Interview / Unis
Unis Written by Sophie van Bentum Photography by Sophie van Bentum
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Sophie van Bentum sits down with renowned NYC independent designer and retailer, UNIS, for a chat about her business, the state of the menswear market, and her inspirations. Why did you choose menswear? In 1994 the school was desperate to have menswear people. There were maybe 5 persons graduating on menswear. Fashion wasn't a huge deal like it is now. In the end I am a super practical person. I did menswear for very practical reasons. When I worked at DKNY I thought menswear was so boring. At DKNY I also did women's wear and then I realized women are fucking crazy. Menswear was so much more like a family. The mentality in menswear is very lifestyle driven, [but] in a more laidback way. I realized, going a way from it, how much I really appreciated and loved it. I first thought that to redesign a V-neck t-shirt was very boring, but now I know all the subtle things are so much more challenging. What is nice about menswear is that is doesn't change that much. Because I have had the store for 10 years I realize how sweet men are as costumers. Once they fall in love with something, they have to have it every season. That's what's so great about menswear the loyalty to your brand. You see so many more repeat customers. I have had this married man come in when I first started the business and a couple of years later he started coming in with his baby. When he came in, he said to me I am so glad you stuck around because 80% of my wardrobe is UNIS. When you meet customers like that, it gives you so many more reasons to exist as a brand. Sometimes you question your own brand. You walk around tradeshows and you ask yourself "Why am I here?" If you stick through and you are consistent as a menswear designer, and you
address quality issues and fit, and listen to what your customers' wants and needs, you can have a consistent business. What makes UNIS different? When I first started with UNIS, you either had really big brands or streetwear brands. For me I just thought: I don't want a logo on anything. UNIS is a fashion basics line. Fashion pieces that aren't too fashion forward. American guys are so much safer then the rest of the world. They are scared of fashion, so you have to be an approachable and friendly brand. I want a lot of guys to wear this clothing. You have these really cool dads come in sometimes and it is nice that in menswear, you can both dress the father and the son. Classic pieces are classic pieces. I try to pick out the best fabric I can possibly afford, really concentrate on the fit of the piece and make it a modern, classic and clean piece. There are a lot of challenges for small brands. How do small brands compete with the bigger brands like J.Crew? They are doing something that is trending right now, and that makes it is much harder to compete. First it bothered me, but now it just pushes me to do something more different and special. I appreciate that the larger brands are bringing more fashion to a lot more American guys and that is a good thing. Our online business is growing. It is so crazy how fast everything is changing online. I actually think there is a possibility that our online store will be bigger and faster than our retail store. However it is really amazing for me to visually have a store, but with an online store you can just reach so many more people. Men, for example, who don't have a cool store in their town. All these guys can
just go online and be as cool as the guys in New York, Paris and Amsterdam, and they can study fashion on the internet. That is the big difference between men and women. Women follow trends in a different way, men read up and study fashion. They study the details and the history of a brand. Personally I love scanning things but I don't go into depth about a brand. Those are the things guys do and that all helps our online business. They are nerdy and quite that way. I am going to do a collaboration with Inventory. We are going to do a version of my now famous Gio chino. For Inventory we are going to do that same silhouette in a corduroy fabric. I think what is really nice about doing collaborations is that you are meeting people and becoming friends with them. You just sit at a dinner table and all of a sudden say: "Hey why don't we do something together?" That's how it happened with the Inventory guys and that's what makes it more personal. I'm also going to do a series of installations in the store. I have a surf brand called Lightning Bolt that is going to do an installation in the store. It will be fun for me to kind of constantly turn things around and add different feelings to the store. What magazines or blogs inspire you? Magazines like Inventory, however I also really like home and cooking magazines. It sounds really cheesy but if you travel a lot you pick up many different magazines. I love to cook. I think the blog jjjjound is amazing. He has got such amazing taste. However a lot of blogs get a little boring.
JOURNAL DE NĂŽmes / NÂş 7 the north american issue, spring 2011