Saturday, June 21, 2008

Archival Update: Upland Trading Co.?




Photos from NY Mag profile.

My obsession with a certain of family of brands (Barbour, Filson, John Partridge, Hucklecote, Le Chameau, Beretta, etc) dates back to the pre-internet days of mail order catalogs and telephone orders. Visits to the Upland Trading Co. in NYC were the visual equivalent of browsing an online site. In one cramped showroom space in the E. Village, I could actually eyeball the fit/size/styling of an amazing range of country clothing without having to mail order catch-and-release them from their country of origin.

Somewhere in my visual archive is a photograph of the owner, Armando Negron, who once asked me to take his portrait in a Partridge trench for an advertisement in the New York Observer.

Since I have not been back to NYC in several years, I have not had the chance to check on the success of this shop in the late e-commerce age. However, I did just check the Upland site (a sad surrogate for the original) and saw a troubling notice for an upcoming close-out/liquidation sale.

Does this mean the shop is shutting down or just clearing out winter wool for summerweight linen? NYC people, let me know!

Last item purchased from Upland:



Luke Eyres University scarf

5 comments:

Rebecca said...

Aw man! I've walked by this shop so many times and never went in!!! I hope it's not closing - I will have to visit.

Lesli Larson said...

rebecca--

you must must go in. i sent a local friend by last fall and he reported that they had relocated to a basement space and looked to be low on inventory. main drawback: you must buzz a bell before they let you in.

let me know what you find out. i first saw the engineered garments brand at this shop.

David Coggins said...

So sad--I stopped in a few months ago and asked how business was and they said, rather wistfully I now realize, 'not too good.'
If New York can't support Upland Trading, what's the world coming to?

Anonymous said...

its not closing. i recently went in 2 weeks ago. they are just changing management.

Lesli Larson said...

Glad to hear they're not closing--but I cannot imagine UTC under any other management!