Comfort, Color and Casual Were the Buzzwords at New York Trade Shows
NEW YORK — The mood was upbeat and optimistic at the New York men’s trade shows last week despite some significant headwinds that have impacted the climate in the past few months.
While jittery retailers and production issues remain a concern, most vendors at the Project and Man shows maintained a positive attitude as they showed their casually skewed, colorful, and often sustainable, spring 2024 collections.
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“The mood is really good, but it’s stressful out there,” said Garrett Leigh of the eyewear brand that bears his name. “I can’t recall a time this challenging, but you also have to convince yourself to take risks to build your business.”
Case in point is that he recently decided to branch out into golf-specific styles for his eyewear line and attended the PGA Show in Florida in January to introduce the collection. As a result he has opened a number of country clubs as clients and is also working with them to offer special gifts for their member tournaments.
Although he wasn’t sure how the category expansion would work, he still opted to make the leap. “I don’t know how you can grow your business without opening new channels,” he said.
Edwina Kulego, vice president of men’s for Informa Markets Fashion, owner of the Project Show, agreed that the industry has been “having a hard time the last two to three years.” Brands at the show were working hard to “figure things out,” she added, as production issues hamper their ability to produce samples and collections.
“But there’s also a lot of optimism and collaborating,” she said, adding that brands that showed at Project were quick to help their colleagues with retail contacts as well as suggestions on how to overcome their manufacturing issues. “They’re having a lot of conversations with each other and that banding together is healthy for all of us,” she said.
John Webb of Handvaerk was also upbeat. Because the brand is built on high-quality basics such as T-shirts and polos, his business has been doing well. “People are past worrying these days; it’s time to get on with our lives,” he said. “Everyone wanted to dressed up after COVID[-19]” but now, they’re opting for pieces that are sophisticated yet comfortable — which is right in the brand’s wheelhouse. And because it offers replenishment options, retailers know they can always get merchandise when they need it.
Here are some of the top brands that showed at the Project and Man shows last week.
PROJECT
Brand: Agnès B. Homme
Designer: Agnès B.
Backstory: Agnès Troublé was born in Versailles and, growing up, was introduced to art and music by her father. As a teenager she thought she would become a curator but at 17, she married the book publisher and cinema aficionado Christian Bourgois, pivoted to fashion design and introduced her first collection in 1973. Although womenswear represents more than 80 percent of sales, she has been creating menswear since 1982 and even designed stage outfits for David Bowie in the ’90s and later. Up until now, however, the designer has only wholesaled the men’s collection on a limited basis and sold it in her own stores around the world. That changed with this season.
Key looks: The spring line was influenced by the south of France and Morocco and offers up an assortment of slouchy and relaxed chic silhouettes in neutrals and soft pastels. “It evokes the mentality of an elegant garden party,” said Jon Kalupa, president of the Avalon Group, which reps the brand in the States. Top pieces included a sweater-vest, short-sleeved double-face jersey tops with zip closures, a denim “suit” with a shirtwaist construction and Agnès B.’s distinct take on three-button sack suits and four-button Nehru-style jackets. There was also a more traditional seersucker jacket that could be paired with pants with an elastic waistband in the back.
Retail prices: Shirts are $350 to $450, knitwear is $400 to $600; jackets are $795 to $895, and a suit is $1,200.
Brand: Mavrans
Designer: Michael Szklaver
Backstory: Resortwear tends to be a category that skews toward a clean and refined look, but Mavrans is giving the category a new spin with its vibrant and graphic aesthetic. Founded in 2018 by Michael Szklaver, the Miami-based lifestyle brand offers an array of retro hand-drawn prints on swimsuits for both men and women, many with nature motifs as well as classic beachfront locales, such as Ocean Drive and Havana. Sustainability makes up one of the brand’s pillars, with all of its fabrics being made from 100 percent recycled plastics, coconut husks and organic cottons, and also utilizing digital printing, a practice Szklaver says helps minimize waste and dye usage. Their most sought-after product is the matching short-sleeved shirt and shorts sets that mimic most of the same lively prints found on their swimwear and have been seen on celebrities such as Maluma, Ed Sheeran, Manuel Turizo, Joe Jonas and Dwyane Wade. For spring, Szklaver incorporated the Miami background via the use of tropical elements such as vibrant plant and fruit graphics, in black and mauve tones.
Key Pieces: Dragon Fruit graphic short-sleeved shirt and matching shorts (in mauve), rainbow Crochet shirts and animal-print short-sleeved shirts.
Retail Prices: Ts range from $49 to $169, the latter for crochet shirts, and $99 each for the matching sets, respectively.
