EDITOR’S LETTER FROM OUR AUGUST ISSUE: DON’T SWEAT IT

The entire MR team proudly presents our August 2024 issue. If you haven’t received a hard copy, please page through a digital version at  Issuu, and we’ll continue to post individual stories here on  MR-mag.com. If you haven’t been getting MR in print, be sure that you are on our mailing list for future issues by completing  this form.

As we move into the fourth month of crazy record-breaking temperatures across the country, I’ve been feeling sorry for the guys in suits (not that there are many of them) pounding the NYC pavements dressed in too dark, too tight, too heavy-looking tailored clothing. With so many new performance fabrics out there, including seersucker, linen, lightweight cottons, fine wools and wool/silk blends, bamboo, Tencel, and more, there’s no reason for men to be sweating. But where is the creative marketing showing guys how to dress cool in hot weather? With many amazing lightweight fabrics out there, featured in many less constructed models, there’s new opportunity to sell more suits and sport coats.

Other opportunities? Dan Farrington from Mitchells stores, who maintains that tailored clothing’s demise has been prematurely reported, believes that dressing the next generation is a viable goal. “I’m seeing that young guys have an appreciation for dressing up, for special product, and for custom clothing. We need to attract the next wave of consumers in ways that differ from the past.”

In a recent interview in MR, designer Kenneth Cole admits he too struggles with how to reach customers in new ways. “We need to speak to young people in the language they’re speaking, which changes every 15 minutes. We need to be as experiential as possible, bringing them into the store and making it worthwhile once they’re there. But it’s become much harder to be relevant, to stay in the moment, to compete with the virtual experience…”

A peripheral thought to consider: might this not be a good time to reconsider made-in-America production? With production costs increasing at mills and manufacturers in Europe, with container costs rising, with the very real prospect of tariffs imposed on goods out of China, and with many Americans still needing jobs, using American factories might be a timely idea.

Says designer Alexander Julian, launching a new collection made in Rochester, New York, “We need to re-instill national pride in our craft and in our ability to make top level clothing here. That’s why I started Alexander Julian American Made. It’s like the great American chefs who source the world’s finest ingredients, but add American ingenuity to create incredible taste!” Read too our guest editorial, which shares another clothing company’s recent made-in-the-USA experience.

Also in this issue, an analysis of sportswear business with a focus on new trends in denim, and some in-depth profiles on exciting new menswear stores. Then check out our fashion pages showing how to maximize the ever-growing interest in sports-related apparel. (Even if your score is not up to par, you can still look like a winner!)

Wishing all our MR readers a very happy rest of summer. Let’s keep the temperature down—in our politics and in our clothing!

Photo by Rose Callahan.