13 minute read
The New Rule: There Are No Rules
SALON DIALOGUE
THE NEW RULE: THERE
ARE NO RULES!
A projected 25 percent drop in menswear sales indicates that the entire segment is suffering. Is it though? Those who manage to lend new relevance to menswear, however, have plenty of opportunities open to them. Janaina Engelmann-Brothánek has spoken with protagonists of the New New Menswear. Gennaro Dargenio (CEO of Circolo 1901), Alessandro Hong (CEO of Distretto 12), Gianluca Modena (Export Manager of Jacob Cohën), Marco Tomasi (Head Designer at Strellson), and Christian Weber (owner and Head Designer of Weber + Weber) discuss a market that abandons all the old rules. They offer insights into five very different companies that have one thing in common. They recognised early enough that formalwear needs a new twist to adapt to the here and now.
Interview: Janaina Engelmann-Brothánek. Illustration: Simona Gala Baronti Will formalwear ever return? Gennaro Dargenio, CEO of Circolo 1901: I believe so. It may not be the formalwear we had become accustomed to, but a man who enjoys wearing a suit, or is obliged to do so, will continue to wear it. I cannot imagine the tracksuit replacing the suit after the pandemic ends. Formalwear will certainly need to embrace other materials, such as more stretch for instance, and perhaps turn to cuts that offer more comfort. I have, however, been saying this for more than ten years. That is why “easy dressing” is the credo of Circolo 1901.
Christian Weber, founder and owner of Weber + Weber: Covid has not fundamentally changed menswear, it has merely accelerated certain processes of change that started some time ago. I fully agree with what Genarro has just said regarding the demand for more comfort and stretch. Formalwear is being reinterpreted, cuts like “Taglio Vivo” are preferred. Casualisation is definitely a topic fuelled by the pandemic, but fashion has always been a mirror of society. Modern
formalwear cannot be what it was 100, 20, or even 10 years ago. That is the beauty of our job, to identify these trends and implement them in our collections.
Have the lockdowns changed men’s sartorial habits forever?
Marco Tomasi, Head Designer at Strellson: What is happening now would have happened anyway, maybe just a little later. Many things have changed, especially the way we work and, accordingly, the way we dress. Everything needs to be more functional now, even the suit has to be more versatile. Alessandro Hong, CEO of Distretto 12: I agree one hundred percent. Smartworking, as we call it in Italy, has certainly changed sartorial habits somewhat. Video calls should still maintain a certain formality, but the looks must be functional and practical. I believe this shift is here to stay. A man who prefers a more formal look will return to it after the lockdown, even though he may seek more functionality in a suit, jacket, or trousers. Marco Tomasi: A suit, or formalwear in general for that matter, is no longer perceived as a “uniform”. People wear it because they feel like wearing it, not because they have to.
In other words: formal is no longer mandatory, but something to be enjoyed. Is it fair to say that?
Christian Weber: Perhaps one should ask oneself who or what defines formal dress codes today. After all, there are no rules anymore. One no longer questions what colour of shoe to wear with a suit, or which accessories should be combined. Individualism reigns supreme. For a young guy, a double-breasted suit with jeans and sneakers is elegant. Fortunately, we can mix and match everything today. This trend, however, already existed before Covid and we, all of us present here, have led the way in this respect and are naturally benefiting from this acceleration of casualisation and its relaxation of dress codes. What is crucial is that the pandemic has helped concepts like ours to be better understood by retailers. Before the pandemic, there was always the question of which range we should be incorporated into: formalwear or casualwear?
Boss has announced that it has closed 2020 with sales down 25 percent. Is that worrying for the menswear segment as a whole, or is it just a reflection of a single company?
Gennaro Dargenio: A 25 percent drop in sales is not unusual in 2020, because stores have been closed for a long time and each of us has made a loss in some shape or form. Those who have not updated their collections and made them more modern over the last few years are, of course, now suffering all the more. There were, and are still, no real occasions for classical attire. In fact, only the brands that recognised this trend early enough work – like us, who started deconstructing the formal eleven years ago.
Deconstruction is a term I associate with all your brands. Is that the key to “survival”? Or more to the point, does this kind of New New Menswear even manage to claim market shares in the current climate?
