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SHOW STOPPERS
-- Jean E. Palmieri, Alex Badia and Rachel Brown
The Las Vegas men's shows -- Project, MAGIC Men's, Pool, Liberty, Agenda, Capsule and MRket -- were full of saleable options for retailers for fall. Here, a look at some of the standouts.Vans
Brand: Vans
Key styles: VF Corp.-owned Vans spotlighted capsule collections with "Star Wars" imagery, a collaboration with surfboard fin brand Captain Fin Co. and an elevated California range.
Design inspiration/aesthetic: Vans believes "Star Wars'" characters like Yoda and Darth Vader resonate with its target male customers ages 16 to 24. The Captain Fin Co. pieces incorporate its anchor logo and color palette of gold, burgundy and black. The more sophisticated California collection is aimed at the older end of its target consumers.
Prices: From $22 to $100, with the California collection more expensive than the othersVDE
Brand: VDE, which stands for Vanteria di Eleganza, or "bragging of elegance" in Italian
Designer: Reggie Aguiluz
Key styles: Zippered, hooded jackets with nylon, cotton, spandex and polyester, athletic samurai pants in imported Japanese-milled oil-treated nylon and cotton, or nylon and cotton with bias paneling.
Design inspiration/aesthetic: Aguiluz is enthusiastic about adding high-fashion touches to sporty styles. He envisions the VDE customer as "someone who's an athlete who likes to look good, but is a sports fanatic."
Prices: $32 to $295KNYEW
Brand: KNYEW, which stands for Keeping New York Every Where and is pronounced "new"
Designers: Richard Sung, who goes by his DJ name Crooked, and Ray Anthony
Key styles: Sung and Anthony make statements with their atypical silhouettes, notably T-shirts finished with high-low and scalloped bottoms that are four to six inches longer than regular Ts, short raglan-sleeved hoodies with button closures on the hoods, and tapered knee-length, drop-crotch sweat shorts.
Design inspiration/aesthetic: "I'm all about the silhouettes. I want to modernize basics," said Sung, a New Yorker who started KNYEW to fill a void in the streetwear market in his adopted home of Las Vegas.
Prices: $48 to $120Staple
Brand: Staple
Designers: Jeff Staple, aka Jeff Ng, is creative director and founder, and Courtney Walker is design director.
Key styles: T-shirts with scalloped bottoms that mimic baseball jerseys, football jerseys with pigeon-wing designs and Navajo-patterned trim, and shirts with nylon shaped into chevrons...