double-breasted cotton sport coats as potential opportuni-ties. “I’m looking for something new and different,” he said. “You can’t just tweak what you did last year and expect the customer to be moved by it.”

David Rubenstein said he was steering clear of denim jeans this time, since the category has slowed down. Instead, he was lured by the preppy and retro infl uences that he saw in sportswear. In clothing, he expects the infl ux of color to help boost sales in that category.

Tim Ryan, of Harleys in Milwaukee, also pointed to the “stronger presence of color” as an opportunity. “We’re a color store and our customer responds positively to it.”

At Project, he liked the expanded denim presentation, and also singled out Victorinox as one of the top vendors at ENKNYC. Bugatchi’s colorful shirts were also eye-catching to him.

“We had a very good spring season,” Ryan said, “although we were disappointed with outerwear. The unique, technical pieces were strong, but not the commodity items. Our cloth-ing, dress furnishings and denim were also strong. So we’re looking for more items — things that have unique materials or components. Even if it’s a white shirt, if it has details we can tell a story about, that’s what we’re looking for.”

Ken Giddon, of Rothmans in New York City and Westchester, said he liked Btns’s “cool short-sleeve shirts,” along with Descendant of Thieves, which had unusual polos and knits. Other interesting fi nds were Miansai bracelets, sport coats from Cashmere Classics, sport shirts from Rufus, the Zachary Prell collection and shorts from Paperbacks.

Giddon, who is relocating his store on Union Square early next year, said he is “re-assessing all vendors” in order to have an interesting assortment when the new loca-tion opens in January or February.

Craig Beecroft, of Beecroft & Bull in Virginia, found “a lot of great soft sport coats” in the market for spring. “There’s good creativity out there and lots of color, which is good for a Southern retailer.” Beecroft said the company’s sales are “up a little bit, and we’ve had nice steady growth for the last 12 months, so we feel optimistic.”

ENKNYCFrom its more traditional Designers Collective to the trend-driven Blue area, retailers had a number of strong brands to choose from at the twice-yearly show.

Parajumpers, a high-end Italian brand of outerwear, shirts, pants and accessories, features designs patterned after the outfi ts worn by parachute rescue squads, with all the requisite bells and whistles. Its trademark patch, fea-tured on the lightweight nylon or stonewashed cotton jack-ets, is “That Others May Live.”

Arnold Zimberg, who has a long pedigree in men’s wear, of-fered a featherlight line of Moroccan-inspired sport shirts at the show. “Men’s shirts are strong, but it’s time for a change,” he said. The collection, which has a Bohemian sensibility, was in-spired by the beaches of Saint-Tropez and Ibiza and will retail for $195 to $225. Scarves in similar patterns were also offered.

William Rast still had a focus on denim. A variety of wash-es and fi nishes with a clean aesthetic were offered, although the company also had a tropical weight wool trouser in a fi ve-pocket silhouette for stores ready to move beyond denim.

Will Leather Goods of-fered classic Americana-inspired accessories includ-ing bags, belts, wallets and cuffs. Bill Adler, founder, said stores have respond-ed to a line of bags that mix leather with vin-tage American Indian-blanket prints. Australia’s Zanerobe brought its pre-

mium streetwear designs to the show and offered a tight collection of retro-inspired swimwear in classic board-short lengths for spring. Walk-Over, a shoe manufacturer founded in 1758, took full advantage of the heritage trend with its canvas and leather wingtips and dirty bucks with contrasting saddles. In addition to the classics, the brand brought its Vintage collection of military boots and other distressed styles of footwear.

PROJECT NEW YORKThe Project New York show doubled in space to two fl oors and added 60 percent more brands, according to president Andrew Pollard. Apart from the expansion in size, the show added a host of special features — including a showcase of brands handcrafting product on-site, a full working Splashlight pho-tography studio and a nerve center for bloggers to set up shop and report straight from the show.

“An Englishman in New York” was the theme for the upscale Plectrum collection by Ben Sherman. “We are taking the brand in a more premium direc-tion, with better styling and more attention to detail. It’s a complete change for us,” said Pan Philippou, chief executive officer of the London-based brand, which is now targeting 25- to 45-year-olds, versus 18- to 25-year-olds previously. “We spent a lot of time chugging along with-out changing and looking too much at the past and not enough at the future. We were a Mod brand when we should have been a modernist brand,” he added.

The higher-priced Plectrum line fea-tured knits made in Scotland; coats lined with goose down and trimmed with real rabbit fur, and buttons and toggles made from leather, horn and wood. There were Japanese-inspired open weave knit sweat-ers with a drapy attitude, nylon trench coats and new EC1 chino shorts in nine colors, at $89 retail, an extension of the brand’s EC1 chino pant.

