New York has always been an important city when it comes to fashion. Specifically with denim, many of the more prominent brands like 3sixteen and Left Field as well as several smaller brands operate and draw inspiration from the city.
With so much to pay attention to in just one town, new and aspiring New York based brands may find it a daunting and almost impossible feat to break into the scene and make a name for themselves. But for Feltraiger, a brand started in 2010, the amount of activity happening around them served as an unique opportunity for them to quietly open up a shop, watch and learn from the brands around them, and slowly develop their brand over the last few years.
Feltraiger is a semi-namesake brand of brothers Daniel and Jonathan Feldman whose original family name was Feltraiger before it was changed to the more Americanized Feldman upon entering America from Russia in the early 1900s.
Daniel had cut his teeth designing at companies like Unis, Mishka, and What Goes Around Comes Around before deciding to venture out with Jonathan to create Feltraiger. They started as a brick and mortar shop in New York’s Lower East Side neighborhood that featured a small collection of original pieces as well as several other brands and vintage pieces that matched their brand.
Feltraiger’s store in Brooklyn
Instead of immediately focusing on wholesale for Feltraiger, they put their energies towards that storefront (now located in Brooklyn) which allowed them to test designs and interact with their customers so they could develop their brand.
Their modern day greaser aesthetic has been explored by several other brands but they’ve managed to create their own version of it with an expansive collection of tees, shirts, jackets, and denim.
Starting with their denim, Feltraiger offers two standard denim fabrics: a 14.5oz Cone Mills selvedge denim and a 14oz overdyed black Cone Mills denim cut in a slim tapered jean. The branding and extra details on the jean are fairly minimal but they do update the classic 5 pocket jacket by making a 6 pocket jean with second slightly enlarged coin pocket.
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They’ve also used the fabrics in two denim vests as well as their Ryder denim jacket which is a modified Type III denim jacket with removed chest pocket flaps and two added interior 4 oz. herringbone pockets.
By itself, their denim only give a small glimpse to what Feltraiger is striving for with their overall aesthetic. With their expanded line of fitted tee shirts with 50’s inspired print and art, anti-fit button down shirts, flannels, and jackets, their greaser inspired look becomes defined. And it’s a small but nice change from many of the more heritage woodsman or dapper menswear inspired brands that have grown so popular in the last few years.
At prices that range from $185-$220 for their denim jeans and jackets which are all made in Los Angeles, they are on par with their fellow brands. Feltraiger is still a young company with big aspirations so it’ll be interesting to see where they will take the brand.
To get more information, their entire collection can be found on their website.
