For the past two weeks New York City has been focused on menswear. Men’s Fashion Week ran last week and after a mere two-day break, the summer 2017 editions of the menswear trade shows were held and concluded when MAN ended its three-day run yesterday afternoon. This is our rundown of all the major events that occurred in Manhattan during Men’s Market.
Just over 200 brands were featured at the latest edition of Capsule, which was held at the Javits Center from Monday to Wednesday. As always, the event spotlighted a nice mix of contemporary, directional and up-and-coming labels with a definite whiff of cool. Reflecting the current mood in the sector, major themes included athletics (too many names to mention), interesting or amusing graphics, video games (DRKN and Naked & Famous), prints and an interest in nature (Fronteer and DDugoff).
Here are some of Capsule’s standouts this season:
Coolest denim: Marna Ro
Founded by Malaysians but designed in Los Angeles, this four-year-old brand was inspired by the constant new building that is happening there and used “Under Construction” as its theme. Enzyme washes and patchwork gave the jeanswear a rugged edge and bum bags with the phrase “Post No Bills” served as a perfect accompanying accessory.
Happiest ten-year-old: Naked & Famous
Believe it or not, Brandon Svarc’s inventive denim brand is hitting the decade mark and its is celebrating with new releases such as 10th Anniversary Jean that uses ten different varieties of cotton from ten different countries and has a ten-color selvedge edge. The brand is also launching a jean to honor The Year of the Dog in the next Asian New Year and recently inked a deal to make merchandise based on the “Street Fighter” video game (unfortunately Svarc wouldn’t allow photos of that fantastic collab just yet).
Coming soon to a video game: DRKN
This new brand uses video games as its inspiration and its designs will appear on actual game characters soon.
Best basics: Handvaerk
The New York based brand continues to offer some of the best and yummiest classic pieces made with high-quality cotton. They might look simple but these pared down items will never go out of style and should be staples in any guy’s wardrobe.
Best debuts: 12:05 and Gold Street
The former is a brand new sporty brand by interior designer Javier Echenique that features his signature eye pattern while the former is a terrific retro-looking active and fashion brand by South African rugby star Francois Hougaard.
Best Hawaiian shirts: Avanti
Based in Honolulu, this company re-creates authentic prints from the 1940s and ’50s.
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For more information on trade shows check out DFV Group’s expocheck.com.
