Athletic wear maker Under Armour has launched its first made-in-the-USA capsule apparel collection, produced at its state-of-the-art UA Lighthouse design and manufacturing innovation hub in Baltimore.
Austrian cellulosic fibre producer Lenzing has partnered with Spanish technology firm Jeanologia to demonstrate the advantages of laser finishing on Tencel fabrics and garments.
The second edition of a ranking which scores companies on their policy, traceability and uptake of sustainable cotton, is to expand this year including businesses from all continents, and online companies such as Zalando and Amazon.
Strong demand for American cotton from Chinese buyers, as well as those in Vietnam and Indonesia, has helped push up prices to their highest levels since last July.
Robert Geller was torn between love and war for his fall collection.
The designer, who was celebrating his 10th anniversary, started to conceive this line six months ago during a particularly unstable time in Europe and the U.S., and this shone through in his use of heavy military references and neoprene ski masks that at times felt a little threatening.
“It’s about the need to protest, the need to protect but also have some hope,” he said.
That hopefulness was evident in logoed love messages on sweatpants and hooded sweatshirts. Other softer touches included flowy orange, blue or purple silk pants and pajama-like paisley shirts.
Napoleonic epaulets and an embroidered wool and metal stripe on military pants provided a dramatic touch.
After 10 years of creating directional men’s wear, Geller proved once again that he remains one of the highlights of men’s fashion week in New York.
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EFM continued to elevate athleticism through fluidity and structure for its fall collection.
“I wanted to emphasize the lifestyle and movement of the brand regardless of gender,” said founder Donrad Duncan. The men’s lineup blended seamlessly with the women’s looks, most of them embellished with a tribal neck band that enhanced the urban warrior message.
Engineered for Motion remains true to its movement message as seen in some of Duncan’s trademark technical outerwear pieces such as waterproof wool coats, jacquard blazers, double-sided zip pullovers and micromodal military blazer.
Rap artist Young Paris performed at the finale, adding a cool factor to the street-savvy collection.
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Taking a cue from American artist Gordon Matta-Clark, whose work revolved around the intersection of projected geometries, Carlos Garciavelez used this technique — and his background in architecture — to create overlapping graphics in his fall collection.
But Garciavelez shifted this season from his tailored perspective to a more sportswear-driven lineup that included cropped jackets, parkas and anoraks with shearling appliqués and reversible quilted jackets — all embellished with linear geometric graphics that were embroidered or applied using heat-transfer tape to create the paneling details.
He still retained some of his tailored aesthetic by offering up traditional suiting fabrics infused with active elements such as a houndstooth Prince of Wales jogger pant and a micro windowpane drawstring pant to create a cohesive lineup that had a young and modern take.
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Christopher Bevans has quite the pedigree in the sports and streetwear market: design director for Nike’s urban apparel, collaborator with Kanye West, designer gigs at Sean John, Billionaire Boys Club and Rocawear.
But it’s taken until now for Bevans to jump into the fray with his own line, Dyne, that he showed for the first time at New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
“I’ve been like a ghostwriter,” he said.
Not anymore.
His collection married a street and athletic aesthetic in a lineup filled with technical bells and whistles. Bevans embraced cutting-edge wearable technology — he has a fellowship at MIT — by equipping every piece with an interactive touchpoint tag and NFC technology that connect to Samsung devices so customers can learn where to buy the garment, the cost, materials, etc.
Some key pieces included an oversize boxy anorak, a cropped hooded bomber with reflective details and a biker track pant with articulated knees.
This successful first outing in New York shows promise for more to come — and we’ll be watching.
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“I wanted to bring the skate park to the runway,” said Steve Aoki, the DJ, record label owner and designer who has spent the last year and a half prepping Dim Mak, the apparel line he’s produced and sold in Japan, for the U.S. market.
Since being active is a trend, this New York Fashion Week: Men’s season has already shown a few designers injecting movement into their shows — whether that was the ice skating at Samuelsohn or the light cycling at Uri Minkoff. But Aoki’s presentation was more of a bold declaration as opposed to a cute idea. The CFDA allowed him to set up two half-pipes within Skylight Clarkson Sq where groups of Dim Mak-wearing skaters took turns dropping in while Mangchi, a self described “hammer” band — mangchi means hammer in Korean — performed.
For the past few seasons, the skater’s wardrobe has been a primary point of reference for a multitude of brands, but Aoki’s proposition felt authentic. The skaters looked quite comfortable in the collection, which consisted of the pieces one would expect — hoodies, denim jackets, Carhartt-style coats and wide-leg trousers — but Aoki said he made a concentrated effort to distinguish the line from what’s already in the U.S.
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He may have been the second man to walk on the moon, but on Tuesday morning Buzz Aldrin was the very first astronaut to ever walk at New York Fashion Week: Men’s.
“I didn’t realize we were in for a nude beach,” remarked the newly minted 87-year-old model after the presentation, still donning his silver Nick Graham-designed NASA jacket and silver sneaks as he eyed his fellow models shedding their duds backstage. A “beautiful view,” indeed.
Aldrin’s graduate astronautics degree from M.I.T. proved handy while making his walk for the show’s finale. “I wasn’t sure what side to get on,” Aldrin remarked, referring to the crowd lined up tangent to the presentation’s linear walkway. “If I walked too close to the people, then not enough of them would see it. I’m always calculating time and distance.”
Aldrin was joined at Skylight Clarkson by another space buff, and a repeat Nick Graham show attendee and collaborator — Bill Nye, who initially bonded with the designer over their shared love of space and Carl Sagan. Nye opened Graham’s presentation with a brief science lecture. The theme of the collection? “Life on Mars.”
Speaking of life on Mars, Nye reflected on another popular space persona post-show: Elon
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