Sweden Shopping List

I am heading to Sweden today for three weeks and as excited as I am about seeing family and old friends, I also have quite a few things on my shopping list. Hard to visit Sweden and not have a long shopping list, really.

News trouser

First, I plan on finally buying a pair of Hope's News trouser. I have tried them on at Table of Contents and fell in love. But after a quick peruse of Hope's Swedish website, I realized that I could save myself some dough by purchasing in the motherland, and getting the 25% VAT back helps as well.

Hope: pre-Fall

I also saw that Hope has a pair of monk-strap shoes in their pre-fall collection. Hallelujah! Someone has them - no longer do I have to simply covet the vintage pair worn by Clemence Poesy at the Acne show at Paris fashion week. These do require a try-on, also because they are quite masculine and I'm not sure I'm chic enough (not being French and all) to pull off such a manly item without looking silly. We shall see.

And I hope to find Wood Wood's Aino short. Scandinavians don't love shorts (it is quite cold there) but maybe they've made an exception and stock them for the tourists. No one in Portland carries this style and I am not sure which size would work best. I am hoping that the trusty NK (glorious Swedish department store for the uninitiated) has them.

And lastly, I think I need to buy a Fjällräven raincoat. I have the Stutterheim and while I do love it, it is quite heavy and really only necessary on those downpour days. Also my 4-year-old has a Fjällräven raincoat and I find myself coveting her jacket pretty much every time she wears it. So, I'd say it's well time for me to get my own waxed cotton jacket. It is more lightweight and feminine than the Stutterheim and actually comes in women's sizes. Another downside to the Stutterheim is the unisex sizing - the sleeves on mine are incredibly too long and not really hemmable. (Despite all this, I do believe the Stutterheim raincoat is STILL a great coat. Not sure it's worth all that money but it's damn nice. And it supports the local economy of the lovely Borås.)

Hej då, kompisar! Goodbye, friends! see you in July.

Swedish raincoats from Stutterheim

To go with the Rachel Comey rain boots from yesterday, I have been in search of a great rain jacket. Not too shiny, not too tech-y, not too short and most importantly, no Velcro!

On my first year in Portland, my rain jacket was actually a ski jacket shell that was covered in Velcro and wreaked havoc on all my beautiful knit scarves and even the sweaters I had on underneath. After that year, I upgraded to a Gore-tex zip up that while great in rain felt like I was wearing a plastic bag the rest of the time and it only went to my waist, which was a major problem. Last year I found a great fishtail jacket with a hood, generous length and no Velcro. Problem is if it's really really raining, it's only a coated cotton, so it doesn't always hold up so well. And I always wish it had a little bit of lining, a shell isn't always so warm.

Fortunately, I recently found the perfect raincoat. Unfortunately, it is close to $700.

Stutterheim raincoats are handmade in Borås, Sweden (birthplace of my one and only) and even bear the signature of the seamstress sewing them together.  Alexander Stutterheim started making raincoats out of his apartment after he found his grandfather's old one and decided to replicate it with a better fit...or so the story goes. He insists there is
"no Gore-tex. no Velcro. no mass production. no straps or strings dangling from every seam."

He even goes so far as to bill it as
"the last raincoat you will ever need."

Their tagline is "melancholy at its driest" and he means it, all seams are taped and it is wind and waterproof, yet so streamlined in its design.  I guess Stutterheim decided the only way to live with all the rain in Scandinavia is to embrace it.

Out in the elements

The good news is that the unlined version, the Stockholm, is $295 (only!) while the Arholma, the one with lining, is $695 on the American site. Prices in Swedish kronor aren't much lower: $200 and $600 respectively. Guess that's the price of being made in Sweden versus made in China; it's true. And from what I can tell the shipping to the US is free.

They also have a boutique in Stockholm called Regn (rain in Swedish), which sounds amazing. Word is that Stutterheim is working on a rain boot prototype, again with the highest quality in mind. Haven't seen photos yet but will be sure to share them once I have. Stutterheim raincoats can be found here. And be sure to read his story too, he's quite a quirky guy.

Stutterheim couple