Brightway from Osaka produces luxurious sneakers made from Japanese leather. The three generation footwear makers have a philosophy: “A Pair to Love Even After 10 Years.” Clic below to watch the Before Tacky podcast interview
Tag: Mensstyle
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Detroitissimi and Fashion
Detroit, The Motor City, is famous for cars and manufacturing. The once industrial hub of America home to once corporate automobile giants General Motors, Ford and Chrysler is reinventing itself with creative industries. Detroitissimi at Pitti Uomo showcased the cities top fashion heads. BM-AC, Bosweel Millinery, Detroit Denim, Deviate, High’s Adventure Gear, K. Walker Collective, Modern Athlete and Stormy Kromer represented a new style of design and production from The Great Lake State. The collective heads shared a passion for quality and a dedication to a less but better model of clothing.
Click below for the Before Tacky Podcast talk.
The J-Quality Factory Brand Project is a project bringing together eleven certified Japanese garment producers showcasing the menswear fashion prowess of the island nation. Not knowing what expect the first time I met the team last year at Pitti Uomo, the guided tour of selected pieces got my attention. In 2024, for the second appointment, there were more and better pieces. The cashmere sweaters (below) came from the wings from an angel, soft, light and vivid brushed to achieve a distinctive luxe feel. A piece from these collections would have a prominent place in my wardrobe.
Hot Faces from Milan Fashion Week Men, at the presentations we made some pictures of models working. It’s a hard job but someone has to do it.
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Guess Jeans Repositions
I remember the Guess Jean ads from the 90s. Those sexy images of models and celebrities posing in soft black and white images produced by some of the world’s most famous photographers, including Ellen von Unwerth. The pictures defined an era of denim marketing.
Founded in 1981 by four brothers, Georges, Paul, Armand and Maurice Marciano in South of France. Moving to the United States, the Marcianos found great success, starting a high-end denim brand mingled with the California lifestyle.
At Pitti Uomo 105, the Los Angeles based label had a bit of relaunch. Using the menswear trade fair, Guess had an impressive display of showing the company’s past, present and future. Using the Florence music hall, representatives gave a tour along with a meet and greet of the installation, showing its evolution to sustainable production and new store designs.
Will it work? In many ways, Guess fell off the radar of trend conscious shoppers. Facing competition from behemoths Zara and H&;M, repositioning a fashion brand targeting young buyers will not be easy. The well known red question mark inside triangle has it work cut out for itself luring customers who shop with emotional attachments to apps searching for cheap clothing.
Is success written in the future, or will Guess just continue to cruise in the slow lane? If the Florence presentation was down payment on the next forty years.
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Statement Street Fashion
Street fashion is a statement of independence. A mixing of top to bottom pieces to stand out from the crowd. At Pitti Uomo Raf Ryes talks about his streetwear brand VERYRARE. The Paris based designer discusses his influences and inspiration behind the label as well as the designs that are based on artworks.
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At Pitti Uomo, Suave
Pitti Uomo in Florence is the vent to look suave. Everyone dresses to impress for the pageant for the menswear gathering.
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Pitti Uomo 2024
From Pitti Uomo 2024, style consultant Taiwo talks about fashion trends and styles. What should men wear this year? Click below to listen to the Before Tacky Podcast conversation.
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Trends 2024
2023 closes. Hello 2024. What do I see as fashion trends in this volatile world?
The influencer movement has come under more scrutiny. The Ferragani Scandal in Italy, a loss of trust by followers. Finally, the increasing AI models used by brands and companies mean a reckoning could be on the horizon for this outreach strategy.
As luxury labels struggle attracting stressed buyers, expect a retreat in many areas. The creative head musical chairs will continue as brands move from conspicuous to quiet style.
Fashion magazines, once trendsetting curators, will continue their free fall still unable to adjust in the digital platform age. Has anyone bought Vogue’s Christmas Issue? Certainly there will be layoffs at publishing houses.
The retail scene is not going to escape, expect less physical stores while the online sites recalibrate. Shoppers should expect return and restocking fees for items sent back as online shops are no longer able to absorb shipping costs.
The Chinese apps grabbed the fast fashion baton and are racing around the fashion track. Temu and Shein have adjusted business models for young buyers to lust for a 1.99 t-shirt.
Sustainability gets the feel good headlines, but has yet to make a real industry economic impact. Big companies will continue practicing greenwashing paying lip service with peppered eco-slogans here and there in ads, but I suspect cash strapped consumers are not in the mood for paying more for better or helping the planet.
Always remember this in 2024: Fashion is cheap. One cannot buy style.
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The Shein Reality
Shein, the Chinese based fast fashion brand is about to have an IPO worth billions. What does this say about consumers? Is sustainable clothing all false virtue? Buyers love following the lifestyle of buying sustainable clothing, but in reality they follow their pockets. They want the cheapest pieces online. It is any wonder there is so much confusion in the fashion business.
In our Before Tacky podcast we spoke about buyers want and what they really buy.