Nike’s Air Jordan Was A Key Turning Point In Menswear

Menswear has traveled a long road to get where it is. Just a few decades ago, most people, perhaps men especially, treated men’s fashion as an afterthought. Now sales of menswear are growing faster than sales of womenswear, and none other than Vogue editor and fashion doyenne Anna Wintour said recently that menswear is “leading creativity” in the industry. At WWD’s men’s style summit on March 28, Josh Peskowitz, men’s fashion director at the high-end retailer Moda Operandi, explained the cultural forces that have been driving menswear’s rise. It’s a topic Peskowitz knows well, given that he’s been tracking that rise from the frontlines for more than a decade, first as an editor in fashion media and more recently on the retail side. According to him, a “sea change moment” arrived in 1985, with the debut of Michael Jordan’s first signature sneaker for Nike. Read more at Quartz.