Favorites from Collective and Blue

Here are some of my favorite items from this season’s Collective and Blue trade shows. There was a lot to like, and this list is by no means complete, but it’s a good start.

Shorts

More vendors are showing shorts, and more retailers are apparently selling them—even in New York. I’m still not totally convinced (neither personally nor professionally), but I’m starting to see better looking shorts at better prices. One such vendor is the work uniform-inspired Operations, which is launching a new line of less expensive contemporary sportswear. www.operationsny.com

The Retro Polo

Color blocked cotton polo shirts from two different brands brought me back to the early 1980s.

While the company is pushing everything madras, it was Gant’s Rugger polos ($42 wholesale for $98 retail) that caught my eye. The shirt seen here are vintage designs from the company’s archives, with some minor improvements in fit and materials. Gant, which turns 60 in the fall, has done some adjusting to its pricepoints, according to Doug Geller. Now the sweet spot is in the $115 range for many of their offerings. That’s down a bit from previous seasons. www.gant.com

Farah offered some similar polo shirts ($26 wholesale for $65 retail) from its own archives. Back when these styles were new, the materials would have been polyester or blends (as they probably were with Gant). Now they are all cotton.

Farah, which was purchased a few years ago by Perry Ellis, is a 90-year-old company that was founded in El Paso, Texas by a Lebanese immigrant named Mansour Farah. The company has been better known as a trouser maker, and had much more of a cult following in England (especially in the 1970s among punks and mods).

(If some of that story sounds familiar, there was another Texas trouser company formed in the 1920s by a Lebanese immigrant: Haggar. Joseph Haggar started his firm in Dallas in 1926.)

Today, Farah seeks to reintroduce itself to the American market and, as Perry Ellis European sales manager Mark McCann says, bring us an English sensibility with an American casual approach. The stuff looks good, particularly the hopsack trousers with the frog-mouth pockets. American Rag and Fred Segal reportedly carry the line.

Cricket Hats and Sweaters

I first saw Smart Turnout at MRket Las Vegas last February. I liked their regimental ties and their striped ribbon watch bands. But what caught my eye at Collective was Smart Turnout’s cricket gear. Cricket is an odd game, and I never realized how big it was in other parts of the world until I saw some Scottish friends playing a Nintendo videogame version of the sport. Its uniform often includes a white sweater that looks an awful lot like a tennis sweater. The sweaters come in vests or long sleeve, and retail for $150 and $200, respectively.

In the photo, Jim Waddell models an all-wool, hand-stitched cricket cap ($75 wholesale—expensive, but unique and made in England). The hats come in yellow/blue, red/blue, and white/blue. www.smartturnout.com

Ties and Pocket Squares

The narrow (about 3 inches) rough silk ties at the Drakes booth at Collective stopped me in my tracks. These striped and solid ties are hand-made in England and wholesale in the $60 to $65 range. They’ve also got some beautiful madras ties, too.

I also loved these cotton pocket squares ($25 wholesale). The vintage 1930s-style dog pattern comes in different colors, as does the Mughal hunting scene patterns.

Michael Drake was sure to tell me that his company, which he co-founded in 1977, has recently relaunched its website: drakes-london.com/. It looks great, and it’s one of the most informative menswear product sites I’ve ever seen.