To Know Your Outfit, You Must Become Your Outfit

I was taught be smart stay humble / I was taught be hard don't fumble / I was taught in this concrete jungle / Rumble, young man, rumble

A shirt by a shoe company, shoes by a riser pad company, and pants inspired by cooking make for a discombobulating week in TWR, but we promise the mixtures have created exceptional garms that make perfect sense. A couple athletes from both types of football (the one with the feet and the one with the hands) are the Soldier and Enemy of the Week.

💥TUESDAY MEANS WAR💥

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TACTICAL UPDATES

UPPER UNIFORM

SM001 Flannel by Last Resort AB

Last Resort made its mark as a skater-owned shoe brand amongst the Corporations, and succeeded thanks to the backing of Polar Skateboards founder Pontus Alv and a cool team despite some initial product snafus and comfort issues. Pontus is always iterating and listening to The Marketplace, as any good Businessman should do, and years later they’ve dialed in an assortment of great shoes and a cult following from Converse-converts and cupsoles-killas alike. Their garms are much more unheralded, but they deserve as much shine as the kicks. Just like the shoes, the garms are designed with intention with lovely materials and constructed in Portugal. This flannel is a standout from their current season, boasting a generous cut and a very soft handfeel. The blue check colorup makes for a timeless look perfectly suited to any occasion, and two chest pockets are an important feature providing multiple options to stow your Shit for quick access. It’s no surprise that the mind behind Polar’s consistently stellar apparel program is working the same magic with LRAB.

LOWER UNIFORM

Moleskin Part Timer Pant by Service Works

Service Works hit the scene in 2020 with their now near-iconic Chef Pants, a consumer-grade take on the loose and easy style of pants seen in kitchens the world over. Their inspiration and storytelling are firmly rooted in the same world as those pants, partnering with local London and UK chefs, farms, and restaurants for lookbooks or collaborations or even simply to shine light on the good things happening in their scene through the Journal section of their site. They grew the offering over time to include garms of all kinds focused around carefully sourced organic fabrics and manufacturing in India. We’re grateful for the expansion as it’s brought a tremendous assortment of great jackets, knits, and TROUSERS! The Part Timer Pant is one of the moment, complete with the pleats and baggy-with-taper fit that every Soldier is looking for these days. This one is special for its cotton moleskin textile, a burly material with a soft look that has the durability to hold up forever and delivers a little extra warmth this time of year. The suede-like texture makes you look like a million bucks but they’ll only run you less than $150, a great price point for ethically-made trousers from all the way across the pond. Service Works is currently premiering their very first skate video at shops around the UK, so we’re excited to see more of these garms in action very seen.

FOOTWEAR

Vans Old Skool Ghillie by 2 Riser Pads

The Generational Divide in skateboarding was illuminated this week with riser pad powerhouse 2’s release of their collaborative design with Vans. It’s hard to recall a recent collaboration this divisive, as the jits in the know gobbled ‘em up and the old heads grumbled about something we can’t quite decipher. Skateboarding seems to have fully boomeranged back from it’s Serious Era all the way back to its roots as tongue-in-cheek (and in-your-fucking-face) jokes, with brands like 2 and FTI picking up the torch re-raised by Alltimers (RIP) and Dime. Ride-on grinds and varial flips are officially acceptable, and the crews of young soldiers behind these brands are mixing them with genuine hammers and ledge and transition progression to create something terrifying for the OGs - a brand of skating that’s both Fun AND Hawrd. One source of ire was Vans collaborating with a “riser pad” company, showing how far the gap is between jokes and reality that some think 2 is an actual genuine riser pad company and some understand it’s purely a vehicle to make stuff and have fun with their crew in the same way every hardware brand has ever been. The ingenious idea to find something untapped and call themselves “the world’s only riser pad company” is appreciated by Knowers and angers the rest, and that’s the special sauce of all the best companies. The shoes are fine, using the extremely overdone wear-away gimmick but offsetting with interesting innovation in lace protection and a nice pebbled leather. The corresponding video of the crew in Osaka is sick, by the way. If nothing else, this will help Vans a lot more with their lagging coolness than Atiba having a party in honor of some band nobody’s ever heard of!

FIELD NOTES

SOLDIER OF THE WEEK

Mo Salah

Mo Salah has long been outspoken in ways that are uncommon in modern sport. The Egyptian forward is vocal in his Muslim faith, generous with his time and money in giving back to his homeland, and a relentless critic of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. As reigning Premier League champions Liverpool slump to 9th in the table, he’s started on the bench in their last three matches with only one substitute appearance. Liverpool have been Shit since the end of September, no doubt suffering from the typical Champions’ hangover as well as the devastating death of beloved teammate Diogo Jota that surely still looms heavily over the group. While Slot and company search for answers, benching the man who got them here and has 3rd most goal involvements this season is a head-scratcher. Never one to shy away from giving his opinion, Salah let it fly this weekend and accused the club of trying to place the blame for their slump squarely on him and saying “seems like the club is throwing me under the bus.” The reaction was swift, as he’s now been completely left out of their Champions League squad traveling to Inter this week. He’s only 33-years-old and coming off possibly the single-greatest season in Premier League history - is this the end for one of the greatest players in the history of one of England’s most storied clubs? The list of suitors would be a mile long when the transfer window opens in January and we’d love to see him in a different shirt, so long as it’s not lining up against Cristiano in the Saudi Pro League.

ENEMY OF THE WEEK

Fernando Mendoza

Wow, what an interview! Indiana knocked off The Insufferable Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship game and their Heisman-candidate quarterback gave a post-game interview for the ages (derogatory). Fernando Mendoza should be a guy we’re all rooting for, a child of Cuban immigrants leading a basketball school to football dominance with his little brother backing him up. But in the wake of an exciting victory, he turned us firmly against his ragtag bunch with a one minute interview. He kicked it off by giving the credit to the man upstairs (Sky Daddy, as a TWR associate refers to it), instantly discrediting his team’s success as a result of their own hard work and determination and instead a result of their hard praying and piety. Ohio State sucks, but nobody loses because they’re unholy! Despite being so amped up, the weirdo proclaimed “THE HOOSIERS ARE FLIPPIN’ CHAMPS!” in front of the whole country. Some saw wholesome, we saw levels of cringe we didn’t think were possible. This fella is completely genuine, which makes this all the more difficult. We love an authentic man, except when it’s entirely backed by religious brainwashing that makes them disavow their own part in their success and believe that swear words are bad. Boomer Sooner or Roll Tide, we don’t care as long as they demolish this guy.

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You’re now up to speed on the latest from the battlefield. Use this intel wisely and pass it on to others who may need our guidance. We can’t win the war unless we’re in it together.