Labels To Know Archives - The Chic Geek

Label To Know Octobre

Written on December 12, 2023.

The French are very good at luxury menswear basics. They have an effortlessness way of putting things together and making everything work seamlessly. One men’s label that didn’t register on my ChicGeek radar was Octobre. The brother brand of the much feted Sézane, it recently celebrated its 7th anniversary. Parisian cult favourite brand Sézane, founded by Morgane Sezalory, has a big female fan club. Octobre, founded in 2016, is a brand based on responsible stock volumes, in keeping with a lean production model. The men’s brand aims for no overproduction and fair, accessible prices. All of the brand’s Tier 1 ateliers are audited by independent experts to ensure compliance with its code of ethics and the standards set. The idea was simple: to get back...

Label To Know Never Go Alone Luxury Sanitiser

Written on November 16, 2023.

Never Go Alone was cofounded by London-based entrepreneur Nga Nguyen and California-based Creative Director Carl Adelson during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. While traveling for business in Europe in early March, Nga tested positive for COVID-19 at a time when little was known about the virus. As she was undergoing treatment at the hospital, she and Carl worked remotely to draw a roadmap for the brand and conceptualise the Edition 01 product line. The duo worked remotely to conceive the new experiential self-care brand, so people would “Never Go Alone”. Despite the challenges posed by the global lockdown and travel restrictions, the team embraced remote working to bring N.G.A. to life. As they worked diligently with a UK laboratory to create the unique...

Label To Know Side Story Fragrance

Written on November 14, 2023.

“When you pass someone in a hallway and get a whisper of their fragrance you have a window into their story. These moments happen serendipitously, but they can reveal so much about a person.” says Muj Rana, Founder of Side Story Muj Rana, founder of new fragrance brand Side Story, recalls that scent played an integral role in his early experiences. His grandfather’s Indian sandalwood plantations were the source of the soft, balsamic wood which his childhood toys and trinkets were made from. Today, the woody scent still evokes memories of that distinctive time and place. Each bottle of Side Story begins in Grasse, Provence, the only place where Muj felt the perfume oil could legitimately be crafted. The perfumers are Jacques Chabert, Valerie Bessone, Laurent Marrone...

Label To Know Marc-Antoine Barrois Fragrance

Written on November 7, 2023.

The blue rabbit inside Marc-Antoine Barrois’ London store at 4 Piccadilly Arcade, and the reason the new candle is called No.4 Marc-Antoine Barrois is a French menswear couturier from a family of textile manufacturers in the North of France. He opened his first boutique in 2013 at 6, rue de Budapest in Paris and offers Parisian crafted collections of jewellery and accessories alongside his bespoke haute couture men’s clothing. After learning patterns, cutting, and sewing while studying textile engineering, he designed his first collection in Lille in 2006. This success then led Marc- Antoine Barrois to collaborate with Dominique Sirop, Jean-Paul Gaultier at Maison Hermes and Jean-Claude Jitrois before creating his own Maison de Couture for men. Offering men what women...

Label To Know Rise & Fall

Written on June 16, 2023.

Rise & Fall is a new concept in luxury, a brand with a simple mission – to close the existing gapin UK retail by offering discerning, highest quality, sustainable products at an affordable price. True luxury – cashmre & linen – but without luxury prices. By partnering with carefully selected, high end manufacturers and sourcing the very best in fabrics and fibres, Rise & Fall offers a curated and considered collection of apparel and homeware in luxury materials such as a-grade Mongolian cashmere, organic European linen and extra-long staple organic cotton. Jed Coleman, founder, says, “At Rise & Fall, we like to think about clothes in the same way Dieter Rams considers modern design, we don’t do fuss or flounce. We put a huge focus on materials. Our...

Label To Know July

Written on June 14, 2023.

The Melbourne-based travel brand that disrupted the Australian and US luggage market with its unique and considered approach to luggage brings its line of beautiful travel products to the UK for the first time. Frequent travellers and founders, Athan Didaskalou and Richard Li both came from categories that focused on experience-based business and saw a category that was selling poorly designed products at extreme premiums – and wanted to fix it. After a year of reading reviews to find out consumer pain points, planning, designing, and testing, they launched July in 2019, and with the perfect carry-on luggage, designed from the ground up in Melbourne. July has since built a physical store footprint, expanding to five stores across Melbourne and Sydney, with the brand’s...

M.C. Overalls England’s Oldest Workwear Brand Celebrates its Community Of Crafters

Written on May 19, 2023.

Established in 1908, England’s oldest workwear brand, M.C.Overalls believe in the power of self-expression, nurturing creativity and the value of working hard. Creating durable, gender-neutral and versatile daily staples. Clothes to work hard for the hard-working. Their latest campaign combines the values of the past to champion its current community of creators. The creative explores the brand’s mission statement of ‘We Work Hard’ through a literal interpretation of the product being a blank canvas, combining this with analogue photography techniques and using subjects close to the brand and its values. The brand’s distinctive style of heritage workwear staples with a modern twist is just as at home adorning a model on the catwalk in Paris as it is on the back of a brewer...

menswear sustainable Delos silk menswear

Label To Know Delos

Written on May 15, 2023.

Based in London, Delos is a luxurious travel focussed label. The collection of menswear and womenswear, born in the Mediterranean, is designed for the constant traveller. Left – Delos – Rambert Bow Tie Silk Shirt – £475 Founded by Artem del Castillo, it is named after the mythological Greek island of Delos (Δήλος), said to be the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. Meaning ‘clear’ or ‘brought to light’ Delos explores a spectral palette with fluid and non-constrictive silhouettes. For Spring Summer 2023, the collection looks at the art of Shibori, the Japanese technique of dyeing fabric to produce different colour spectrums – think ombré bleeds on silk. Del Castillo says, “I created Delos in appreciation of artisanal craftmanship and...

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Umbro X MTV

Written on March 19, 2023.

Umbro has teamed up with MTV. Tracing a path back to Umbro’s home city of Manchester, the Umbro X MTV collaboration celebrates a time when working class kids, football fans, and students came together in disused warehouses, abandoned office blocks and country fields to rave together. For Spring Summer ’23, Umbro and MTV revisit the Second Summer of Love with a collection that combines casual sports-inspired silhouettes with a range of graphic prints and colours inspired by the ‘80’s and ‘90’s rave scene. 1990’s visual markers include a fusion logo, intertwining the Umbro and MTV brandmarks alongside a warped all-over checkerboard print. Fabrics too nod to the ‘90’s with a shell suit inspired nylon crinkle plus a polyester micro-let fabric which has been a long-time go-to for Umbro kits...

menswear sustainable perte d'ego india menswear

Label To Know Perte D’ego

Written on March 15, 2023.

Lose the ego, or meaning ‘ego loss’, Perte D’ego is a new Indian brand using the best skills of Indian craftsman and creating pieces rather than collections. The website is a scroll of colourful and often embroidered men’s and women’s items, some matching, some not. Cameron from White Lotus was wearing a Perte D’ego pattern shirt in the latest series. Left – Saw this amazing dandelion jacket by Perte D’ego on Instagram, but can’t see it on the website Founded by designer Utkarsh Mithas, it has two core principles, create one of a kind, ‘Euphoria’ inducing pieces in a sustainable and ethical manner and preserve traditional techniques and craftsmanship and promote them globally to provide them a secure future. You’ll already know how much I love Indian embroidery...