The Daily Valet. - 9/2/22, Friday

✔️ So Long?

September 02, 2022

Friday, September 2nd Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

The weeks before a long weekend are always the longest, right?

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

↦Programming Note: We will be off on Monday. Enjoy the holiday and we’ll see you back here on Tuesday.

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

So Long, Savile Row?

A developer wants to add a mixed-use complex to the famed London street long reserved for its tailors

Suits made by hand on London’s legendary Savile Row can take up to 10 weeks to make. It’s a process that involves multiple tailors: a cutter, a coatmaker, a trousermaker, a vestmaker, a coat finisher, a trouser finisher and a presser. Then there’s someone whose specialty it is to sew buttons on. To say that they do things the old fashioned way would be something of an understatement.

Getting a suit custom made should be a slow, and ideally, pleasurable experience. You don’t need to rush when having your measurements taken or trying on a garment you could own for decades. Which is why the locations of these world-class craftsmen are so important. They should be places you want to be. Savile Row has been the premier location for such tailoring since the 18th century—its tailors have dressed all sorts of moneyed gentlemen with good taste, from kings and presidents to movie stars.

But it has been a tough few years for many of Savile Row’s tailors. Between the casualization of menswear to economic uncertainty to the pandemic keeping clients homebound, business hasn’t exactly been booming. And despite a recent rebound (thanks, in part, to a strong U.S. dollar) many fear that it marks the end of this quiet block’s tasteful tenure.

Already, a handful of tailors headquartered between 18 and 20 Savile Row were forced to relocate to other spots down the street after their landlord, The Pollen Estate, announced plans to redevelop a couple of the corridor’s keystone properties. In total, Pollen claims 45 buildings in London’s Mayfair neighborhood, where Savile Row is located.

The proposal—which includes plans to demolish two buildings in favor of a mixed-use complex for offices, restaurants and other stores—would entail “completely changing the profile of the street,” of the street’s bespoke tailors told the Wall Street Journal. “They’re navigating the demise of Savile Row as a street that’s the pinnacle of sartorial excellence.”

But whether it happens remains up in the air. Westminster City Council (which oversees the district of London where Savile Row is located), granted the row “protected status” in 2016. That gives the council power to reject planning applications that could change the character of the street. Currently, there’s no deadline for its decision on the development plans.

↦ Dig Deeper: A few months ago, I spoke with a genuine Savile Row cutter, Huntsman’s Campbell Carey, who created the wardrobe for 2022’s most stylish film.

CDC Recommends New Boosters

The reformulated Pfizer and Moderna vaccines target omicron-specific variants

Late on Thursday, the CDC officially endorsed the first updated COVID-19 booster shot. They're recommending that millions of eligible Americans—including those as young as 12—get an updated jab to bolster defenses against serious illness and death during a potential fall rise in COVID cases.

The recommendation came just hours after an outside panel of vaccine advisors earlier Thursday endorsed the boosters in a 13-1 vote and marked the last regulatory hurdle before the updated shots can go into Americans' arms.

“If you are eligible, there is no bad time to get your booster,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “They can help restore protection that has waned since previous vaccination and were designed to provide broader protection against newer variants.” If you, like me, got your last booster this winter, you're eligible for the reformulated shot.

What's not yet known is just how much of an increase in effectiveness we're talking about, or the duration of protection, officials said. And according to the Washington Post, some advisory panel members expressed concern about the lack of clinical data about the reformulated boosters, but also noted the potential harm in waiting for clinical data until November.

↦ FYI: More than 12.6 billion doses of vaccines have been given worldwide since late 2020, per a Bloomberg tracker, including 609 million in the U.S.

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The Storage Your Shoes Deserve

Behold LG’s fancy new shoeboxes of the future

This is the kind of tech that really gets me excited. It's stylish, it's innovative and will protect the things I spend the most money on—my clothes and shoes. LG just unveiled the Styler ShoeCase and ShoeCare at the technology trade show IFA in Berlin. And in the age of sneaker lotteries, it seems like perfect timing.

Because when you shell out for shoes that are on par with art, you want to display them, right? And you want to protect them, too. Stashing them in a cardboard box in your closet isn't the answer. Plus, if you're bold enough to wear them, then you want to keep them clean and fresh for as long as possible.

The new Styler ShoeCase—a shoebox enclosure with a transparent window—will keep your shoes safe from moisture and has filters to protect them from UV light. The stackable boxes have a built-in spotlight and a turntable that can be rotated to show off your vintage Jordan's best angles (or hide that one unfortunate scuff mark).

The company also debuted a sleek way to keep your kicks fresh. The Styler ShoeCare looks like a locker, but is essentially a shrunken version of its Styler home steam-cleaning closet designed to accommodate shoes. As The Verge points out, friends might come over and think it's a mini fridge, but you can then surprise them by tossing in their shoes. “Let them know that its Zeo-Dry filters will make their shoes more pleasant to wear and to have around.”

A Weekend Pairing

‘The Rings of Power’ + Cloudy Bay Pinot

Practically since it was announced several years ago, Amazon's expensive “Lord of the Rings” prequel series, The Rings of Power, has had many people predicting its doom. Any take on such a gigantic fantasy franchise is going to come with the backlash of fans, whether those fans are expressing well-meaning concern or they're straight-up trolls. But here we are ... the show is streaming today on Prime Video.

Coming two decades after the first film in Peter Jackson's theatrical trilogy (and less than two weeks after HBO's own Game of Thrones prequel), this takes place thousands of years before the events of Tolkien's “The Lord of the Rings”. But the first season offers fans well-executed versions of familiar things: balletic archery, squabbling frenemyship among elves and dwarves, a rising evil, even a tempting, cursed artifact. The A.V. Club calls it a “dazzling return” while Entertainment Weekly says it's “kind of a catastrophe.” Is it a bad sign that the critic Darren Franich is rooting for the orcs? But the Los Angeles Times thinks the series fits into a gray middle area—which seems fitting for Middle-earth, right?

↦ Your Pairing:Wine was shown often in the previous “Lord of the Rings”. And always with wise characters. So it seemed fitting to pair the show with a wine from the same country where the series was filmed. Cloudy Bay’s ominous name and dark label belies the easy-drinking Pinot Noir inside. Dark berry notes are finished with toasted spices and earthy, floral aromas.

In Other News

↦ Biden Attacks Trump, MAGA Republicans As a Threat to Democracy in Blistering Speech

↦ If There’s Still Such a Thing As the ‘Song of the Summer,’ This Year’s Would Be …

↦ How One TikToker Convinced Folks He Was an AI-Generated Character

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

The TSA

These car elevators

The future of fragrance?

Partner

Take Control of Your Fertility

Parenthood starts with you. Why not get proactive?

Fertility is changing. People are having kids later in life and knowing the health of your sperm can help you make informed decisions to increase or protect your fertility chances. Did you know that sperm counts have fallen by over 50% in the last 50 years?

Whether you are trying to conceive now or you hope to proactively improve your fertility for the future, there are a number of reasons you should consider testing. Thankfully, start-up company Legacy makes it simple to test your sperm from the comfort of your home. The clinically-validated analysis kit is tested in CLIA-certified labs by a team of experienced scientists, and all the results are reviewed by Legacy's medical staff.

You'll be able to measure several key metrics of your little swimmers, just like a fertility clinic or traditional lab. From sperm count and concentration to volume and motility. You can also choose to have your sperm cryogenically frozen for future use. After all, younger sperm leads to healthier children and freezing protects your ability to have kids in the future. Think of it as an insurance plan.

↦ Curious? Find out which Legacy service is right for you. And don’t worry, it’s all confidential.