Alessandro Hong: We are still a very young brand, as we launched Distretto 12 a mere five years ago. Even then, it was clear to us that we had to build a men’s collection on the principle of comfort: a total look with lots of boiled wool, jersey, tricot – all things that fit and are practical. As for the last 18 months, I can only agree with Gennaro Dargenio. It certainly has not been easy, and we do not have exclusively positive news to report either. However, I believe that brands that are solely known for classic ready-to-wear have lost even more ground. Marco Tomasi: Strellson was originally deeply rooted in ready-to-wear. In recent seasons, however, we have invested specifically in the casual and sportswear segment. Our earlier sportswear collection provided the credibility for this change. The lockdown has encouraged us to pursue this direction even more consistently, and to invest further in the product and the collection. The feedback on the innovative collections and the new direction was very positive. Although we suffered a loss in the formal segment, we were able to compensate with casual products such as jersey, knitwear, pants, and outdoor. In other words, the casual segment has replaced the formal.
Christian, you caught the eye with very positive results. Is Weber + Weber among the beneficiaries of this pandemic?
Christian Weber: It sounds a bit arrogant when one puts it that way. But yes, the pandemic has accelerated certain processes and we have benefited from that. We have experienced unprecedented growth this year, because we offer exactly the right comfort product for this particular time. Our Travel Blazer has sold so well that we have now found the courage to take over a production facility in Italy. Of course, we also had fears at the beginning of this pandemic, but it quickly became apparent that the decision to create a “slow fashion” product was spot on and that we had struck a chord with the zeitgeist. We developed our Travel Blazer for three years before launching it. This item has an inherent value consumers can sense. Our product is low-key, ignores trends, and has no expiry date. The product comes first and all our efforts are focused on it. This is exactly what our customers look for: a high-quality product takes precedence over everything else.
A man is known to be more difficult to seduce fashion-wise than a woman. Trends are less important in this context. How does one reach the modern man as a brand or retailer? Via fashion magazines? Via cross-media campaigns? Where do you obtain information?
Gianluca Modena, Export Manager at Jacob Cohën: That is a very interesting question that needs to be answered from two different points of view: the personal and business perspective. Based on my personal experience and 25 years of working with retailers, I can confirm that men are indeed more conservative regarding their wardrobe than women. We develop our style between the ages of 14 and 25 and tend to remain true to it. Our style is subsequently influenced by our first steps in the professional world, but only changes in very rare cases. We typically discover brands and products that suit and appeal to us at a very early age and wear them for the rest of our lives, maybe out of convenience or a lack of time. We also have fewer significant occasions for which we have to “perform” than women. We are like (art) collectors, returning to our labels every season to buy exactly that pair of trousers, jacket, or shirt. We at Jacob Cohën experience that too. Our customers want to buy “their” models again every season, and are all the more pleased when they feature small changes and/ or new details. This gives them the feeling of having bought something new and, at the same time, right for them.
So, where do men turn to for information when they wish to discover a new label regardless?
Alessandro Hong: I think that is, to some extent, a question of age. My whole family works in our company and it illustrates really well how different generations approach the question of fashion. My brother is 24 and my sister is 23, so they are roughly 10 years younger than me. These two and their circle of friends primarily use social media to research products and fashion trends, be it influencers, fashion bloggers, or YouTube channels. This Gen Z desires status symbols. By contrast, Millennial men, to which I belong in my early 30s, choose according to occasion. What do I need for business? What do I need for leisure? Men over 30 definitely still visit their retailers and enjoy receiving advice. More often than not, their partners accompany them. (laughs) Marco Tomasi: I share Alessandro’s and Gianluca’s view. Men like to experiment between the ages of 14 and 25, but after 30 they have usually developed their style of choice. However, one should not forget that today’s Millenial also buys plenty online and retailers definitely have to rethink their store concepts accordingly. Stores have to provide customers with convincing incentives to return time and time again. It is a challenge to create an experience that reaches far beyond shopping alone.
Was menswear hit so hard by sales losses because it is so much harder to convey online? Referring to B2B orders, even Lars Braun of Braun Hamburg said in our magazine: “The vast majority of blue suits look pretty much the same online.” Or was it simply a lack of demand on the part of consumers?
