Over the past year we’ve been warming up to Upstate Stock, a small New York-based company that specializes in locally handmade gloves and hats. With the release of its new genuine deerskin gloves with ultra-soft poly liners, it’s now one of our favorite winter accessory brands to reach for. Made from traditionally resilient ragg wool that is washed and dried before being worked on, the gloves (and beanies) are as perfectly constructed and they are handsome. Other fine details easily missed include hand-tacked labels and ethically harvested deerskin attached by antique Singer post sewing machines.
“There was a definite hole in the knit accessories market,” explains founder-menswear brand manager veteran Bram Robinson on the idea of a premium quality knits lifestyle brand. But, as Robinson suggests, it was the added goal of preserving the tradition of American craftsmanship that made a simple pair of knit gloves that much more. (Robinson’s gloves, for example, are made by a family-owned factory that has been knitting accessories since 1946 for the likes of the military and the NYPD.)
Now in response to demand for other product categories, Upstate Stock has added Kings of Brooklyn in Greenpoint for candles and several grooming products to its small but growing collective of partner-makers. Canadian-made leather belts and cotton flannels are also underway. Says Robinson, “the brand will always be 90% gloves and hats, but we plan on more as we find good partners in and out of New York.” We can hardly wait.
