"Sitting at fashion shows in Paris sounds all well and dandy, but it's not the only thing that happens during the fashion season. Alongside the much-hyped runway spectaculars by the big brands are countless showrooms offering appointments all over town to see casual clothing, tailoring, and accessories across the spectrum of men's style. These, for me, have the distinct advantage of getting up close to the goods, feeling the quality."
"One such encounter this time around was with my old mate, British shoemaker Tim Little, who joined the storied but slightly moribund shoe brand Grenson(established in 1866) as creative director and CEO in 2005 and lit a fire under it. In 2010, Little bought the brand and revitalized it on a carefully balanced diet of fashionability and bulletproof, old English shoemaking."
""About 18 months ago we noticed the big fashion brands started to delete sneakers from their runway shows." he told me over a steak au poivre at our seasonal and very unfashionable haunt in Bastille one night. "At the same time, we started hearing from our retailers that our youngest customers were bypassing sneakers in growing numbers and asking what they could get for their budget that-specifically-wasn't sneakers.""
""I think it's also partly fatigue" he told me. "As if that younger generation has grown tired of the endless drop culture in sneakers and maybe even a sense of nostalgia for a time-at least in their minds-when style wasn't constantly being shilled at them. Buying shoes that will last past six months is an appealing way to escape that endless fast-fashion cycle.""
During fashion season showrooms across Paris offer appointments to examine menswear up close, allowing tactile assessment of quality and direct conversation with makers. Grenson, revitalized under Tim Little after he became creative director and then owner, blends fashionability with traditional English shoemaking. Retail feedback indicated younger customers were increasingly bypassing sneakers and seeking alternatives within their budget that were explicitly not sneakers. Major fashion houses began removing sneakers from runway shows about 18 months earlier, matching retail signals. Little attributes the shift partly to fatigue with sneaker drop culture and a nostalgic desire for longer-lasting shoes that resist the fast-fashion cycle.
Read at Esquire
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