Simon Wittenberg visits the London store of the ethical and responsible menswear brand to meet with co-founder and former Olympic rower Cormac Folan, and to try a couple of shirts for size.
Alder & Green is a business that’s relatively new on the scene in the UK’s menswear sector. It was established only two years ago, in February 2021, by co-founders Cormac Folan and Anthony Procopi, who bring decades of experience between them, and is orientated around fully-traceable, sustainable and ethical sourcing of raw materials and manufacturing processes.
The name “Alder & Green” has also been carefully chosen, and is inspired by other famous tailors using two-word monikers, separated by an ampersand, such as Gieves & Hawkes, Turnbull & Asser, or Hawkes & Curtis.
To give their brand a meaningful identity, Cormac and Anthony (right) chose “Alder” in a nod to the Alder tree, a species native to Britain, known for being strong and durable like the brand’s shirts.
Also, in Irish mythology, it is said that the first man was actually carved from the Alder tree, so this was seemingly the perfect fit. Similarly, the “Green” element reflects the brand’s environmental credentials, where the focus is on the use of organic and recycled fabrics and packaging.
Alder & Green came to market as the country was gradually emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, and where the hybrid home/office arrangement and “casualisation” of the wardrobe had started to gain pace.
This meant that the brand was perfectly placed to accommodate this new way of working, by offering a core range of shirts in 30 sizes across two fits to suit the no-tie casual look, but also a line-up that accommodated more formal environments. Therefore, there’s not a whole lot of choice, but there’s a perfectly good reason for this.
The thinking behind a small line-up is that what is on the rail is all a man needs in his wardrobe to suit the majority of occasions.
The same applies to the colours which grace the shirts – white, pink and blue, with stripe and check options, and the collar styles – semi-cutaway (that can be used with or without a tie), and button-down. Cormac and Anthony’s research also showed that most people want buttons when it comes to cuffs, so only one of the white shirts features a double cuff to accommodate cufflinks for smarter occasions.
Alder & Green’s main clientele is divided into two main categories, with the shirt being the “anchor” of their outfits.
The first is the “Notting Hill”-type customer who works in the City, but sports a more dressed-down look at the weekend (e.g. a casual shirt with a pair of chinos or jeans), whilst the second is a “classic” City worker who wears a suit, or a shirt and jumper combination as their “uniform”.
Cormac and Anthony are fortunate in that where they are based in London is surrounded by lawyer offices, meaning the target market is pretty much on the doorstep.
Just having a core formal and casual range sounds like a relatively simple business model on the face of it, but this has been drawn from the years of experience accumulated by the co-founders, and a series of clever calculations to ensure that the sizes provided by Alder & Green encapsulate the majority of customers in their target market, thereby reducing returns, waste and the carbon footprint of the business.
With a focus on “fit”, the business uses a tailor down the road, where any of the shirts can be altered, and can normally be turned around in less than a week, or quicker, if a customer is visiting from abroad, for example.
As part of the organisation’s underlying commitment to responsible fashion, the scientifically traceable 100% organic BIOFUSION cotton used in Alder & Green’s shirts is grown at partner farms in America, and the fabrics are then woven at the prestigious Albini Mill near Bergamo in northern Italy.
The shirts themselves are made by a family-run Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)-approved factory in Guimarães, in the north of Portugal, which prides itself on fair working conditions and a fair living wage for all employees.
Although it’s a young brand and a new entrant to the menswear market, Alder & Green has achieved a lot in a short space of time. Only a few months after setting up the business, Cormac and Anthony took their first steps in terms of creating a physical retail presence for the brand.
A pop-up store was unveiled in empty premises in Holborn’s quaint and single lane Lamb’s Conduit Street, just before the onset of the festive season.
This proved a huge success and, after receiving a six-figure investment, Cormac and Anthony took over the vacant and well-appointed premises of the former and already-furnished J Crew store directly opposite the pop-up location in August 2022, becoming a neighbour to the likes of Honey & Co and La Fromagerie, as well as a plethora of other independent shops.
The idea of having a physical store, is that it allows shoppers to experience the Alder & Green process of being correctly fitted for a shirt, feeling the quality, and understanding the story behind the garments.
The 480 square foot Alder & Green store in the heart of the Bloomsbury district in London’s West End store, which was unveiled at an event hosted by Olympic rower and brand ambassador, Tom George, boasts a modern and upmarket feel, and there’s more than just shirts on display, such as colourful knitted ties, socks (priced at £15 per pair), and other products, such as shoes from Dents of England, where Alder & Green has partnered with likeminded brands.
This is not the only retail outlet for the business, as customers can also make purchases online and in store, on both Alder & Green’s own website (Alderandgreen.com) and at John Lewis. Cormac and Anthony’s focus is by no means just on the UK market.
As part of building their international clientele, they have formed an agreement with the David Jones department stores in Australia, whilst the business is already receiving orders from America.
All shirts on the hangar are priced at £125, except for the recently launched “Stretch range”, which retails at £140. Shirts are two-fold 100 cotton, and slightly midweight, which means they are suitable for all-year-round when the weather is cooler or during the summer months.
Quality is at the heart Alder & Green, and every stitch on the shirts has been meticulously crafted to ensure that products are of the highest possible quality. It shows instantly, because when you try on a shirt, like I did, you notice just how smooth the fabric is, and it even has a slight velvety shine to it.
After sampling a shirt from both the formal and casual ranges, I settled on the Organic Twill Extra Slim Navy Gingham Fit Shirt, which has a tighter cut than the Slim Fit, with slightly less space around the waist, chest and arms.
There was no modification needed, and it was the best-fitting shirt I had tried (and found) in over four decades, so it was definitely worth the wait.
When purchasing a shirt from Alder & Green, all packaging is made from compostable potato starch bags, and the delivery packaging is 100% recycled and recyclable, so gone is the plethora of plastic bags and clips to contend with, like you would readily find with some of the high street brands.
You also leave the store with an elegant and branded paper bag that’s worthy of being paraded in the street to almost show off that you have bought from Alder & Green.
There’s a slogan from a famous advert, which says, “the best a man can get”, and Alder & Green epitomises this tagline, as it’s a business that has both style and substance. The menswear offered by Alder & Green really is all that a man could possibly want in terms of quality, style, fit, and its ethical and green credentials.
I, for one, am grateful that there is finally somewhere in London where I can walk into a store and buy a shirt that fits perfectly, that fits so comfortably, and that oozes quality.
The long and short of it, is that I would have no hesitation in returning to Alder & Green to add another one of their garments to my wardrobe. With a couple of years in the market under their belts, and an exciting future ahead, they only deserve the upmost success.
Alder & Green – Where and How?
Alder & Green is located at 38 Lamb’s Conduit St, London WC1N 3LD, United Kingdom.
To find out more about Alder & Green, and to explore their range of men’s shirts and accessories, visit www.alderandgreen.com. See photos from our recent visit on the Luxurious Magazine Instagram page.
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