As many of you know, a few of us here at Rawr set up post in New York last month to cover Market Week. During the marathon runs of trade shows throughout the city, we met with many brands including those established and thriving to new and determined labels ready to make their mark. I was particularly struck by NYC’s very own The New Standard Edition. Upon meeting them at their booth at the Agenda Trade show, I was impressed by their drive to make garments that would captivate streetwear and denim fiends alike.
After Agenda had wrapped for the week I made a trip over to their offices in Midtown to find out more about the brand. There I met with owner Evan Josloff and head designer Kristina Romeo to talk about the inspiration behind the brand, their current collection, and products that are soon to be released.
The brand is fairly young, having released their initial collection during December of 2013, the brains behind it, however, have been in the fashion business for a combined 30+ years. Josloff has been a senior buyer for many well known brands while Romeo has been his right hand woman and designer.
The pair’s most notable work to date has been building up famed skateboarding retailer CCS’s private label brand, which they grew to outsell branded stock that CCS carried and collaborated with companies such as SkullCandy on limited edition products and lines.
In late 2013, the two decided to try their hand at their own brand, The New Standard Edition. The main concept was quality bottoms with good fits at a great price point. Josloff and Romeo worked for many months to perfect the fits of pants that they would go on to produce, trying to get everything just right before the launch.
Part of the idea behind their brand is to present updates on products that have become “classics” among the menswear sphere. Currently, they produce two different fits in denim: Skinny and Slim. What helps to differentiate them from the pack are the variations that they produce upon those fits which include drop crotch and cropped legs versions of each.
All of their jeans range in weight from 11-14oz. and are made from Chinese-woven selvedge denim. Josloff wants to reassure skeptics of Chinese quality by letting them know he personally selects all of the fabric himself. Their price point comes in at a reasonable range between $95 and $150 a pair. Josloff believes that for smaller brands such as his, the key to success is accessibility.
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While most of the denim is strictly raw, the brand does occasionally venture out into different variation on their selvedge denim such as jacquard tiger camo, herringbone weave selvedge, neppy slub denim, and black waxed denim. Though the brand is still small and growing, they boast quite the list of stockists for their products, including Karmaloop, American Rag, and Kitson.
Find out more about The New Standard Edition on their website.
