The great outdoors in Manhattan. Filson, New York City

Filson, the outdoorwear brand from the US Pacific north-west, has recently opened a store on New York’s Broadway, close to Union Square, on the other side of the country.

Nothing too unusual about that perhaps until it is considered that the interior of this one has been fitted out with timber and beams from a disused barn in Oregon, in the retailer’s home state. The work involved disassembling the barn and then recreating much of it in downtown Manhattan. As such, the 4,000 sq ft, two-floor store is, in terms of look and feel, almost completely at odds with its New York Brownstone surroundings.

It also means a piece of Oregon in New York and a taste of what the Seattle-based brand has offered to its fans for more than 100 years.

America is a vast and regional place and this is the kind of thing that demonstrates how this is a land of distinct contrasts.

Pics:  Filson
Words by John Ryan