Our mini-euro tour luckily made a stop in the wonderful city of Amsterdam. We’ve been there a handful of times before and it’s always a pleasure to visit. This time ’round, I made it a point to make it over to the well-regarded Tenue de Nîmes in the nine streets area of the city. Walking into the shop, I was greeted by a friendly and knowledgeable staff, as well as a well-selected array of denim, footwear, outerwear, wovens, and various accessories. I even made a trip back later in the day to take my friend Ping to the shop. We walked up to find the shop closed and all the guys outside having a smoke/chat. Not only did they invite us back in to the shop, they made us coffee and talked shop with us for a while. Very cool. Standouts to me were their selections from the venerable Nigel Cabourn (it was my first time seeing his stuff in person) and a pair of Momotaro‘s hand loomed denim, which they loom on-location in their store in Okayama (Japan) on a modified vintage kimono loom. Unreal. The denim was a lighter shade of indigo, which according to Rene who works at the shop, is a result of a 100% natural dying and treatment process, and had a nice, soft, slubby hand. Truly an artisan piece that could have been produced hundreds of years ago in the same exact way. Despite the great selection of stuff, I managed to only walk out with an issue of Men’s File, and their in-store ‘zine, Journal de Nîmes.
I also made my way to the newly opened Red Wing Amsterdam store located only a few blocks away and owned and operated by the same good folks who run Tenue de Nîmes. Besides carrying all the key Red Wing selections, they had some great bags by Heritage Leather Co and Duluth Pack, as well as belts and wallets from Tanner Goods. The love and respect these guys have for the brand definitely resounds in the shop. The shopkeeper (who’s name slips my mind, but is the brother of Menno van Meurs, part owner of Tenue de Nîmes) told me of their trip to the city of Red Wing, MN and the factory that resides there in order to get a more in-depth and hand-on experience with the brand. Respect.
Needless to say, if you ever find yourself in the wonderful city of Amsterdam, I certainly recommend a trip over to the nine streets area to visit these two shops.
Pictures of the stores pulled from here and here.
Also visit Tenue de Nîmes’ blog, as well as Red Wing Amsterdam’s blog.
Video of Nigel Cabourn in the Tenue de Nîmes talking about his collection:
Video of the Momotaro hand loomed denim:
…and some random pictures of my trip:
I came upon an antique market:
I ended up picking up the pocket knife pictured above.