Gennaro Dargenio: I assume that the customer who desires a classic blue suit is part of a different generation. This generation prefers to buy in-store rather than online. Generally speaking, clothing is harder to discern online than live. This kind of product is now struggling even more, because it is not really a necessity. I believe both is true: ready-to-wear for men failed to sell because one cannot adequately gauge its quality online and because there was no demand for it. Gianluca Modena: That is exactly how I see it too.
Now, when the stores open again, there is a great opportunity for brands that have perfected “easy dressing”. After all, nobody wants to be seen in their old non-iron shirts and modular suits post-lockdown. Will New New Menswear, as we call it, experience a boom?
Gianluca Modena: There will be a radical transformation of menswear. This change is not happening today, it was, as my colleague pointed out earlier, a process. Our way of life has been changed by Covid and the deconstruction of the formal has accelerated dramatically as a result. Today, a look has to meet a number of requirements: it has to fit, needs to be both practical and business-appropriate, and, of course, meet high quality standards. Only brands that combine all these features will benefit from the boom in easy dressing. The end consumer is no longer willing to forego the casual, the flowing and light fabrics, the “comfortable”. After all, this kind of fashion will be the natural dress code even after the lockdown, when we return to business trips or weekends in the countryside. The blue suit we just talked about will then be replaced by jersey, knitwear, and jackets featuring light structures and pleasant fabrics. I speak of a process because I saw early signs of this evolution years ago in Japan. Our customers there (Editor’s note: Gianluca Modena was working for The Gigi at that time) wanted the suits, in other words the truly classic ready-to-wear, separately on two hangers, and with two labels. It was important to them to be able to present and sell trousers and jacket separately. This product presentation has bestowed a new lightness on the suit and I think it has succeeded in eliminating its rigidity and the preconceptions. I regarded this kind of presentation as ground-breaking and massively important.
What do you yourself call this new era of menswear? What is the term that best describes what you are wearing?
Gianluca Modena: “Relaxed elegance” describes it best for me. Marco Tomasi: I would call it “liberation of constraints”. Fashion has always been a mirror of society and the younger generations. The Millennials and Gen Z, which we referred to earlier, are no longer willing to bend to rules. This is equally evident in job choices. Today, work-life balance is key. We older people did not even know what that term means. That means modern fashion needs to be functional. It needs to be 24/7 wearable, because there are after-work recreational plans to consider. Fashion has to break all the rules to stay relevant. Alessandro Hong: 24/7 is a great term. Men’s fashion of today has to be just that, always wearable. It should dress you well, but not obligate you to anything. That is why the concept of “spezzato”, which Gianluca has just mentioned, is so important. One should be able to wear suit trousers and suit jacket separately and combine them in a casual way. Gianluca Modena: Whereby the Italian “spezzato” is somewhat different to what the Japanese mean. The Japanese actually wanted to split the suit and called it a “set-up suit”. The Italian “spezzato” combines jackets and trousers in different fabrics and colours. Yes, that is our speciality. Do you know why we are “spezzato” specialists? Because we Italians supposedly have more time in the morning to put our look together. Men in other countries are in a hurry to get to work, so they slide into their suits quickly. (laughs) Gennaro Dargenio: We were born to be fashion rule breakers. That has been Circolo 1901’s motto from the outset: break every rule of formality. That is how our bestseller, the Easy Jacket, came about – a jacket made of jersey. We were called crazy at the time. Today, one cannot imagine formalwear being any different. For me, and for us at Circolo 1901, the terms that define this new era are “easy” and “easiness”. Christian Weber: I have been thinking about what word I should use to define this era. I find that very difficult. We have always struggled to fit into one of the usual product categories. Many buyers asked us where they should display our products. They wanted to know whether Weber + Weber is classic or casual. Ultimately, we ended up right between formal and casual and still cannot define it with a single term. Maybe categorisation is no longer necessary? We talk all the time about breaking rules and a new era, yet now we want to find a term for the new menswear? I think the magic of this era lies precisely in its non-definition, otherwise we just open the next pigeonhole.
