Trunk Clothiers of Marylebone

“Our aim is to make Trunk a destination for men to shop for everything from suits to denim to swimwear” says founder of the relatively new-kid-on-the-block Marylebone clothier Trunk, Mats Klingberg.

“We wanted to create a shop that caters to an international audience of men seeking easy to wear, intelligently-designed clothes, with no compromise on quality”.

Quite a promise but it does certainly live up to expectation when I visited to see how this was manifested in to a physical space. Having retailed in Marylebone for 6 years, I was not surprised to see this addition… alongside shops such as Skandium, Conran Shop and of course Monocle (Mats just happens to be partner of Tyler Brûlé, the editor in chief of Monocle magazine).

Note that Trunk is a clothiers, in the same way that Margaret Howell is not ‘fashion’, Mats has created an emporium of clothing, stylish not fashionable. Not too say that this store is out of sync with what is current, but for those looking to pick up something stylish that will last past the season (and let’s face it that is most of us).

Like many entrepreneurs, Mats found a problem in getting clothing of this quality and from distinguished names that have not adorned the rails of most stores in the UK, he spoke to GQ magazine of his issues in finding the right store for him:

“I had lived in London for over five years and I hadn’t really found that shop that I would go to and buy my own clothes. I thought, ‘If it doesn’t exist here, then why don’t I do one myself?’ I decided on Marylebone because it’s quite close to Paddington Station and the Heathrow Express. Lots of guys who are in London for business, bankers from New York, come by on their travels.”

I very much enjoyed my trip down Trunk and resisted buying up the entire downstairs but have made a definite note to take regular trips to fill up on the much-needed basics for the wardrobe. Mats talked to Purple Eagle about the opening of the new store and his plans for the business…