... She's Manchester's Own Hero Have you heard of the medical term anorexia scholastic? It is a ‘special’ physiological disorder just for females, a debilitating thinness of the body resulting from too much mental stimulus. Because, as history has taught us, too much reading and a woman’s head will explode! It wouldn’t be surprising if Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), had the term thrown at her on more than one occasion. Thankfully

Image courtesy of the BBC Today marks the longest day of the year aka the Summer Solstice or Litha, whereby thousands of people gather at Stone Henge to watch the breathtaking sunrise behind the Heel Stone (a celebratory tradition that dates back to prehistoric times) Here in the UK we will enjoy an uninteruppted 16 hours and 38 minutes of daylight today, with the sun rising at 4.43am and setting this evening at 9.31pm. In Reykjavík however they will have an astounding 21 hou

FASHION DESIGNER; Lee Alexander McQueen - what a rather flat, mundane description of a talent, a genius, and an inspiration. McQueen wasn’t simply a designer, he was an artist, a sculptor, a magician and, as ‘McQueen’, a new film released last Friday 8 June, illustrates, a provocative storyteller. Each of his fashion shows made us think twice, and think again, about history, about gender, forcing fashion to step away from the irrelevant and show the rest of the world that fas

Last week Josef Schindler told the story behind his Menswear brand Joe & Co Premium Denim - and this week we're honoured to share with you his musical influences by way of June's Create & Develop Soundtrack. Of his choices, Joe says " I was brought up on these songs, they have great memories for me. Pjamarama was the first single I ever bought. The others are mainly what I grew up on as a kid and bring back some amazing memories... the later tunes in my playlist are pretty ch

Winter felt like the longest, wettest and coldest period for quite some time. But, finally, the sun has shone, the flowers are blooming, and the Chelsea Flower Show has, once again, impressed and inspired with its unique and creative garden displays. The emotive ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ garden, winner of The People’s Choice Award, and inspired by the Yorkshire Dales, included wild woodland, limestone walls and traditional crafts interspersed with artisan food production. It was

The Beginning... My background in denim started in the 1980's whilst working in the cream of Menswear stores in Manchester; I saw a gap in the denim market for reasonably priced product, which led me to the creation of my first brand ‘Josef Jeans’ . The brand become a household name in the 90's. Fast forward twenty years - I registered Joe & Co Denim as a Trademark in 2008 following the frustration of trying to find superior end quality denim at a price that reflects the gar