Couple of months ago I wrote shortly about the Norwegian Berg&Berg and the launch of their S/S ´13 collection. Recently I was kindly asked by Mathias and Karin if I was interested to pick few items of their collection and give them a try. And of course I was pleased to say yes.
The first and probably the hardest thing was to make the choices as the collection itself very inspiring and versatile, full of wearable choices. I made a decision to give Mathias a list of few items I was keen on and let him do the final picks for the items he felt best represented the collection. For my surprise he actually did send me all of the items I had selected in the first place.
In terms of materials I decided to go with linen which I consider to be the ultimate summer fabric but which I don’t have that much in my wardrobe yet for some reason though. I picked a linen tie and a pocket square in linen as well. The socks are 100% cotton and finally from the leather goods category I ended up choosing the cognac colored braided leather belt to be paired with jeans and chinos in more casual combinations.
Ties
All the Berg&Berg ties are handmade in Naples, Italy with Italian fabrics (silk, linen and cotton for the summer). Some of them are fully lined, some are unlined and some have interlining but come with unlined tip. My choice for a tie was a solid sky blue linen (which is actually sold out at the moment but still available in sand and grey colors), 8cm wide and fully lined.
When it comes to ties, one thing noticeable about Berg&Berg is that they are most distinguished by the commitment to classic and understated styles (regimental stripes, polka dots and solid colors) with a wonderful, vibrant color palette but at the same time with a inspiring use of various and distinctive materials such as the raw silk, silk tussah and linens.
Sometimes it’s been said that how a tie feels when you take your first handle of it is a good indication of the quality. And when I first took the tie out of it’s package I could say that the feeling I got was a kind that would have probably made me to make a purchase if that would have happened in a shop. As said, the tie is made of linen but fully lined, which makes it firm and “sturdy”. But at the same time the lightness of linen, the lightweight construction and precise finishing makes the tie supple and easy to tie and to finish with a nice dimple (something that can sometimes be hard with unlined ties).
Just recently they seemed to have made some new additions and re-stock to the S/S ´13 collection and I’m seriously considering to pull the trigger with this orange raw silk before it’s gone again.
In case I could make one wish, it would probably be one out of personal preference so that Berg&Berg would come up with some 8,5 (or even 9)cm width for the ties in the following collections as I personally feel that to be more optimal for my ties than the currently 7-8cm they are going.
Pocket squares
The pocket squares (as the ties) are handmade in Naples with Italian fabrics and all of them feature hand rolled edges (Something you of course wouldn’t need but which in fact is a nice little detail to have). If in ties Berg&Berg plays safe with classic choices, in pocket squares they have decided to take a totally different approach. The squares are available in multiple bold patterns such as paisley, squares & triangles and in several surprising color combinations. The summer collection is mainly consisted of linen and silk products whereas for winter it’s build more on wool and other seasonal fabrics.
The size of the squares is 33cm x 33cm which I think is pretty average size on the market. Depending on the materials (especially with silk) I like my squares usually to be around 40x40 so that they wouldn’t drop to the bottom of the pocket that easily. But with linen as a material for the square (as in this case) I (so far) haven’t had that problem as it keeps steady and sticks to it’s place easier thanks to the raw texture of the square.
I’m not really a fan of paisley that much myself but for this one I decided to go with the brown & white colored classic paisley pattern printed on linen. Partly made the choice to make it easy to pair the square with the skye blue linen tie I chose cause as you know, you can’t go wrong with blue and brown together.
Belts and socks
The belts (as the other leathers good such as the wallets and portfolios) of Berg&Berg are also handmade in Lombardia, Italy and comes in general in five different styles; casual braided leather or cotton, formal saffiano leather and finally more elegant and classic calf and suede versions.
As said, I was in the need for a more casual belt so I decided to go with a braided leather with a rounded brass buckle crafted from rich Italian vegetable tanned full grain vachetta leather in cognac color. One thing I hope (and believe) for this is that it will create a nice and personal patina over time and use. So we’ll see…
The socks of B&B are made in Bergamo by the famous and well-known Italian socks manufacturer Bresciani.
My choice here was the “over the calf socks made of cotton in forest green featured with some little light blue dots. In my opinion perfect to wear with either black or brown shoes, jeans, cotton slacks or even the grey flannels.
I had no previous experience of the socks of Berg&Berg (or Bresciani) but I’ve been pretty satisfied with the lightweight feeling (which makes them possible to wear even in warm and hot weather) and one thing I especially want to give a credit is how they stay up during the day without rolling down and puckering.
In general it can fairly be said that Berg&Berg gives you a pretty much value for the money you pay especially in terms of ties. You can not maybe say that they are cheap (costs from 68 euros) but they are definitely much cheaper than some of the alternatives with the same (or even lower) quality standards.
Finally I wanna thank Mathias and Karin for the most kind and proper communication and customer service!
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