The Armour Archive

Hey all

Ordered chausses & braies a few weeks ago from HE. Good communication & customer service, great product, overall 5/5. Verrah nice.

~Wil

I've had nothing but positive experiences with them.

Great products, fantastic customer service, and knowledgable and friendly to boot! WHat's not to like?

Always lovely to hear when people are happy- thanks!

Just popped in to mention that my Order Manager Francena -the person responsible for our outstanding customer service- will be running the booth at Pennsic this year. If you're there, please stop by and introduce yourself. It's always nice to be able to put a face to a name!

Gwen
Black Swan Designs

Gwen,

Are you going to have 13th braises in stock the second week? I need at least one pair...

I probably should have mentioned when we'd be open, huh? Doh...

We'll open for business at noon on Thursday August 12. Hours will be as posted, but we're shooting for 10Am to 10PM, subject to on the spot changes due to weather and store traffic considerations. We're bringing everything we normally carry, plus some new products. As always, we try to cover the bases by bringing 10% more of everything than we sold the previous year. Unfortunately there's no way to accurately predict what will sell out, so shop early for best selection--or order ahead of time! We usually ship within 48 hours so if ordered items are in stock orders placed this week should be delivered before July 30.

Gwen

Since Jeff's not gonna be there yall need any help at Pensic?

I'm terrible with sales but i can lift and tote? Throw out undesireables

Gwen will you have any uber inseam hose at Pennsic? I have a 36" inseam, would that have to be a custom order?

Murdoch- Jeff will be there for setup and tear down but he won't be there to sell, as he leaves for the UK on Tuesday the 10th and doesn't get back until the following Tuesday (the 17th) night late. We have enough floor/sales staff for now but we do need 1 person for setup (male, able to help muscle wall panels around) on Saturday the 8th and 2 for teardown (male/female, some lifting) on Sunday the 22. Feel free to call Francena (she's in charge of hiring Pennsic help and setting up the schedule) if you're interested- 760-789-2299.

Thaddeus, yes, 36" inseam is a custom order. I only keep 32" and 34" inseams in stock. Sorry!

Gwen

This is going to sound totally crazy, but I am being deadly serious.
I have never been comfortable in clothes. I don't mean that I would rather be a nudist- far from it. Until I started making up my own ridiculous costumes because of the freedom and creativity that came with the early punk rock scene- I just hated clothes. They looked stupid. They felt uncomfortable. Everything I wore seemed like it wasn't right for me. However, the first time I put on Black Swan chausses and braies, their linen St. Louis shirt and a beautiful linen Bogston tunic made by Mistress Adrielle..I felt like I was finally dressed "right". It blew my mind. Don't know why. It just felt right.
When my future wife Kara and I were just friends -this incident was probably 14 years ago- she came to a demo with my buddy (whom she was GF to back then when we were kids). After I suited up, she said right to my face "I wish you could wear that stuff all the time! You look like a totally different person! You look right! You look HOT!"
Isn't it wierd how you gotta like something for it to seem to belong with you? I have never felt "right" in anything but armour, and medieval clothes. I wish that Black Swan existed back in the late 1980's!! I would have enjoyed all that comfort and style all those years. Everything that Adrielle doesn't make for me I get from Gwen. I have yet to wear any of the stuff made by the new companies....
Gwen's stuff really blew my mind, and made events fun for me for the first time after being in the SCA since 86? 87?
I never would have been knighted had I not finally been able to finally aquire real medieval clothes...because I just didn't go to enough events because I didn't have decent garb. I wasn't going to wear poly SCA bullshit!

Thanks for the compliment Vitus. I too have always been impressed by the quality of Gwen's clothing and am very thankful for how HE has helped raise the bar for clothing in the SCA.

cheers
Adrielle

Totally agreed. I have stuff from HE, and I tell you, I plan on buying stuff from them in the future, also. Great stuff. I hope that their product line expands into the 14th century some more, which I think will happen.

It's amazing how different, for example, it feels to fight in chausses and braies and turnshoes--completely different experience.

By the way, have some product improvement ideas, need to get them together and send them to you Gwen.

Jehan, squire of Sir Vitus

Aw shucks guys, cut it out, you're embarrassing me..... I've been accused of a lot of things over the years but I've never been named as a corespondent in someone's knighting!

Jehan, I'll look forward to your suggestions, hopefully you won't be wagging your finger at me like carlyle does. BTW, your armour is being heat treated today, so I expect you'll be fighting in it at Pennsic. Yay!

Speaking of Pennsic, I charge you with a quest- I've been trying to get that sorry knight of yours to come and introduce himself to me for the last I don't know how many years. I charge you with bringing him to me for that introduction, at his convenience. I'm not all that scarey, I promise!

