Kasper Hostrup runs one of Scandinavia’s best menswear shops from this homely space in the well-heeled Østerbro neighbourhood. He stocks Danish brands such as Anderson-Anderson, as well as European and Japanese designers.

“Fit is something you can’t always see. You have to feel it. Whenever I go to a buying appointment I try things on. Most other buyers browse through the hangers or see garments on a model but I wear each item myself.

Trying-on is part of a process: I always make sure my assistant takes a photograph and when we get back to Copenhagen we print it. Then, back at home on my large Egon Eiermann dining table, I spread out the images and review our notes to get a sense of how the collections might look. I’ll organise the pictures according to their colour, texture and category. It looks like a giant collage. Of course, it’s not about how I look – I don’t pose for the camera – it’s about the balance. You can’t get the same overview on a laptop.

At Goods, we talk a lot to our customers. Often they’re busy and they just want someone they trust to make decisions for them. They want to come to our shop and know that they can find the best pea coat or duffle. Our aim is to provide a good selection, not the most choice. The essence of buying is to make it easier for customers.

Trying each piece on takes time. At busy fairs such as Pitti Uomo it can be a little awkward. But it’s always worth it. I am never too exhausted and it always pays off. Buying is often underestimated. You have to understand how everything fits together. I’m serious about it. It’s not that we don’t have fun along the way but we want the best results for the store.”

Alberto Monti’s parents opened this Como institution 61 years ago. Today there are four outposts selling clothes for men, women and children, by Italian designers such as The Gigi and Aspesi.

“My mother and father founded A.Gi.Emme in 1957. I hated spending summers there as a kid but when I finished school I became enthusiastic about the shop. I started working with my sister, Maria Laura, who buys women’s and children’s clothes, and my brother Andrea.

Menswear begins with the fabric. Alberto Aspesi [the founder of Aspesi] is the one who truly made me excited about fashion. He taught me about fabric. You can see the variation in knits between Scotland and Italy. It’s like bread from the mountains. Maybe it’s the water, who knows? The Italian version is just better.

When I’m buying I picture the store windows and imagine what I want to see the mannequins wearing – what I want to be wearing. For next season I found a coat in a mustard-grey-and-rust check, which I want to combine with shades of blue for our store looks. That coat’s fabric and colours are the basis for our entire season’s picks. I keep a square of the fabric in the Muji notebook I carry around with me when I’m travelling, along with other fabric swatches that I clip from brands’ colour cards. But these days I have to add a lot of photos cut from magazines and lookbooks. Most brands don’t want to give you cuttings of their fabrics anymore and my notebooks have suffered for it.”