The retailer Onassis explored its first wholesale opportunities and showcased its price-driven collections to potential accounts. The com-pany opened its fi rst stores in New York and Tokyo this year and has design teams in both cities. With an updated American

heritage theme, the collection included denim at $79 to $128, woven shirts at $48 to $68, fl annel shirts at $98, chunky hand-knit sweaters for $268, casual blazers starting at $128 and outerwear in the low $300s. The company plans to add a full tailored clothing program next year.

Shorts and tank tops were key sellers at Rogue, according to president Jon McKinney, which has branched out into a full col-lection since focusing on leathers when it launched. “We don’t have any bright colors. We’re all muted, dusty tones, so even our fl oral print-ed shirts and soft lavenders and mint colors have a masculine look,” he explained.

Rogue’s gauzy, lightweight tops, many with scoop necks, are meant to be layered with blazers and paired with a best-selling, cropped-crotch knit sweatpant for a modern look, said McKinney.

Military infl uences melded with punk and Carnaby Street at Spurr, the denim and sportswear-focused diffusion line

from designer Simon Spurr, which was one of the poshest brands at the show. Polos ($95 retail) were adorned with stitched-down epaulettes, and a trench coat with a tra-ditional perforated back was embellished with channel

stitching. Dress shirts had contrast stripes on sleeves, a lightweight cotton peacoat was jazzed up with bright yellow taping on the interior and a slim blazer was trimmed with grosgrain and silver buttons.

The NBA has spawned yet another fashion designer: John Salmons, shooting guard of the Sacramento Kings. His partnership with Sherman Brown, a student of the tailoring trade, culminated in the launch of Salmons & Brown. The line of reworked classics included a 1940s-inspired naval offi cer’s jack-et in washed linen, a 1950s-style sailor’s stripe T-shirt, lightweight summer cashmere sweaters, a suede mo-torcycle jacket and storm trooper shorts.

In accessories, Retro Super Future eyewear launched its fi rst ophthalmic range, as well as sunglass styles printed on the inside with eye-catching, vintage postcard images. Known for its

trendy, acetate frames, the Italian company also introduced its fi rst metal aviator styles for spring.

On the denim front, Buffalo was showing boot-cut fi ts again, with Bloomingdale’s recently asking for a boot-cut program, according to the company. Green, khaki and white denim were also key trends for spring at the brand, which sells at The Buckle, Macy’s, Dillard’s, Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom.

Men’s Week

RETAILERS UPBEAT ABOUT SPRING OFFE RS AT N.Y. TRADE SHOWS

MW2 WWD THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011

{Continued from page MW1}Plectrum by Ben Sherman

Retro Super Future

Ovadia & Sons

William Rast

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MRketAn updated preppy sensibility perme-ated the aisles at the MRket show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

The show’s Vanguards Gallery fea-tured eight brands curated by former Saks Fifth Avenue men’s fashion di-rector Michael Macko. Among those chosen was Rodd & Gunn, a New Zealand-based outdoors-inspired sportswear brand. The company has 42 freestanding stores in New Zealand and Australia, as well as 30 in-store shops at Myer, Australia’s largest department store chain. In its debut American collec-tion, the company showed its classic Rodd & Gunn shirts, trousers, jeans and sweaters — from New Zealand sheep, of course — as well as its more youthful R&G line. The line is also augmented by shoes, bags and other accessories.

Rod Williams, of Rodd & Gunn USA, said the com-pany intends to start with wholesale and expand quick-ly into retail in the States. “We should have one on the ground in fall ’12 in either Boston or New York,” he said.

Other standouts at the show included Barbour’s Steve McQueen collection, whose sandwashed line of waxed cotton jackets and shirts was inspired by the actor’s love of California and the Mojave desert, and Strong Boalt, a new line of printed boardshorts from Amanda Boalt, who had worked at Ralph Lauren. “They feel modern and a little tough,” Boalt said of the line, which uses pat-terns inspired by fi sh, sunsets and other tropical themes. Miansai’s hook bracelets and necklaces; Isaora’s blend of fashion and technology, and Number Lab’s jersey lounge pants and shorts with contrast piping were also strong.

Bills Khakis has moved beyond its roots as a bot-toms resource and offers knits, wovens and outerwear with the brand’s unique take on “iconic classics,” ac-cording to owner Bill Thomas. “We’ll always have our

core product, but we have to evolve and be fresh,” he said. RNG Clothing’s collection of elegant suits, sport coats and seasonal sportswear was another standout.