Brand: North Works
Designer: Toshi Ohta
Backstory: Japanese jewelry brand North Works utilizes silver coins from the 1800s and 1900s and turns them into bracelets, rings, cuffs and necklaces. The brand, which launched in 2011, regularly uses American silver dollar coins for its pieces and keeps many of the coin’s original features for the jewelry’s design, such as the “United States of America” script or an image of the Statue of Liberty. The brand also offers a range of beaded jewelry created with deadstock Murano glass beads.
Key looks: The brand is continuing its focus on its silver coin jewelry this season, offering a range of necklaces, bracelets and rings.
Retail prices: Prices start at $150 for necklaces and go up to $1,000 for pieces made from American silver dollar coins.
Man
Brand: Marina Leight Atelier
Designer: Marina Leight
Backstory: The designer has a long history in fashion. She’s been making clothes since she was in the second grade, studied under a Savile Row tailor, is a master cutter, and apprenticed with a couture house in Rome for three years before returning to L.A. to open her own design agency, factory and custom atelier. Two years ago, she decided it was time to launch a collection under her own name. The wife of eyewear designer Garrett Leight grew up in the forests of the San Juan islands outside Seattle and spent her summers on a fishing boat in Alaska so her collection is fully sustainable and ethically produced.
Key looks: The spring/summer collection, called sticks and stones, draws its influence from the driftwood and rocks found on a beach near her childhood home. The neutral color palette and simple, unstructured silhouettes — many of which are genderless such as a short-sleeved snap-front romper and wide-legged trouser — evoke warm summer nights and soft waves. To appeal to both men and women, Leight sizes each piece from 1 to 6 but the label flips over to detail more-traditional men’s and women’s sizes and washing instructions. Because of her history and love of nature, all of the fabrics are biodegradable. Top pieces include an unlined California trench in cotton flannel; a button-up shirt with an exaggerated pocket; slouchy Ts; convertible mini tunics; drawstring drop-crotch pants, and a corduroy mechanic’s jumpsuit, an updated version of what she wore on her family’s fishing boats when she was a child.
Retail prices: Most pieces retail between $250 and $450 and the California trench is $530.
Brand: Vintage Heavy
Designer: Jason Geter
Backstory: Geter launched Vintage Heavy in 2017 with the goal of creating quality products that had a vintage feel. All garments are made in America and are created in limited quantities to focus on quality and limit overproduction. While some pieces are designed with deadstock material, the overall aesthetic of the brand takes inspiration from vintage looks by incorporating fades, washes and distressing into the pieces.
Key looks: Vintage Heavy is focusing on its fleeces for spring 2024, specifically its license with animated series “Peanuts.” The animated characters are featured on an array of washed-out sweaters designed in a range of colors.
Retail prices: The brand’s fleece sweaters range from $250 to $460.
Brand: Richter Goods
Designer: Mario Guajardo and Bronte Treat
Backstory: Based in San Antonio, Texas, Richter Goods was launched by business partners Mario Guajardo and Bronte Treat to pay homage to the brand’s hometown and Western roots. The menswear label focuses on Western-inspired men’s shirting, giving a nod to Texan motifs through design details like plaid prints, pearl snaps and chain stitching. The brand employs a team of 10 seamstresses who hand-make each item with fabrics and materials sourced from Italy and Japan.
Key looks: For spring, the designers highlighted a chain-stitched denim jacket featuring original artwork as a key piece. The brand’s signature men’s shirting is also key for spring, including a green plaid long-sleeved shirt and a blue and white striped short-sleeved shirt.
Retail prices: Richter Goods’ men’s shirts range from $160 to $250.
Brand: MonoStereo
Designer: Colby Black
Backstory: Locals living in Malibu and a dash of the surf and skate culture of California from the ’70s and ’80s serves as the starting point for MonoStereo. In its third season, the made in Los Angeles brand is offering a vintage unisex approach, with a lineup of wearable silhouettes that include garment dye techniques, French jacquards and Japanese roll goods. This season’s inspiration: California Hippie meets Western Hippie. The brand comes as a joint venture from industry veterans Alex Seastrom — one of the cofounders of Mowgli Surf, dedicated to tie-dye and the aesthetics of surfwear from the ’90s, and Colby Black, former chief product officer at Urban Outfitters.
Key Pieces: Surf jackets in a French jacquard with Italian buttons (perfect for a Cali winter), military pants in a hemp cotton twill, oversized work jackets, and jacquard pants with cowboy graphics.
Retail Prices: Ts range from $65 to $195, $175 to $225 for shirts and $295 for shirt jackets, with pants ringing in at $245 to $275.
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