Earth Day, Earth Tones

Today is Earth Day! Turn off the faucet when you're brushing your teeth and turn the light off if you're not in the room, unplug any appliances that aren't being used and go the extra seven steps to a trash bin instead of just 'letting the wind' take your trash. Our office has 2 recycling bins and so many plants we have a little office garden (all potted). 

For those of you who would like to go a step further than creating a greener environment for yourself but incorporate it more into your lifestyle, past Whole Foods, take a look at Glass House Shirtmakers. They up-cycle old shirts into new pocket squares, which is genius! 

Salvaged shirts into new pocket squares!
Featured in Esquire, image source: Esquire

The colorful pocket squares are great to bring neutral suits to life or bring a more vivacious attitude in more vibrants blazers or suits with character.

Want to try this for yourself or tired of seeing that ragged shirt on him that he refuses to throw out or stop wearing? Try these instructions!

What you will need:

- Button Down Shirt

- Iron

- Pencil

- Ruler

- Scissors

- Sewing Machine (Preferably a Purl Stitch Machine, if not, a general home-sewer will work)

- Pins (if you are using a home sewing machine)

-Matching or Contrasting Thread to the Shirt

Step 1: Find old button down shirt

Step 2: Iron shirt and lay flat on surface

Step 3: Use a ruler to mark up a square (10" is average, 12" is large). If the shirt has checks or stripes, use the pattern as a guideline. Otherwise, try to make the side lines parallel to the shirt's side seams. 

Step 4: Cut square out, use shirring scissors (scissor blades are zig-zagged) if available to prevent frayed edges. 

Step 5-A, Purl Stitch: If you have a purl stitch machine, simply sew along the edge of the square to finish the edges. 

Step 5-B, Home Sewing Machine: Fold the edges over twice and pin in place. Sew along the edge of the first fold (not the edge of the square itself). 

Step 6: Learn how to fold your pocket square Here and Here

Step 7: Pair with a jacket and enjoy! 

If you aren't a fan of wearing a vibrant green aside from on St. Patrick's Day or during Christmas, subtle earth tones are a sophisticated way of wearing and acknowledging Mother Nature. Earth tones tend to be geared towards browns and greens and sometimes blues and dark reds. As long as the color can be found in nature, generally the forest, it's considered an earth tone.

Earth Tone jackets and trench coat, left to right: tweed, houndstooth, linen, linen, textured gray-green, olive green trench coat.

copyright 9tailors, LLC.

Interested in an earth tone jacket? Need a light trench coat for the Spring/Summer? Want to glisten up your custom made suit with horn buttons and a vibrant pocket square and shirt? Contact a style consultant at info@9tailors.com

An Earth Day Bonus?

Environmental campaigns used to be stressed in younger generations with posters and cartoon commercials about turning of the sink faucet and smokey the bear. FernGully came out and was mini-cult classic amongst toddlers and children, Captain Planet and Ms. Frizz (from the Magic School Bus) ruled the hearts of children before they went to the school bus. This was all before the big Go Green Initiative Campaign that took the nation by storm thanks to celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio who empathized the importance of carbon footprints. Now so many people are just expected to be green and cities are adapting with recycle bins being paired next to trash cans the option is at least there, take our restaurants are looking for compostable silverware and Epic came out to revive little hearts of newer generations, past FernGully. 

With all those reminiscent glances, I leave you with the opening of Captain Planet to remind the grown adults what it was like to learn about the environment and not get too caught up with work or be influenced by Hollywood and trends about whether or not they should care. Trends can get tiring and it's nice to look back and be reminded why you began tossing beer cans and egg cartons into a blue bin to begin with. 

The Virtual Side of 9tailors

It looks like our quest to spread style across the country is working and we have more and more people requesting remote services.

Out of town? Well, we have just the program for you.

While keeping the human component intact we have implemented virtual fittings. This is where you set up an appointment time by emailing appointment@9tailors.com and hold a fitting without actually having to travel to the studio. Just follow the steps below to avoid the elements.

Step 1- Make an appointment!

Step 2- Find a friend. If you do not have one willing, ask your mother. If she is busy, ask your neighbors. If they are busy, fly to Boston so a trained style consultant can help directly. Although, you may want to bring an umbrella.

Step 3- Gather necessary items including: tailors tape measure, computer with camera, and, said aide from Step 2.

Step 4- Using video chat link up with a 9tailors style consultant.

Step 5- Take measurements and fit preferences. During the appointment you will be coached through the measuring process by a consultant.

Step 6- Wait patiently for your custom items to arrive at your doorstep (or cubicle)!

Step 7- Repeat process for a continually improving wardrobe.

Get the process started now with a simple email to info@9tailors.com to have crisp new shirts ready for your holiday parties!

mission impossible? solved!

"...so you're petite and curvy, huh?" ai ghee said to me one day. "i'm petite and slim! we are like a shopping mission impossible!" ai ghee exclaimed. "i know!" i replied.

for years i've spent hours and hours searching for clothes that fit my body type. of course, i would i stumble upon the "LBD" (little black dress) or the perfect trench, but honestly, sometimes it was like finding a needle in a haystack. so, how have i been shopping the last few years? just barely...up until now that is.

you're probably wondering who we are, right? 9tailors is the newest player in "DIY" (Design-It-Yourself). what does that mean exactly? it means that we empower our customers to make the most critical decisions about how they want their clothes to look, feel, and fit. essentially, we help our customers create pieces that reflect their personal style, complement their body shape and skin tone, and enhance their work and play wardrobe.

but doesn't that cost the customer three month's rent to custom-make clothes? no! at 9tailors we believe that stylish and luxurious looking pieces should be affordable. so, put your cash reserves, the one you designated for emergency purposes only, where you originally hid/stored it, you'll need that for other things.

so how did we come up with this idea? i met ai ghee last year while we were going to school in Nanjing, China. after making more than 120 pieces of clothing with our favorite tailor, wang long, purchasing yards and yards of fabric from the local fabric market, advising our friends on fashion and style tips, and wondering how we ever lived before without a tailor to make clothes that actually fit us, we decided to turn our love for customizing clothes into a business.

over the last few months we've asked some very knowledgeable people to help us turn our idea into reality. Kate Rudman teamed up with us as our in-house fashion and design expert. Justin and Austin Wei joined later to help us think through our business concept and model.

so, what's in the name? in chinese culture, the number ‘9’ signifies longevity and success. it is also the number of the dragon, an auspicious creature in chinese culture.

when are we going to launch? in two months. we are all working very hard to get this thing going.

what are you going to find on our website? men's and women's shirts and suits, and women's dresses.

i think that's enough for today. look out for more entries and updates on our progress.

sincerely,

sam shih