CAPSULEA slew of new brands launched at the directional Capsule show, ranging from full collections like Ian Velardi, which was picked up by Barneys New York, to Fahlgren ties and Under underwear. Velardi, who earned his stripes in sales for Hickey, launched his collection with low-key, wearable sport coats, denim jackets with multiple pocket details and tennis polos and striped button-down shirts.

Brett Fahlgren, whose day job is executive merchan-dising stylist on the publishing side of GQ, introduced his fi rst tie collection under the Fahlgren label. The ties, with clever motifs like sharks, eagles, semaphores or bumblebees, are fashioned from English fabrics and handmade in the Robert Stewart facility in New Jersey. “They’re irreverent but not too over-the-top,” said Fahlgren, who designs the ties out of his home in Brooklyn. “They’re three inches in width, which is nar-row without being too narrow.” Priced to retail for $98, the fi rst order was from Stag in Austin, Tex. There are 20 styles in the fi rst collection, each available in several colors. The ties will fi rst ship to retailers in January.

Based in London and manufactured in Portugal, the new Under brand of underwear offered up elegant, mod-ern designs in high-quality cotton waffl e and mercerized

jersey, trimmed in woven chambray and twill. The line was founded by Kieron Hurley and includes

briefs, boxers, tank tops, T-shirts and Henleys, with luxury details like contrast woven gussets.

Among the standout collections — and the most high-end — at the show was Ovadia & Sons, which will be available in just four retail stores this fall, including a dedi-cated shop at Bloomingdale’s 59th Street and the CHCM boutique in NoHo. The line, which is launch-ing with an ambitious range of tailored clothing, sportswear, for-malwear, accessories and even shoes — which are handmade in Northampton, England — is the passion project of twin found-ers Shimon and Ariel Ovadia. The

brothers began working at their fa-ther’s children’s wear company, Magic Kids, as teenagers and have long been obsessed with men’s wear.

“Other kids grew up idolizing rock stars. We grew up idolizing Ralph

Lauren,” said Shimon Ovadia, as he showed off faultless classics like a cashmere/silk

dinner jacket inspired by Humphrey Bogart ($3,295 retail); a tuxedo jacket with dramatically wide lapels ($2,500); club collar dress shirts and madras patchwork ties, and seersucker shorts artfully hand-splattered with paint. “It’s timeless classics but with a modern fi t. There are elements of English and American style, with some Italian,” explained Ovadia.

Shorts, a hot ticket for many buyers, were trimmed with hand-embroidered fl ower appliqués and plaid trim at Gilbert and Lewis, named for the main char-acters in the fi lm “Revenge of the Nerds.” With trim sizing, the brand caters to the Asian market, with club collars and an eyeglasses logo highlighting the collec-tion’s nerd-chic stance.

At Trovata, designer John Whitledge said swim-suits were a strong seller, as were loose-weave knit pullovers and slub cotton polo shirts. “We’ve really upgraded the quality with Japanese fabrics,” noted Whitledge. The company also launched an exclusive collection with Urban Outfi tters earlier this year under the Virgin Poets Society by Trovata label.

Fellow California label VBN, or Vicarious By Nature, focused on eco-conscious materials and produc-tion processes, using organic fabrics for its stonewashed corduroy jeans, overdyed shirts with sepia tones and bias-stripe pullover sweaters. The company this year tapped John Varvatos veteran Kirk Von Heifner as head designer; the line is carried in about 100 doors, includ-ing Neiman Marcus, Kitson and Atrium.

“Retailers have been very price-driven,” said Timothy Heenan, founder of the showroom of the same name, which was showing Vanishing Elephant, Velour and Penny Stock. The last was founded by John Moore, a former creative director at Modern Amusement, and its beach-inspired sportswear played into retailers’ budgets, with shirts at $58 to $78, pants at $70 to $80 and sweaters at $60. With the classic penny loafer as inspiration, each style fea-tured a small pocket encasing an actual penny.

RETAILERS UPBEAT ABOUT SPRING OFFE RS AT N.Y. TRADE SHOWS

Men’s Week MW3WWD THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011

by DAVID LIPKE

FOLLOWING SIX YEARS at A|X Armani Exchange as a men’s knit and sweat-er designer, Lucio Castro is launching his own label for spring. The line has been picked up by Opening Ceremony, and the infl uential retailer is also representing Castro in the company’s show-room, which wholesales independent designers.

The collection’s aesthet-ic is spare and sophisti-cated, with clean lines and minimal, subtle details. Fabrics are from Japan, and everything is made using eco-conscious mate-rials and techniques in Sri Lanka. Buttons are made from coconut or tagua nut,

with oxidized button shanks that give off the patina of age.“I like to let the fabric speak for itself,” said Castro, adding that

he is an adherent of Fernand Deligny’s ethos of “elevated simplic-ity.” Thus, a seemingly neutral charcoal fabric, for example, is actu-ally speckled with neon fl ecks.

