ML Brown & Co. for Outlier, the Leather Braided Keychain
Function, strength, and style, the Outlier and ML Brown & Co. Braided Keychain. Like so many urban cyclists we keep our keys carabineered to our belt loops. Not because we like it particularly but because it works; keys far enough away from the body that they don't cut into you as you pedal, close enough that you don't forget to take them along. We always thought there had to be a more elegant solution, and we turned to our friends at ML Brown & Co. to help us out. We've long admired their leatherworking craftsmanship and the result is practical, restrained and purposeful, braided leather plus a stainless steel sailing shackle hand bound together with waxed linen to create a keychain.
The Braided Keychain attaches easily to a belt loop, but is long enough to tuck your keys out of site in a back pocket. It can also be worn around a bike lock chain to allow easy access for undoing the lock quicker. If your hands are full, wrap it around your wrist. The Harken-5 shackle is rated for sailing the high seas so we are guessing it can handle the weight of carrying your keys around town too.
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Waxed Cotton Cap
Most cycling caps are designed to last a season, our Waxed Cotton Cap is made to last beautifully for many seasons to come. The water resistant waxed cotton fabric protects you from the wind and rain and builds a rich character and texture as it ages. The double lined, made in New York City construction both gives it the right insulation to get you through those brisk autumn and winter rides and results in a far more durable cap. The grosgrain banding and bengaline lining will mold to your head shape over time make for a cap that might just age better than you. Made in collaboration with our friend and master milliner Victor Osborne, we've just slightly touched up the cut for this autumn by deepening the darts ensuring it fits better under your helmet and looks great both on and off the bike. Available in Black, Brown, Crimson and Jungle Green. Made in New York City for exceptional quality.
Björn Wallander for Outlier
Wearing Merino Tee and Climbers
There is a special sort of light we always wanted to capture with Outlier. A soft sharp glow of sorts, the light of fresh Sunday morning as you ride through a silent city. When we first saw Björn's photos we knew we'd found a master of this golden hour. Luckily for us Björn saw our visceral, bikes in motion, style as a challenging way to expand beyond his core practice and the photos started rolling... This is just the beginning we hope...
Wearing Nailhead Cap and Merino Tee
Nailhead Cap
This is literally the good stuff. Stuff is a word that can mean just about anything, but its first use as a noun was to describe the worsted wool fabrics that medieval knights stuffed under their suits of armor. Nailhead is one of our favorite worsted wools around. Its subtle pinprick pattern gives it an incredible depth of texture, and as a fine suiting fabric it tends to be made from the softest and longest wool fibers available. That makes it one of the best performance fabrics in the world, but you'd never know since it tends to be used in expensive men's suits and nothing but. We snatched these fabrics from our favorite Brooklyn warehouse determined to find a better use for this quality stuff than the upper class ghetto of office armor and take it back to the streets.
Wool sometimes has a bad rep for being itchy, course and overwarm, but that's only because the good stuff always gets snatched up for suiting fabric. The finer wools breathe better than cotton, and wick moisture into the inner core of their actual fibers. This means they cool you in the summer, keep you warm in the winter and always feel drier to the touch than other fabrics, no matter how wet it is outside. It makes for an incredible cap.
The Nailhead Collection uses our classic cycling cap design done with master milliner Victor Osborne. We line our caps with a bengaline fabric that molds to your head over time, as does our high quality grosgrain banding. Because it's a lined cap, it costs twice as much to make, the lining is essentially a second cap sewn inside the first. But for that added cost you get a cap that should last way more than twice as long, and fit great for all the years you own it. As always we produce our garments in New York City for exceptional quality.
Update 11/29/09: We're sold out but Victor Osborne still has a few left. So head over to his new shop on Orchard St.
Summer Storm Cap
We created the Summer Storm cap with the aim of making something as refreshing and unexpected as a summer thundershower. We started with an elegant Zegna wool suiting, but made it completely waterproof and breathable. It's laminated with a membrane that allows moisture vapor to escape, but blocks water droplets when raining. So you get the best of both performance and class.
Unlike traditional cycling caps, it's a lined cap. The supplex lining we use has a soft handfeel like traditional cap lining, yet is quick drying and completely breathable. The lining also means it's a lot more durable than your average cap, with a much more finished look and feel.
As with all our caps, we work with the master milliner Victor Osborne to get a precise fit. A small is 21.5 inches naturally and stretches to 22.5. A medium is 22.5 inches naturally and stretches to 23.5. A large is 23.5 inches naturally and stretches to 24.5. A traditional look with a modified four panel construction made in New York City.
The Summer Storm Caps are available now.
Tropical Wool Cap
Earlier this spring, biking on the edges of Brooklyn we stumbled on an incredible stash of surplus tropical wool suiting. Never ones to let things go to waste, we snatched it up and turned it into the OUTLIER Tropical Wool Caps. Tropical wools are nothing like the heavy ichy stuff you think of when you think wool. These are the same fabrics that you'll find in a $3000 summer suit and they make for a midweight cap with a fantastic look, fit and feel. Lets hope we can keep finding more of this stuff!
The OUTLIER Tropical Wool Cap is made in collaboration with our friend and master milliner Victor Osborne and designed with the highest attention to detail. We started with Italian tropical wool suiting, known as the finest cloth in the world and graded in terms of a Super number. The higher the number, the finer the wool. These caps are all made from Super 80s or better, which means they will have similar performance qualities to our premium merinos.
Unlike most cycling caps, this is a lined cap. The bengaline lining gives the hat a much more solid feel, and will actually mold to your head shape over time. it also makes for a dramatically more durable cap, these should out last your standard flimsy single layer cap by years. This is true quality in look feel and function. We don't stop with the details you can see either. While most caps brims are plastic or stiff cardboard, we use a high quality leather particulate, which gives it a great snap and durability to boot. We finish it all off with a high quality grosgrain headband, like the lining this will mold to your head over time so that the cap feels like it just was made to fit on your head. And maybe it was.
The Super 80s are available in black and navy for $75.
The Highgrades are all sold out.
Fit wise, a small is 21.5 inches naturally and stretches to 22.5. A medium is 22.5 inches naturally and stretches to 23.5. A large is 23.5 inches naturally and stretches to 24.5. A traditional look with a modified four panel construction, fully lined and made in New York City for style and quality.
Gimme! Coffee X OUTLIER
Without Gimme! Coffee we wouldn't really exist. Well I had a start, a name and a logo and a piece of the puzzle, but it wasn't until Jenni at Gimme! told me there was another customer I really need to speak to that we really started. We sat down to meet and immediately the game changed. He'd been tackling the exact same problems as me, but from a different and completely complementary perspective. It was then that Outlier left the incubator and started to become a reality.
So of course when Gimme started talking about making a cycling cap, we had to help make it happen. Limited edition of course, get one if you can... Big ups to Allen, Mike, Jenni and the rest of the team over there for making it happen. And yeah stop by for an espresso, they pull some of the very best in town.