The fall 2020 trade shows season in New York included highlights from brands working with hand-processes, neutral tones and specialty tailoring. Here, five standouts across Coterie, Capsule and Brand Assembly.
Coterie
Stella Pardo
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Brand: Stella Pardo
Designer: Cinthya Guerrero
Backstory: Parisian sustainable knitwear brand Stella Pardo has specialized in handmade baby alpaca knits for the past 10 years. During the brand’s beginnings, Guerrero was focused on designing and producing for other French maisons. For the last four years, the company has been focused on its own brand to create a bridge between France and Peru, where it works with communities of female knitters.
Key styles: A red pullover sweater with crochet sleeves that takes four days to make, a similar cream crochet knit that takes five days, and a chunky cardigan that takes 12 days to craft that feels unique with elements of handcraft.
Retail price points: Sweaters around $400; cardigans around $500
Sand Beige
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Brand: Sand Beige
Designer: Ga Young Park
Backstory: The brand has been doing wholesale business for 10 years in Seoul. Under the company name The Beiges, there are three different brands: Sand Beiges, Les Beiges and Sand Limited — where every piece throughout the collection is cut in beige tones. The most popular brand is Sand Beiges, where customers gravitate toward feminine silhouettes and styles. Their target customer is in her early 20s to late 40s.
Key styles: The brand is known for its two-piece sets, including textured tailored jackets with button details and clean pants, or smocked blouses and skirts. A single-button overcoat was a standout for its bold structure and clean design.
Retail price points: $100 to $300
A blue coat from Maison Lener.
THOMAS DORN
Brand: Maison Lener
Designer: Laetitia Dubus
Backstory: Previously Lener Fabrique de Manteaux — a 65-year-old family business specializing in coats — Maison Lener is the 2009 brand relaunch by Frédéric Lener. The company’s DNA focuses on colors and shapes. Fabrics are all sourced in Italy and designed and produced in their own factories.
Key styles: Bestselling high-premium alpaca coats come in an assortment of colors like tangerine, pink and blue. A hooded gray coat was notable for clean lines.
Retail price points: $600 up to $1,000
Capsule
A tie-dye shirtdress from Maiden Noir.
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Brand: Maiden Noir
Designer: Nin Truong
Backstory: The brand has been around for 15 years and started with men’s wear. With female customers asking more and more if products could be made smaller to fit them, Truong slowly added women’s pieces into the lineup, believing this is the right moment to translate classic men’s wear for female forms. Quality garments are constructed with Japanese fabrics, fun colors and natural dyes.
Key styles: A mushroom-dyed parachute nylon zip dress, which is versatile enough to be worn as a jacket, dress or overcoat. The splotched webbing patterns draw from aerial views of microflorals.
Retail price points: $64 to $550
Brand Assembly
The trapeze bag from Minor History.
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Brand: Minor History
Designer: David Ortiz and Toffer O’rourke
Backstory: The designers started working on the production side for big companies to make private label merchandise, eventually branching off to create their own line of leather accessories after seeing a need for quality leather at an affordable price. The bags also have an eco-friendly bent: metal-free and vegetable tanned.
Key styles: The ‘news’ tote, flat traveler backpack, belt bags and wallets in a Seventies color palette.
Retail price points: $24 to $245