Castro originally studied medicine at the University of Buenos Aires and then switched gears to study fi lm. In 1999, he moved to New York to attend the Parsons School of Design and earned a fashion design degree. He then interned at Marc Jacobs (along with designer Robert Geller), moving on to gigs at DKNY Jeans and then A|X Armani Exchange.

Highlights from the debut spring collection include a cardigan fashioned from woven shirt material and pants made from reversed gray denim, with the back of the fabric on the outside of the gar-ment — which makes for an interesting effect when the hems are rolled up. A short, slim tuxedo jacket features denim lapels, while a mustard yellow leather jacket is lined in chambray.

Shirts retail for $185, jackets for $220, knits for $100, bottoms for $150 and leathers for $400 to $700.

Lucio Castro’s Simple EleganceA|X Armani Exchange alumnus branches out on his own for spring.

A spring look by Lucio Castro.

Lucio Castro

Parajumpers

Onassis

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FOR MORE SPRING LOOKS, SEE

WWD.com/menswear-news.

When the elite U.S. forces of the CiA, SWAt teams, Coast Guard rescue swimmers, special ops and backcountry firefighters spring into action, they’re armed with more than just guns and grenades. they’re also protected by flame-retardant, high-perfor-mance apparel created by Massif.

in fact, more than 3 million of Massif ’s technical garments have been deployed in the U.S., iraq, Afghanistan and other coun-tries around the world, and the company’s annual sales are around $100 million.

For fall 2012, the Ashland, Ore.-based manufacturer is taking the expertise it has acquired on the front lines and translating it into a collection of men’s wear that com-bines technical fabrics and features with a contemporary fashion attitude. to achieve that goal, Massif hired Scott Branscum, whose background includes stints at eddie Bauer, Perry ellis and Cutter & Buck, to spearhead the design.

“it’s high-tech fashion,” Branscum said. All the garments will have moisture man-agement and antimicrobial properties as well as stretch and 3-D ergonomic shaping. Seams are naturally shaped to legs, un-derarms are fully gusseted to provide for range of motion, there are secure interior and exterior pockets and stealth sleeve pockets. Subtle badge epaulets are a sig-nature of the line, which has been under development since november 2010.

“this is for the guy who stood in line to buy the first iPhone for $400 or spends $600 on a driver,” Branscum said. “he likes good stuff and wants performance.”

Massif was founded in 1999 by two entrepre-neurs whose adventures included rock climbing and rescue missions. the company was ac-quired by tactical hold-ings and its private equi-ty partner, Golden Gate Capital, in 2009.

“A soldier in Afghan-istan needs to carry the specific tools of his trade,” said co-founder Jeff Roberts. “Ammo, grenades, maps, note pad, tactical light, com-bat knife, et cetera. he also needs to look professional and stay comfortable and effective in a wide range of temperatures and environments — on base, in cities and towns, in the desert, in a heli-copter with the doors off. A businessman is very similar. he needs to carry the tools of his trade: money, credit cards, smartphone, keys, knife. he also needs to look appropri-ate and feel comfortable during a commute, at his desk, during meetings, on a flight, on a date and at home.”

Branscum said the Massif Collection will include a tailored soft-shell with a suggested retail price of $350 to $450; a five-button wool blazer for $350 to $450; tactical sweaters in merino wool and nylon for $150 to $250; yarn-dyed shirts for $120 to $180, and stretch wool mid-weight trousers for $120 to $180. there will also be moisture-wick-ing cashmeres, leather jackets with stretch gus-sets and a wool-faced dress puffy jacket.

in total, there will be 37 styles for the launch collection, including a single pant silhouette in four colors and fabrics,

and one blazer in four fabric choices. the primary colors will be black, dark navy, char-coal, shades of gray, eggplant, dark military olive and dusty blue, he said.

the tagline for the collection will be “Clothing for Spies,” and it will make its de-but at Project in las Vegas in February.

Branscum said the target distribution for the line will be department stores such as nordstrom and Dillard’s, as well as specialty stores. — J.E.P.

by JeAn e. PAlMieRi

AFteR A tWO-yeAR hiAtUS, Palm Beach is back.

the venerable label, founded in the early 1900s, has been re-created by its owners, hMX Group, and is being re-launched for spring.

“When i first looked at the company, i thought it was an untapped, amazing brand,” said Joseph Abboud, hMX’s creative direc-tor. “it says everything about the resort, sum-mer lifestyle. But in the last 20 or 30 years, it had become just another label.”

