S.E.H Kelly

Making the SB3 in a cloth this thick — 26oz, dense hopsack, gnarly British yarn — might well be catastrophic were its making not in the hands of people who've spent their working lifetime turning potentially catastrophic situations into potentially fun-to-wear ones. More

The cloth from which the balmacaan is made is "navy-grey" — but it's so much more than that. It's a box tweed from County Donegal, and is alive with numberless, numerous, and beyond number little plump nuggets of wool, from chalky whites to bright sky blues. More

The cloth from which the balmacaan is made it's "navy-grey" — but is so much more than that. It's a box tweed from County Donegal, and is alive with numberless, numerous, and beyond number little plump nuggets of wool, from chalky whites to bright sky blues. More

The cloth from which the trench is made is woven in North Yorkshire — and by 'eck is it hardy. It is known as natte tweed, which has always been a fairly arcane variety of cloth, and this one is woven with the tough and gnarly wool of stern-faced British sheep. More

What better gift for a loved one this Christmas than a means to hide their face behind soft geelong lambswool? The balaclava is made in the old-fashioned way, in large part by hand, and is thus particularly excellent at navigating the contours of nose, cheek, and chin. More

More predictive of winter than the Gregorian Calendar and twice as wearable — yes, the heavy crewneck is back again in all its fluffy tuck-stitched lambswool glory. It is, as ever, ten-ply: barely a fraction below thermonuclear on the knitwear warmth-o-meter. More

Back again in heavy cord from Lancashire is the work jacket. And boy does it work. Works overtime. Body-spanning pockets, custom-made horn butchers buttons, under-arm ventilation whatjamajigs, complicated gusset cuffs — nothing puts in hours quite it. More

Greater than the sum of its parts, the duffle. Eight lengths of rope, four toggles — hand-turned horn ones, naturally — and about three metres of very heavy melton is all that goes into it. But that all-enveloping sense of wearing a blanket — can't measure that. More

The v-neck is a knitwear lexicographer's dream. It is fully-fashioned, hand-framed, hand-linked, and knitted in the south-west with super-fine geelong with a rounded handle. To everyone else, meanwhile, it is a sturdy sweater made to the very highest standard. More

Technically speaking, a Chesterfield is a long and tailored overcoat and / or a leather sofa. What you see here is much closer to the former — but less tailored. It is made with Bedford cord from Somerset, and finished with dark horn buttons from the West Midlands. More

This is a disaster and no mistake. The tielocken was meant to be a no-fuss version of the trench. But look what happened. Two inverted pleats, a two-piece belt with four buckles, a sleeve half raglan and half set-in, and five or six pockets. Where did it all go wrong? More

The field shirt is back this year in heavy uniform melton — so called because it is melton for actual uniforms (actually heavy uniforms for the British Army) which were very much in vogue about 110 years ago, and was woven by the actual same mill in West Yorkshire. More

The peacoat is back this year in heavy uniform melton — so called because it is melton for actual uniforms (actually heavy uniforms for the British Army) which were very much in vogue about 110 years ago, and was woven by the actual same mill in West Yorkshire. More

This is the parka minor. Its name is relative to its all-enveloping older brother, but is somewhat misleading all the same — what with it being a coat of considerable proportions and packed to the gills with all sorts of old-school technical features and functions. More

They call this cloth "tropical" for a reason — and not just because it comes from North Yorkshire. It is, rather, because it is a lightweight cloth, with a plain and aeration-aiding weave, and made with high-twist yarn that doesn't wrinkle or cling to the skin. More

The three-ply cotton tuck-stitch of the new polo shirt, here, is so slinky it can travel down a flight of steps end-over-end, as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its own momentum. It is hand-framed in a bucolic south-west corner of the British Isles. More

Those ripples running along the banks of the seam there? Those, in knitwear lingo, are fashionings, and they are a tell-tale sign of fully fashioned knitwear. And that, in itself, is a tell-tale sign of knitwear above the run of the mill in shape, fit, and construction. More

This cotton from a coastal region of Scotland — here in the form of a field shirt — is thick and starchy and rigid, which aren't usually the most flattering of adjectives, but which at the workshop are venerated in the dogged pursuit of faintly preposterous outerwear. More

This will be cotton airweave, then, resurrected by an old mill in the eastern outskirts of Lancashire. It was favoured by the British Army for a chunk of the last century, and is hard-wearing yet breathable — and by all accounts scrubs up nicely as an SB3, too. More

This cotton from Scotland — here in the form of a waistcoat and field shirt — is thick, starchy, and rigid, which are not usually the most flattering of adjectives, but which at the workshop are venerated in the dogged pursuit of faintly preposterous outerwear. More

Funny thing about the weatherproof ripstop from which this trench is made is that, despite being twice as tough as old boots — being a double-layer ripstop of the toughest fibres around — it is also light and airy and comfortable in even the most sticky climes. More

The new field jacket, here, with its convention-busting back-to-front construction and breezy cotton airweave fabrication is resolutely, absolutely, a very casual thing — but worn with the right posture and comportment, it also has the mildest whiff of imperious. More

"Your sleeve seam's connected to your front body seam. Your front body seam's connected to your chest pocket. Your chest pocket's connected to your drawstring ..." You get the idea. Welcome to the joined-up world of the new field jacket, making its debut here in cotton airweave. More

This hat is made in the crucible of English hat-making, and unlike most such hats, which are blocked with great amounts of steam into a fixed style, this one is not, so may be poked or prodded into a new shape — Homburg! Bowler! Trilby! — every day of the week. More

It's a donkey jacket — but not as we know it. Respectful of the age-old workwear classic rather than deferent, this is a spring-time jacket with a whole-cut upper body, more pockets than you might expect, and a tonal combination of cottons canvas and dry-wax. More

The proper trouser, with its high rise and full leg, is the opposite — aesthetically, technically, and morally — to an improper trouser. Here it is in a tropical worsted, woven in Yorkshire using the wool of sheep reared and sheared in the same part of the world. More

The field coat is technical, sure, and full of features, but it never tries to impose itself upon its wearer. Like a well-mannered butler, rather, it is ready and able to serve when called upon, but is most of the time quiet, modest, and expert at minding its own business. More

There's more going on with this cardigan than with most cardigans. The pockets, for instance. Indecently whopping. And those seam-spanning pockets. The split-sleeve, too, with its thick tuck-stitched under-sleeve safeguarding against threadbare elbows. More

The field coat is coat for the great outdoors, but rather than striving for specificity — a coat for cycling, say, or urban gardening, or stalking grouse — it is a merry generalist, whose design coalesces around the gentle ambition of going out and about once in a while. More

Chilly now, isn't it? Thankfully, though, there's a little workshop in the dank environs of east London for which cold-proof wearables are a self-proclaimed speciality — a place now to the gills packed with woollens, waterproofs, and sundry other winter-warmers. More