Heimat (Germany): Product Review
Heimat (Germany)
The German alps rise suddenly from the plains around Munich and offer locals a natural playground the year round. In 1962, off road and stunt legend Bud Ekins took part in the ISDT 6 Day Trials at Garmish-Partenkirken, the town at the base of Germany’s highest mountain, Zugspitze. It was on that vast hill that Alpine Skiing was first introduced to the Winter Olympics in 1936. Between Munich and the mountains are many lakes like Starnberger See; an impressive body of water that is the home to much classic yacht racing, including the Sonderklasse – a 32ft wooden vessel with a single mast, originating around 1900. With this mixture of sporting endeavour and epic nature in mind that we find a group of friends walking the higher paths that lead from one mountain hut to the next. Here you can stay, forage for food and cook a meal. You leave basic dried provisions, clean the place and move on. Then, the next visitors do the same. Cooperation, consideration and respect.
Above: Product testing, Christian Hofmann and friends enjoy the higher paths of the Bavarian Alps (south of Munich) during the summer of 2020.
Photography by: @leofrancisphotography
Issue 21 (Jan 2020)
Men’s File explores leather as a signifier of subcultural affiliations but also as a functional material that protects and serves the wearer, sometimes for decades. In this feature we present Lewis Leathers, The Real McCoy’s and the London Leather Man in an indulgent retro fantasy.
Riki’s brand is small, exclusive and doesn’t usually reflect what everyone else is doing. This genuine independence is apparent in everything the stylist wears and does.
This is the world of Fabian Jedlitschka and Pike Brothers. A realm in which post- war Americana and militaria are transposed, as they had been 75 years before, onto the picturesque German landscape and into the psyche of the nation’s fashionable youth.
There are certain street stylists, within the realm of male style, who ply their art on the same pavements on which George Brummel once trod. They are few, but their impact on the early moods that permeate menswear is immense.
Aboard this 1920s polished aluminium road rocket is Mr Derek Lee, a student of architecture and a young man of refined tastes. His suits are personally tailored in Hong Kong and his ability in finding original pre and directly post-war clothing is not in doubt.
Many years ago (Gary never says exactly when) Mr Eastman dismantled an ancient A2 flying jacket with the intention of finding out how it was made, with the idea of making a copy for himself. A few decades later and Eastman Leather Clothing is one of a select few of go-to brands for the serious connoisseur of replica militaria.
Painter, motorcyclist and collector of objects from the Old West, Nicholas Coleman lives on the edge of the old frontier town, although now very civilised, Provo, Utah.
A dedicated part-time Tiki-ist, hot-rodder and stalwart of the VHRA organisation, Jacqueline Davis is in fact a full-time professional graphic artist.
The innocence and elegance of pre-war Italy is encapsulated in this series of attractive vignettes featuring Alex Hills, Lucy Manley and an untouched 1935 Fiat 1500.
Just 5 years separate the four watches discussed on these pages, and each has their own unique personality and story to tell.