Gwen

Sir Vitus is staying at home this year and bad mouthing Pennsic! No such luck!!!

As to the knighting thing...I ordered wool chausses from HE and wore them at the beginning of this reign...and I was made a Knight!

HE and The Anvil of Virtue cured my Pellerga too!!!!

No finger wagging, Gwen. I'm just trying to find a way to stop the chaus droop syndrome.

Jehan, squire of Sir Vitus

Jehan: I'm just trying to find a way to stop the chaus droop syndrome.

Wear taller boots.

Gwen, I tell you what: You get those legs to me by July 29, and I'll pay whatever it takes. I have an event I would REALLY like them for.

Jehan de Pelham, squire of Sir Vitus

Jehan de Pelham wrote:No finger wagging, Gwen. I'm just trying to find a way to stop the chaus droop syndrome.

Jehan, squire of Sir Vitus

Garders. They work wonders. While I made my own, I do remember seeing them on the HE website. Almost totally eliminates the "droop" effect, which I would imagine, our forefathers/mothers used to wear them.

Sixtus

Yes, I have garters. I must be doing something wrong. I will re-examine.

Jehan, squire of Sir Vitus

Jehan, I've not received an email detailing the problems you're having with your chausses, so I'll take a stab in the dark here-

-Try tucking your shirt into your underwear. The added friction between the shirt and underwear should help keep your braies from sagging and make your chausses ride higher. Jeffrey swears by this method.

- Your chausses could be a bit short for your leg or too wide in the thigh. You could try a larger size to gain a bit more length, but that would exacerbate the thigh problem. You could consider custom chausses. If you order 3 pairs at a time I'll custom make them to your measurements at no additional charge. I've done several custom runs lately and the clients are very pleased with the fit.

-Same with braies- if you order 4 pairs of briaes I'll custom size them at no additional charge.

- Try wool chausses ones instead of linen. 100% of the customers I have heard from say the wool ones fit better than the linen. carlyle got a pair of the wool ones in February and he says they fit him much better than the linen.

-Try the split legged hose I began offering this month. They cover as much as the 15th C. hose but the legs are separate and have no codpiece. These are accurate to about 1380. Only problem with these is you need to point them to some sort of garment for them to stay up. The Charles of Blois I'll be offering will work with these, but I won't have that available for a couple of months yet. On the bright side, if you have a garment like that already it's a small matter to add a few eyelets to it for the hosen.

Without knowing the specific problem it's hard to know the correct answer, so if none of these suggestions work feel free to drop me a line - gwen@historicenterprises.com.

I've brought your armour-delivery request to Jeffrey's attention- you should be getting an email from him about it any time.

Gwen

Just wanted to chime in here. I order some stuff (A complete 14th Century outfit) a few months ago. The stuff is awesome. I haven't receive the belt yet, but it's been backorderd since that time. The service was awesome, someone, I suppoce it was Gwen, called me to clarify my order before they shipped it. She helped me pick out nice colors (Guys suck at that), and made sure I had put the correct measurement down.

My wife is an excellent seamstress, but she even marveled at the quality. And for those of you out there that think HE is pricy, try making a pair of footed chausses, they suck. The savings in frustration alone is worth the price.

I'll definately order again.

Hey Gwen, to get the "order 3 and get them tailored" do I need to call you direct?

Thanks,
Aaron

I'm up at my grandmother's house this weekend, so I cannot respond to any emails sent to the address Jeff has until Sunday evening.

I will try the shirt tucking in, and I have the wool chausses. We'll see about the method you suggest.

Jehan, squire of Sir Vitus

Hi Aaron-

You probably spoke to Francena- I'm usually chained to either a sewing machine or my cutting table so I'm not allowed to answer the phone any more. Francena is a whiz with colours, although I sometimes am allowed to make suggestions....

Sorry about the belt delay- the batch we got wasn't up to par so we won't sell them. I know it's incenvenient for you and I apologize. Another batch is supposed to be here before Pennsic, so let's cross our fingers they arrive!

You can email me directly for custom work 'cause that's my department. My email is gwen@historicenterprises.com. Chausses, doublets, cotehardies, you name it- if you don't fit a stock size drop me a line and we'll custom make something to your measurements. I know the info about custom work is kind of buried on the website, but we still do plenty of it. Stock is a great deal for guys who fit standard sizes because it can be shipped immediately, but we can usually custom fit those who don't fall into the stock range.

Thanks for your support!

Gwen
Black Swan Designs

Heavens no, it's no problem. I was just stating a fact. I have NEVER and I mean NEVER received the service you folks have given me. I'm thankful you are there to provide the quality product and wonderful service that you do. I meant nothing bad by my comment, please beleive me. I am flabbergasted at the quality of your garments.

Aaron