HIT THE ROAD
Country Road’s Work/Life collection has been designed to take traditional tailored corporate wear from the desk to less formal occasions. It’s fashioned from premium quality cotton, tweed and wool sourced everywhere from Italy to England.
SECURITY CHECK
While you’re away from home, the Nest Cam Indoor security camera ($199) will monitor the situation 24/7. Get alerts sent directly to your phone if the motion or sound alarms go off.
www.store.nest.com/product/camera
ON A MISSION
The Mission ($599), by Nixon, can withstand the elements so you can take it with you anywhere: in the water, up hills, off road and beyond. Featuring real-time surf and snow shred alerts powered by Surfline® and Snocountry.
SOLE BROTHER
It’s a shoe-in for Don’s Footwear, now recognised as Thailand’s only bespoke maker of traditional handmade gentlemen’s footwear.
Set up as an online business by engineer-turned-shoemaker Allan Donnelly in 2009, Don’s Footwear has morphed into a hands-on custom shoe consultant with a fashionable following for classic made-to-measure services at its Bangkok shop.
Each pair takes between three and four weeks of intense handcrafting to produce, after initial customer measurements that involve the use of a 3D scanner for detailed foot specifications.
Allan imports his last – the foot-shaped moulds around which shoes are formed – from bespoke shoemakers in England, and uses hand welted construction with premium leathers and calfskin liners for the ultimate in shoe fitting comfort.
Each purchase includes two expert shoe shines at his Don’s Footwear shop, on the lower floor of Dean & Deluca at the Mahanakhon Cube building in Sathorn, Bangkok. Customers can select from an ever-growing range of some 70 shoe designs, or specify their own individual requirements such as Oxford brogues, Wingtips, lace-ups and even Chelsea Boots – popularised by The Beatles in the 1960s and now making a comeback.
Allan says that as a rule his Thai customers prefer casual loafers with square toes, while Westerners look for almond-shaped toecaps.