For his spring collection, LA-based designer John Elliott pondered what, exactly, he could bring to his customers that was new. Over the course of 15 years, he’s established a casual, cut-and-sew business built around denim, T-shirts, and sweats, plus styles that come from either workwear or military backgrounds. He thought he could differentiate through fabric development, which led him to Japan, where his co-founder is based. “This is what we do best,” he said. “Getting to the yarn level and experimenting.”
These explorations led him down a wormhole. What he came back with was pigment-coated ripstop, which he used to make roomy cargo shorts and a light funnel-neck coat with a bungee waist in a faded tiger camouflage (which he liked for its “foggy texture”), and charcoal-dyed cotton for an oversized shirt-jacket with slightly patinated seams and plenty of pockets. Easy shirting in a pale plaid was made from a silk noil-cotton blend with a wobbly, uneven texture, and a jacket and workwear-style shorts were put together using a ridged twill that was coated in rubber and then stone washed until it broke down, giving it weathered appearance. Elliott was particularly excited to show off a pair of faded jeans that had been “ice dyed”—a process that involved freezing chemicals and water and letting them melt on denim, leaving behind a blurry, spill-like pattern.
While familiar at first glance, it’s these sort of nerdy experiments that Elliott hopes will appeal to his more adventurous customers, while his diehards can continue to scoop up sportswear basics like easy-cut jersey basics and oversized basketball shorts. “I think it’s very wearable,” he said. “I think it’s very elevated. It’s all in the nuances.”
