I love me some self-depreciating humor. Hilton's Tent City in Boston bill themselves as "Simply the best camping store on Friend Street". No one can argue with that statement. HTC are practically the only store on Friend Street (even Hooters couldn't hack it there...) Damn me though if this place isn't 4 floors of duck, gore, wool and waxed cotton goodness. Stocking: you guessed it, tents, stoves, boots and backpacks to workpants and shirts -men's and women's. The 4 floors are not massive but the stuff is crammed in there like you want it to be, not sparse. For the fenceposters they carry Filson (huge collection of the bags), Barbour, Carhartt, Vasque, Merrel and Pointer. Usual suspects?? Take an already low price and take 25% off it (10% if buying online). Run, don't walk.
Jason McKenzie has been steering the buying at HTC for about 3 years (Jason's mum owns McKenzie Gear in Lincoln, NH) and was good enough to give me the nickel tour. Yes he was eating granola when I went in... this place is legit.
As well as slowly introducing the store's warehoused made in USA backstock to augment many of today's brands' modern production, they are creating some store/brand collaborations; of note the recent Bailey Works for Friend St. One more nugget at the end of this post...
Spotted this old poster for Eureka tents;
(the tent material used for the Baileyworks x Friend St. bags).
Perfect, basic, out of production, wooden chairs from Byer of Maine. A Japanese collector bought a few hundred when Jason found them stashed in the attic.
HTC has had a continuous account with Woolrich for over 50 years. Very very tough to get that cool WWM/Blue Label stuff... but they are actually trying.
Crazy stockroom finds; like the below White Bear snurfer?? Never seen such a thing. Deerskin brand shirts with great hangtags... ok getting out of the way and the pics can talk.
Still with me? Ok, this is the new release part. HTC are working with Pointer (criminally underrepresented generally) to produce a simple pair of shorts, like their PS1 (painter short) but in hickory stripe, minus the tool pocket and hammer loop. 10" inseam. Backstory tidbit; Pointer have stepped in generally as Carhartt has cut back it's production of bib-front-nailpouch carrying dungarees... That sounds a little niche but union carpenters buy these by the handful. Ironically Pointer's low price point makes them sort of a tough sell but Jason and HTC are using this collab to champion the brand and their interest in union made and made in USA garments generally.
Love the material of the painters pants, you can practically see the stems and cotton seeds in there. A fresh box of them has a serious raw smell I guess. Ok, big post. Huge. Thanks to Jason for having me over. The Pointer x Friend St. shorts should be available in a few weeks; same bat channel. Or follow his twitter feed now (@scriboscribere) and be first in line when he unearths that box of Centennial Carhartt...
