As the founder of Crane Brothers, Murray Crane’s regular trips to Europe are an opportunity to be inspired and to connect with suppliers in real life.
After the lockdowns of the past two and half years, a recent trip to Europe reinvigorated the menswear expert who has recently made some changes to the business, opening a lifestyle-focused boutique in Ponsonby Road in addition to the brand’s trusted flagship on High Street and one in Christchurch.
From meeting up with a shirt factory in the medieval province of Bergamo to location scouting in London, Murray reports on his recent trip with a few highlights along the way.
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“It’s nice to be home after 11 days away in Europe. International travel is far from normal, with some significant challenges. There were painful delays, long queues, and cancellations, but nonetheless, it was great to be travelling again,” says Murray.
“In each city, I visited our team of suppliers and partners and was excited by what I saw. There was plenty of inspiration and I look forward to sharing more in the next six months as I complete our incoming spring/summer 2023 collection and continue working on next autumn/winter 2024.”
Ciao Milano!
Milano Unica is the main international trade show for high-end textiles and accessories. Crane Brothers was one of 4052 companies that visited Milano Unica from 12 to 14 July.
For me, as a business owner, it is an exciting and efficient way to do business. After 30 years of doing so, it remains a very intense and demanding time as a buyer, but I am grateful for the strong and exclusive supply agreements we hold and the partnerships we have developed.
Visiting Milan in July is always busy as the tourist population swells. All the big fashion brands have a strong presence here so it’s a great shopping experience. I have lots of friends working in Milan so there are always plenty of people to visit and catch up with for an Aperitivo.
I always make a point of visiting Pasticceria Marchesi because it is possibly one of the most beautiful places in the world to drink coffee and watch Italian life unfold one drama at a time.
Beautiful Bergamo
I spent a day in Bergamo visiting our shirt factory. We’ve been dealing with the same family-owned business for nearly 20 years. It’s always a pleasure seeing people we interact with on a daily basis and to now sit down and share a simple meal with our industrious and talented team.
They are now a third-generation business, so I’ve had the pleasure of working with parents and grandparents. If I retired to Italy, this would be the region I would live in.
London calling
Catching up with Kirk Originals at the Chiltern Firehouse, it’s a great spot to visit in London. Mark Brown from Kirk Originals is always working on some new derivation of frames.
We have been working with them for several seasons now and there are a number of exciting developments coming through.
We have an extensive network of suppliers and partners in London. You can really see the cracks caused by Covid and Brexit. However, they are a resilient bunch and there are already so many positive pockets of activity.
I took the opportunity to do some location scouting for our spring/summer 2023 campaign, which we’ve just photographed in London in the last week. It has always been a dream of mine to shoot in a city whose culture has influenced me so much over the years.
Hallo, Amsterdam
I had a very long meeting with our team the day I landed in Amsterdam. Sugar solves most jet lag-related issues and this time was no different. The Dutch know how to make great snacks.
Making many decisions on the day regarding cloth commitments for the next six months. We hub all our distribution and deliveries through the Netherlands, so logistics and freight challenges were high on the agenda.
I haven’t spent a great deal of personal time in Amsterdam, but it’s a lot more than canals, marijuana, and sex shops. It’s a true Northern city with strong architecture built to protect it from the elements, very friendly people (who nearly all speak English), and, as I mentioned earlier, great biscuits.
