Brendon Babenzien didn’t reinvent the wheel — he simply polished it up a bit.
Babenzien, who was named males’s artistic director of J. Crew final Could, has unveiled his first assortment for the retailer, which can hit shops for fall. The gathering performs with the model’s preppy heritage, updating it for the present client.
The designer, the cofounder of the Noah menswear model and former design director at Supreme, stated he got down to “boil all of it down and simply make certain I’m making nice garments. I’m not reinventing the wheel and it’s not a matter of fixing lots of issues. We nonetheless have lots of goodwill from our clients so it grew to become about nuanced decisions.”
Though he stated he did push a number of the design components, “I don’t imagine it was pushed too far. It’s all based mostly within the actuality of the world J. Crew has at all times existed in.”
As an alternative, he considered the design course of as “resetting and gaining an understanding of who we’re as a model.”
Libby Wadle, chief govt officer of J. Crew, stated: “Our clients are at all times evolving, and we’re laser-focused on assembly them the place they’re. They’re in search of fashionable classics that may dwell of their closet endlessly and Brendon’s artistic imaginative and prescient brings a recent perspective to that aesthetic. I’ve at all times cherished how Brendon tells a narrative by his designs, which you’ll see in his inaugural assortment — it displays J. Crew’s heritage, in addition to the place we’re headed. J. Crew is at its greatest once we lead with product, design and creativity; Brendon is a real artistic, placing the proper stability of getting it proper for our most loyal clients, whereas additionally inspiring new ones.”
Babenzien, who stated he continues to design Noah along with J. Crew’s menswear — “I’ve two full-time jobs,” he stated with fun — stated amongst his favourite items within the inaugural assortment is a suede argyle vest, “which isn’t a part of the historical past, however is me imagining issues that ought to have been.”
He stated he additionally mixed completely different items into new iterations, such because the wool madras barn coat.
“I’m taking issues which are recognizable and comprehensible and bringing them collectively to make a brand new merchandise.”
Babenzien stated he additionally up to date the suits, which had gotten too slim in his opinion. He pointed to the chino for instance: “A chino has at all times been a couple of looser match for me so I’ve introduced again a much bigger match.”
He stated he expects that to attraction to J. Crew’s long-standing buyer who remembered when the pants had been extra roomy in addition to youthful individuals who might have by no means shopped on the retailer however could also be lured in to strive it now.
Babenzien stated he’ll design 4 full collections a yr for J. Crew however product will refresh with new drops each two weeks.
As males’s artistic director of J. Crew, Babenzien has some large sneakers to fill. Todd Snyder had held that place and was adopted by Frank Muytjens, who exited the function in 2017 following a company restructuring.
Beneath these two designers, J. Crew helped outline the urban-outdoorsman development within the early 2000s — darkish denims, plaid shirts, heavy boots — and the Snyder-designed Ludlow swimsuit in a slim minimize grew to become fashionable with the youthful, extra hip man. Snyder additionally launched various third-party collaborations to reinforce it. Crew’s in-house providing, embracing a method that has now turn into commonplace in trend.
On the time of his appointment, J. Crew credited Babenzien with having been instrumental in elevating Supreme from “a distinct segment skatewear model to the worldwide stage” and constructing the Noah label right into a high-quality, environmentally acutely aware model that combined skate, surf and music cultures with an appreciation of traditional menswear.
Babenzien’s appointment is seen as essential to reigniting a spark that J. Crew has been lacking for a number of years. Though the model remains to be well-known, it has suffered from declining gross sales at instances because of high quality and design points.
Beneath the load of heavy debt and the influence of the pandemic, J. Crew Group filed for Chapter 11 in Could 2020 and accomplished a four-month restructuring course of by sharply decreasing its debt and bringing in new possession. The corporate transformed $1.6 billion of its $1.7 billion of debt into fairness, establishing Anchorage Capital Group LLC as its majority proprietor.
