Il Regalo X Sørvest SS26

Spring is just around the corner, which for the menswear enthusiasts means that layers are slowly but surely coming off while colours are more and more prevalent around us. As we are gradually reaching for more colourful items to implement into our style, while on the other hand the amount of layers to express with decreases, naturally our socks become a more important part of the outfit. Luckily, there are brands specializing in filling that need and the best of those brands in my opinion is the Japanese brand Il Regalo.

Continuing from last years success, I once again teamed up with Il Regalo to create a small collaborative collection, adding four new vibrant and elegant designs, this time for spring and summer.

You can find the previous fall & winter collaboration here, read about Il Regalo and my first encounter with the brand here.

Il Regalo needs no (re)introduction, but if you happen to be new to the brand I would summarize their products as the perfect culmination of quality and expression.

Since the start Il Regalo has balanced colour, design, quality and artisanship at a level unmatched in my opinion.

It’s hard to put in words how humbled I feel being given this opportunity once again. Il Regalo has been a big inspiration for me and my style, not to mention I find it incredibly inspiring to see a brand staying true to their vision over time, like Il Regalo has. I would of course highly recommend having a look at their whole collection.

When approaching a collaboration like this there are quite a few considerations to make, and the key word for me here is integrity. Personally, as obvious as it sounds, that means making a collection I would actually wear and that the people following me believe I would wear, and one that I can fully stand behind.

Integrity also means I want to take into consideration the integrity of Il Regalo’s history, their stylistic expression and the integrity of the collection as a whole. Last but not least, the integrity of the potential customer and peer. Making socks that we are passionate about, that adds something new, refreshing and interesting and importantly, that we’re not making this collaboration as a gimmick or to add more “products” for the sake of just that. It is truly a collaboration born from passion.

Now, given the relationship we’ve built over the years and our shared vision, as important as all of those points above are, it is delightfully easy to come to a shared understanding regarding design, and the process has been such an interesting and rewarding experience. I hope this comes to show in the new collection.

The Collection

With the fall & winter collaboration my focus was both on adding something new that I felt was needed, something missing in my own wardrobe, as well as rejuvenating prior designs.

In this collection I’m continuing on a similar path, being a spring & summer collection that means an even more colorful approach, but you can bet I’m adding a pair of brown socks as well, and that I feel all the designs will be representative of my style.

As with the fall & winter collaboration, the designs we chose should be well known for being some of my favourites, and we’re also bringing some of the same colourways and ideas into the new designs for this collection, so there is a certain continuation from the prior release.

Brown Stripes

The reversible OTC stripe socks, or shadow stripe socks as they’re commonly known as, is probably the most important sock design in a menswear wardrobe.

It is the lowest hanging fruit for those whom wants to upgrade from solid colour socks and they make such a big difference as far as style expression goes. In my opinion this design has the best effort-to-impact ratio of any sock design. They can be both fairly subtle or expressive depending on the colours, and they instantly give the impression that you care about finer details.

For this collection I wanted to hone in on that perfect combination of brown tones, granted I admit there can be many perfect brown tone combinations. But for this one, creating a sock that matches a dark brown suit (eg Crispair, Fresco dark brown) and medium brown, or tobacco brown (eg Spence Bryson linen, Fox Air) was my goal. And so the Brown & Cinnamon reversible stripe socks are born. Similar to the houndstooth socks and heritage damask socks from the fall & winter collection, I see these as important staples in the wardrobe.

Sakura Paisley

My affinity for paisley designs can’t be overstated and as far as socks goes it’s no secret that it is a design I hold with high regard.

Il Regalo already have some of the most amazing paisley sock colourways, but it was about time we took the next step and added a pink pair to that history.

We named this model the Sakura Paisley socks, sakura meaning cherry blossom in Japanese, which aside from making sense as far as colour goes also has been a theme in my own style throughout the years.

Pink socks and accessories are inherently expressive, but it is a colour that is embraced and implemented by so many for exactly this reason, because it’s also a colour that goes with everything.

Adding the sophisticated rendition of the paisley pattern seen in these socks, a rendition unique to Il Regalo, these socks manages to balance the expressiveness of pink and paisley in an incredibly exquisite framework.

Medallions

The large scale medallion pattern was introduced a few years back and was a pattern I immediately embraced almost as if it was my own making.

Needless to say, having my own colourway made in this design is truly humbling.

Utilizing the same colours as the Snow Paisley socks from our previous collaboration, it adds continuation to our collaboration as a whole. With an ecru base, these can be worn with white, cream, beige, as well as looking incredible with brown, green and even navy, not to mention gray.

Floral Ramie

One of the designs I am most excited about and possibly an underdog among the four, the ramie floral socks is the last design of this collection.

Although talking from impression on instagram alone, I always felt that the floral ramie socks went under the radar for a lot of people back when they were first released, and so this one I really wanted to have a go at. As far as my experience wearing these goes, these should be on top of the list to anyone desiring comfortable and moisture wicking summer socks.

Because ramie is incredible for summer socks, with the same properties as linen, while being soft and comfortable to wear. As far as the colourway goes, these ended up being the one pair that slightly strays away from the palette of the other three in this collaboration, while on the other hand they tie in with the main collection as they align with the selection of pastel colours you’ll find in the collection.

Lilac is the perfect colour for this design. Subtle and delicate, bringing a fine softness to a somewhat bold design. A colour that looks how it feels, sort to speak: soothing in the summer heat.

It is truly an honor to be a part of this collaboration and yet again seeing our shared vision come to life. We hope you will enjoy this collection as much as the prior one.

Il Regalo x Sørvest