SNAIL MAIL #4

Greetings Snailiens, it’s Big Mikey K-to-the-risty. Hope you’re all doing well. 

The 'Woven in The Bone' x 'Iron Snail' collaboration has been in the works for quite a while now. If that last sentence was complete gibberish, here is a video I filmed with Taylor when we flew to Scotland to visit Sam Goates (weaver extraordinaire): Woven In The Bone x Iron Snail. I’m also putting out a vlog on my second channel about the trip to Scotland and the weaving process: you can find that HERE.

In short, we’re combining Sam’s wonderful wool cloth with our precious Mammoth jacket. A lot of you people asked me about it…but I went dark—pitch black. No one could reach me. Calls went unanswered. I was a living ghost. Everybody was dying to know what happened to, “The Special Edition Mammoth.” The answer was simple, fear. Just kidding, it wasn’t fear, I just really wanted to make sure the special edition was a homerun. In doing that I ended up modifying The Mammoth in a few key ways. Which I will explain to you now.

Due to the extreme length of this text, this will be a three or four part email. I’m rowdy on the keys today!!

THE CLOTH

Sam says ‘cloth’ so I says cloth.

This cloth and the lining surprised me quite a bit. I was prepared to say that this Mammoth is a more casual piece and you’d fare better in very foul weather with the standard Mammoth…but I’m changing my tune. The main cloth is a bit lighter than the standard Mammoth (~400gsm vs. ~585gsm) and it’s not as tightly woven (due to this, the cloth has a fantastic and visible texture). The wearing experience is a bit different, however. Due to the cloth weight and weave tightness, the standard Mammoth has a more rigid (think peacoat) look; it’s very structured and holds its own shape. The Special Edition Mammoth has a softer drape and feels less structured and more flowy. Fit pictures will come soon and be on the site, these are the only pictures of the Special Edition right now.

The cloth is made from 100% Herdwick sheep’s wool. Herdwick are a real brute of a sheep; they are known to survive up to three days buried under snow by eating their own wool. Herdwick are known as “fell sheep” a.k.a. sheep that live in a high and barren landscape. I feel confident bestowing them with the nickname: “little tanks with legs”. ‘Fells’ for those of us not in the U.K. -ish area, are mountains or very big hills. As customary with mountains or ‘very big hills’ they have extremely harsh weather conditions that the fell sheep are exposed to (because they are standing there). All that is to say, this wool is no joke.

Here is a Wikipedia description: This slowly maturing breed is one of the most hardy of all the British hill sheep breeds, withstanding the cold and relentless rain of the Lake District at heights upwards of 3,000 feet (about 1,000 metres). Most Herdwicks spend winter on the fells, from approximately December to April.

Shepherds often say that after a storm, the Herdwicks are the first to dry. I like to picture these sheep standing strong, getting blasted with freezing rain, while heavy metal screamo music plays in the background.

Now, onto my changing tune. I was prepared for this cloth to not have the same weather-resistant properties as the standard Mammoth. I’ll need to do some more extensive testing with this piece (it’s quite hard to do weather testing when it’s 85° and sunny in NYC) soon to finalize the comparison and I'll also be sending this piece, along with standard Mammoth to my good friend Zach. Zach is a scientist who does proper fabric testing for the Snail. That being said, I’m confident this jacket has what it takes and can stand up to some terrible weather. I did the ol’ classic run the jacket under varying levels of pressure from a kitchen sink and shower test and I’m happy to say that my hand (inside the sleeve) stayed completely dry. It’s a simple one-take test but I’ve used that for a while to quickly gauge water and wind resistance on the fly and it hasn’t let me down yet.

Note: The Mammoth uses ‘Wind Wall’: a three-piece layering system on the upper chest and back of the jacket. I only tested areas with two layers of wool (sleeves, lower back, lower chest) as those are the areas that would leak first. The ‘Wind Wall’ areas would last far longer.

Finally, the hand feel of the special edition is intense, to say the least. It’s likely what you picture when reading the description above: coarser, long-staple wool, with an insane amount of character. This is one tough wool. The jacket should last lifetimes, even with heavy use. I will say though, this needs a good lining, so we made sure to get a nice and cozy one. More on that in two sections.

IN CONCLUSION #1

The next email will outline some important changes that went into the 'Special Edition'. We'll also talk about Sam Goates and 'Woven in The Bone' (logo above).

Some of the changes are based off of feedback from people that purchased the Mammoth already, and others are little bits and bobs that I thought would take this piece to another level. I’m including an image here below as a teaser. It’s meant to entice you. What’s different here?!


I’d like to wrap this up by saying this is a very intense jacket. Most likely, anytime someone touches it, you’ll have to explain one or two things about it. Sometimes that’s quite fun!

I’ll see you in part 2 of this email.



- Michael

Common Questions:
1. Release date? Pre-orders will be ready by the end of June provided there aren’t sudden/weird roadblocks. The latest would be early July.
2. Price? Always the worst question. I’m hoping to let you know by next the email. I’m trying to figure out how to get the price as low as I possibly can. The 'Woven in The Bone' x 'Iron Snail' collaborations are truly something I want to make just because I think they’d be beautiful. This run will not make The Iron Snail a dime.