Photos from NY Mag profile.

My obsession with a certain of family of brands (Barbour, Filson, John Partridge, Hucklecote, Le Chameau, Beretta, etc) dates back to the pre-internet days of mail order catalogs and telephone orders. Visits to the Upland Trading Co. in NYC were the visual equivalent of browsing an online site. In one cramped showroom space in the E. Village, I could actually eyeball the fit/size/styling of an amazing range of country clothing without having to mail order catch-and-release them from their country of origin.

Somewhere in my visual archive is a photograph of the owner, Armando Negron, who once asked me to take his portrait in a Partridge trench for an advertisement in the New York Observer.

Since I have not been back to NYC in several years, I have not had the chance to check on the success of this shop in the late e-commerce age. However, I did just check the Upland site (a sad surrogate for the original) and saw a troubling notice for an upcoming close-out/liquidation sale.

Does this mean the shop is shutting down or just clearing out winter wool for summerweight linen? NYC people, let me know!

Last item purchased from Upland:

Luke Eyres University scarf