Abboud said Palm Beach created a lightweight wool summer suit wrapped in rayon in 1914, and the line then expanded into linen, seersucker and khakis — “great seasonal looks.”

But, according to hMX’s chief executive officer, Doug Williams, the brand lost its DnA under the company’s prior management and was positioned as a moderate suit label pri-marily targeted to the big and tall market. “it was one of the jewels that we have that had gotten dusty, tired and abused,” he said. “So we closed it down for a while. A lot of retail-ers were angry about that, but we saw it as a bigger opportunity. We had a vision to bring it back as a luxury collection.”

Under Abboud’s direction, Palm Beach’s new collection has been positioned as a high-end seasonal summer suit collection. it

is being manufactured in America in hMX’s factories and features canvas construction, a soft, washed color palette and sophisticated, contemporary styling. Jackets have peak la-pels, side vents and ticket pockets. the drop is six-and-a-half to seven inches and the sil-houette is “lean and very modern,” Abboud said. Jackets are quarter-lined and relaxed.

“it’s all about attitude,” Abboud said. “nobody needs another dumb seersucker suit.” Jackets will retail for $695, suits for $995, and there will be woven shirts in lin-ens and cottons to complement the clothing.

the first major retailer to sign on is neiman Marcus, which has agreed to launch the line in 24 doors for spring, Williams said. the collection will also be targeted to select high-end specialty stores that can “bring back the integrity of the brand,” Abboud said.

Williams said future opportunities in-clude expanding Palm Beach into sports-wear. “Our competitive advantage with our factories is that we can come up with new fabrics and silhouettes and execute them very quickly,” he said.

hMX is majority owned by S. Kumars nationwide ltd. (SKnl), a publicly held indian company, which bought the assets of the former hartmarx Corp. out of bankrupt-cy in 2009. Since that time, the company has revamped and elevated its company-owned labels, including hickey Freeman, hart Schaffner Marx, Coppley and Bobby Jones.

Men’s WeekMW4 WWD thursday, july 21, 2011

Man of THE WEEK

by ViCKi M. yOUnG

JOSePh ABBOUD just might get his name-sake brand back after all, even without a sale of JA Apparel Corp.

JA Apparel’s parent, private equity firm J.W. Childs, has decided not to sell the com-pany and instead will pursue a licensing busi-ness model, sources said. A spokeswoman for the private equity firm declined comment.

WWD reported in June that hMX Group was interested in becoming the tailored cloth-ing licensee for JA’s Joseph Abboud brand, and sources say that hasn’t changed.

Should a licensing deal be struck, it would reunite Abboud the designer with the Abboud brand that he founded and later sold. Abboud is now president and chief cre-ative director at hMX, which is owned by SKnl international.

in June, sale discussions were centered on brand management firm iconix Brand Group inc., with hMX as a possible licensee. A key

stumbling block was the Boston factory owned by JA, for which interest has been weak.

hMX has shown interest in JA before. Back in January, hMX was taking a look at JA’s operations, eyeing the license as li & Fung became more focused on buying owner-ship of the Abboud brand.

the private equity firm has flirted with selling the company on and off since 2006, with the key stumbling block every time being what to do about the Boston factory. What has changed over the course of five years is the asking price, which had dropped to $85 mil-lion from $100 million-plus in 2006.

And while rumblings in the marketplace had hMX making a bid for JA, sources famil-iar with the discussions said those reports weren’t true and that hMX never made a bid for JA. in the meantime, J.W. Childs had hoped to sell the company and use the pro-ceeds to create momentum as it raises money for its next fund. now the private equity firm might have to rethink its fund-raising strategy.

The straw hat with the wide brim showcases his

adventurous side.

Red leather belt adds a hint of color.

The red striped dress shirt

elongates his frame and enhances the

leisure attitude of the look.

Single-pleat summer-weight pants adds the

right texture but are too dark for the ensemble.

Too long, and they should be rolled up to

turn the dress shirt into a sport shirt.

A comfortable driving shoe or espadrille would

have been the appropriate finishing touch. Wearing sneakers shows his age.

HMX Bringing Back Palm Beach for Spring

JA Apparel Said to Favor Licensing Model

Massif: On the Front Line of Fashion

Scott Branscum, right, is the head designer.

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RupeRT MuRdoch: B-(Wendi MuRdoch’S ninjA SkillS: A+)

The embattled leader of News Corp. should be hacking into Salvatore Ferragamo’s design studio for tips on how to better channel the French Riviera bon vivant lifestyle.

A look from Massif.

looks from the palm Beach

collection.