s been a year of struggles for Tricker’s from COVID to mandated shutdowns and even factory fires. They have waged through the thick of it with tank-like durability, much like their footwear. We’re pleased to have them back in full force with these Horween specials that honor and elevate heritage, with plenty of make-ups on the horizon.
