Happy Friday Amigos,

Welcome to the next edition of JM’s Weekly Roundup. A quick hit of what’s new at La Matera and a few things that’ve popped up on my radar lately.

TL;DR:

• La Matera Highlight: New Spring Woven Belts dropped

• Worth a Visit: Gruppechat’s monthly meet at Top Notch. Vintage Euro cars, great crowd, and a laid-back take on car culture done right.

• Worth a Read: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

• Brand I’m Eyeing: Taylor Stitch - longtime friends with the founder and still one of my favorite brands doing it right. Their new Summer Lookbook is worth a look.

• Weekend Wisdom: Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. La Matera Highlight: New Spring Woven Belts

We just dropped a fresh run of spring wovens this week and this batch came out looking real good.

Bright, bold patterns paired with Cognac and Chocolate leather give these a lot of depth without feeling overdone. They bring some personality to an outfit, but still keep things refined.

This time of year usually calls for lighter, easier dressing, and these fit right in. The kind of belts that do a little more work for you in the best way.

2. Worth a Visit: Gruppechat at Top Notch

Made it out to the Gruppechat Thursday night meet at Top Notch here in Austin last night and had a great time. They host these every fourth Thursday, focusing on Euro vehicles from ’99 and older, and this week’s theme was off-road and safari builds. Safe to say I felt right at home.

If you’re not familiar, Gruppechat is a community-first car group that’s been building a following around thoughtful curation and a more laid-back, quality-over-quantity approach to car culture. Their main event, Manual Focus, pulls together some of the best vintage European cars and enthusiasts around without feeling overproduced or forced. Just good cars and good people.

I’ve run into one of the co-founders, Jim Bauer, a few times and have always been a fan of what he and Aaron Ross are building. You can tell they care about getting the details right and creating something people actually want to be part of.

If you’re in Austin and even remotely into cars, it’s worth checking out.

3. Worth a Read: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a few years ago and found myself flipping through it this week. It’s always a great read.

It’s part road trip, part philosophy, part meditation on quality and caring about what you do. It’s pretty beefy at times, but it’s one that tends to give you something every time you come back to it.

At the core of it is the idea that how you do things matters. Attention matters. Pride in the work matters.

That usually ages pretty well.

4. Brand I’m Eyeing: Taylor Stitch

I’ve known Michael Maher, the founder of Taylor Stitch, for quite a few years now, and I’ve always had a lot of respect for what he and the team have built.

They’ve carved out a lane of making well-thought-out, durable pieces that actually get better with wear. Nothing overly trendy, just solid gear designed to be worn hard and often.

They just dropped their Summer Lookbook, and it’s a good one. Lightweight layers, clean fits, and that balance of being put together without trying too hard. The kind of stuff you can throw on in the morning and not think twice about the rest of the day.

Always fun to see what they’re putting out, and this season’s definitely worth a look.

5. Weekend Wisdom: Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spring has a way of bringing some energy back. New ideas, warm weather, fresh momentum, a little more willingness to get after something.

Hard to do anything worthwhile if you’re sleepwalking through it.

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It’s been absolutely dumping rain in Austin all week, so I’m ready to get back outside with the Fam and shake it off a bit this weekend. Hope y’all get a chance to do the same.

That’s it from me. Appreciate y’all being here.

Cheers,
JM

Jon-Mark Craddock
CEO

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Originally sent through JM's Substack on 2026-04-24.