Making a Thermal

A low-key dream collab from me and Knickerbocker

You can call it “boring,” but when I was given a pass to make whatever clothing item I wanted - for some reason, all I wanted was a thermal.

If you’ve followed me on socials, you know my warm weather outfits are based around a “wife-pleaser” ribbed tank top - and my cold weather fits are based on thermals. These pieces might blend into the background of our wardrobes, but they are the pivotal building blocks that make everything else function.

I’ve been a student of the thermal for some time now, comparing various vintage brands and their knits and fiber content. So when Andrew Livingston from Knickerbocker proposed we make something together - I had the opportunity to correct all the fatal flaws I’d seen in vintage (and modern) thermals and make the perfect version.

Me in 2017 at a Knickerbocker sample sale.

If you needed my Knickerbocker bona fides, I’ve been following the brand closely since college. In 2017, I took the train into the city explicitly to shop their sample sale. I’ve followed along with pretty much all incarnations of the brand - from their early days operating out of a factory in Queens to their move to Portuguese manufacturing.

I’ve always shopped with them, so when Andrew (the man himself) hit me up, I was flattered and excited. I said I was down as long as I could go with him to see the factories and learn how it all went together. He agreed - and the seeds of our thermal were sown.

Thermal

The finished thermal, photographed in New York by Chandler Bondurant.

In all my vintage thermal hunting, the best looking (but worst-fitting) was a vintage Hanes number with a unique knit. Unlike the others, which were a basic waffle-knit, this had a unique feel and texture.

Andrew liked it too, but we soon learned there was a reason most brands outside of Japan weren’t doing it this way. The knit would require a heavy-duty flatbed knitter and would take 3-4 times as long as a circular knitting machine. Great!

An original Hanes version - 50/50 cotton and polyester

The hardest part was reproducing the texture of the Hanes original - but there were other problems to solve. The vintage version was a cotton/poly blend, with a slightly yucky hand-feel and was wayyyy too short in the arms. To make this into a wearable and lovable garment, we’d have to make it in 100% cotton and dial in the fit.

So, as Andrew began churning out samples to get that old-school Hanes knit just right - we were making preparations to meet him in Porto.

North Portugal

The team in Porto.

Though most tourists head to Lisbon in the south, the northern Portuguese are fond of saying their region “powers the country." And frankly, they’re right. Barely 30 minutes outside of the beautiful city of Porto, amidst green rolling hills, lots of clothes are being made.

With its comparatively low cost of living, Portugal has been a manufacturing hub for decades. Take a stroll through any of the major factories and you’ll see tags from nearly all your favorite brands, European and otherwise. It’s no small wonder that Andrew is moving to Portugal full-time. Unlike the major garment districts in the U.S. - New York and LA, where you tough out the crowds of mid-town or bumper-to-bumper traffic - in Portugal, you cruise from one pristine factory to the next, watching picturesque castles roll by.

Factory work is never easy, but the Portuguese ones I visited were far cleaner and airier than ones I’d visited in the States. One large shirting factory even has an onsite daycare, there is always plentiful coffee, and the Portuguese are famous for taking indulgent lunch breaks. As Andrew has noted, it can take a little longer to get things done, but everyone’s just in a way better mood.

Man vs. Shrimp

You’d think from the writing above, that everything went smoothly, but that was not the case. We got in one solid day of sight-seeing with Andrew, which helped us get a feel for the culture of Porto and the surrounding area. But the next day, a brush with some bad shrimp put both me and Andrew out of commission.

As I languished back in the Airbnb, Nick, my intrepid videographer, ventured out alone to tour the factories where my collab shirt would be made. Due to the flatbed knitter, which mainly makes sweaters, our thermals were taking their sweet time. The knit I’d lusted after on that vintage example back in Alabama was very difficult to replicate - which is probably why modern brands don’t take the time to do it themselves.

The Hanes knit, but far nicer.

Nick ended up having a great time, having a beer with our Portuguese guides and witnessing the difference between a circular knitter (faster, cheaper, and more common) and the version we were using. The next day, I marshaled my forces and we took a cab out to the place my finished thermals would be sent to Knickerbocker in New York - and eventually to some of you. I went to an enormous shirting factory, a wash-house, and finally where my thermals are cut and sewn.

It was a pleasant place - although when presented with multiple shades of off-white to pick between, I sort of zoned out and chose at random - you’re welcome. I was very nearly dead, so they took me back to Porto and left me to sleep until our flight back home left the following day.

Still full of vim and vigor at the start of the trip.

By the time we left Porto, I’d been on the road over a month. Two trips to New York, Montana for Tilden, Switzerland for Tudor, France for Le Laboureur, and finally Porto with Knickerbocker. As excited as I was about the thermal, it still felt like a distant reality. So many smart people had stepped in to turn it from an idea to a reality - it didn’t even really hit me until a couple months later, I waited in the Knickerbocker store on Canal Street as the DHL guy rolled a pallet of thermals out of his truck.

A recent angry comment on the YouTube video said “so it’s just a thermal?”

Yeah, basically, but it’s a really, really good one. And as any of you who follow me or read my little stories here know, all I ever really want are perfect basics. So now that it’s cold and getting colder, I hope some of you will spend your days in the loving 100% cotton embrace of our “just a thermal.” I never wanted to reinvent the wheel, just make a really good one.

As always, please like and subscribe to the Youtube! If the thermal is out of your price range, that’s honestly my fault - that fancy knit ended up jacking up the price. But if you can cop it, it means a lot to me that you would spend your money on something I helped make. Take care, guys!