My Favorite Emerging Brands Pt. 13: Archie
Small, sustainable and built to last
Archie
Quiet and carefully moving at its own pace, New York based brand, Archie, has followed up its previously limited collections with a fall/winter offering sure to propel the brand into New York’s if-you-know-you-know fashion epicenter. Before I dive into the upcoming collection’s offerings in the product highlights, I had the pleasure of interviewing the man behind the brand, and wanted to share some of his and the brand’s unique background and inspiration. Our conversation went in about a hundred different directions, touching on Mark’s interest in Quantum Physics, a shared admiration for Margaret Howell and Mfpen, and a deeper discussion around the challenges facing small brands today.
Archie was founded in 2019 by Mark Smith Clarke, a jack of all trades designer who diligently develops the brand’s patterns, sources his own world class fabric, and oversees the brand’s playful, tongue in cheek look books, modeled by close friends and shot by Mark himself. All of Archie’s fabrics are sampled and sourced from Japan, while the production of the garments is handled by a small, family owned factory in NYC’s garment district, tasked with carrying out Mark’s visions. Archie’s offerings are produced in extremely limited runs, creating an intimate relationship between the brand and its consumers, strengthened and sustained by the brand’s remarkable attention to detail. From its careful fabric selection and impossibly complex finishing treatments to the garment’s durable construction techniques, the quality is evident immediately upon experiencing Archie’s clothes. In its six collections thus far, Archie has continued to stretch the limits of how it utilizes incredibly complex, expensive fabrics while maintaining the eccentric, playful, and preppy aesthetic of the brand. I love the way Archie plays with color blocking and unexpected mixes of patterns, reminiscent and partially inspired by preppy brands like Ralph Lauren and Japanese fashion giant BEAMS, styles that many streetwear brands like Noah and Aime Leon Dore have experimented with in recent seasons, playing into the popular dad/normcore aesthetic. However, Mark’s clothes are never intended to tap into fads or trends; them overlapping slightly with popular trends is what I’d chalk up to the likely byproduct of timeless, fad-proof design. Like Margaret Howell, Mark’s patterns are simple and clean, and his knowledge of fabric and utilization of historical finishing treatments, are what set his clothes apart. Archie doesn’t produce anything without multilayered intention, beginning and ending with the pattern Mark develops and the materials he wishes to carry out said design.
Mark’s undergraduate studies in engineering and his upbringing in the southwest serve as pivotal, but unlikely inspirations behind the brand’s technical, thoughtful approach. His foray into the fashion world would not come until his move to NYC, beginning with a lengthy, accomplished tenure at NYC based UNIS, a legendary, Japanese inspired, preppy downtown brand that closed during the pandemic, whose inspiration is evident in Archie’s offerings. Growing up in New Mexico, his ability to experiment in the fashion space was relatively limited, resorting to physical big box retail stores like Cabelas, Bass Pro Shop, and Sears which served as Marks’s early exposure to technical wear. Later, American heritage stores like LL Bean and the popular late 90s-early 2000s Eastbay mail order catalogs gave Mark the exposure to the Made-in-America aesthetic that was being popularized in the 90s. When we spoke, he made several comments to me about how his exposure to functional outdoor brands and technical gear meant for sport fishing, hiking and general recreational activity had stuck with him until today, inspiring and allowing Archie to harmonize form and function. Mark has always emphasized intentionality in his work, most evident in his refusal to cut any corners with his label Archie, which successfully fuses his inspirations from American outdoor brands LL Bean and Columbia Sportswear with his experience at UNIS, a rather unlikely concoction that has quietly created one of the most exciting unisex brands in the market. Archie is carried in some of the most select menswear boutiques around the world; Seoul’s 88Curate, New York’s Meridian Vision, up and coming Lower East Side boutique Colbo, and Vancouver’s Neighbour, to name a few.
Product Highlights
For Archie’s AW2022 collection, the brand has doubled down on its commitment to sourcing the world’s most unique fabrics, presented in new and old patterns/styles, in the brand’s largest collection to date. Mackinaw Jackets have historic roots in American history, dating back to the early 1800s, named for the Mackinaw region of northern Michigan, an important trade artery with brutally cold conditions. The jacket has become a popular outerwear silhouette with functional front flap pockets, usually crafted from a heavyweight blanket or wool cloth. One stand out piece from Archie’s new collection is a Mark’s rendition of the Mackinaw Shirt, done in a Charcoal-Black Nylon Tussah, with an Enshuku Finish, a historic Japanese technique in which fabric is soaked in an ocean-saltwater solution which softens the cloth’s fibers. The fabric is then coated with a water repellent finish, resulting in a crisp, peached face hand feel, offered in a deep chocolate “Brown” and a deep red “Cardinal”, perfect for the fall/winter seasons ahead.
Another piece that caught my eye is Archie’s upcoming Coverall Jacket done in a Sunny Dried Canvas, which is hand dyed and then dried out in the sun in the Okayama prefecture of Japan, a region famous for specialized clothing production techniques. The jacket’s silhouette is inspired by the workwear Coverall, which over time, and increasingly so in the last decade, has become more synonymous with the top half of overalls; simply put, a Work Jacket. The jacket has a washed finish and a dry hand feel, but its most noteworthy features are the idiosyncrasies and creases presented in each garment, which are inherent byproducts of the sun drying process, adding unique character to the garment, each slightly different in texture and color. Each jacket is constructed with flat-fell chain stitched seams and metal shank buttons for durability. This “Pecan” color way is my personal favorite, but the jacket also comes in a vibrant “Carnation” and a neutral “Natural”, pictured below sequentially, along with matching double pleated trousers in the same color ways.
Lastly, it seems no Archie collection would be complete without some use of tweed/plaid, executed for this upcoming collection in a Boxy Overshirt perfect for the upcoming colder months. This tweed fabric is actually 100% cotton and is made from a substantial triple low twist tweed cotton plaid from the Kuwamura mill in Japan. The fabric is constructed by weaving or twisting three individual yarns into a single, textured and slubby thread. The fabric has a puffy, soft, slightly brushed hand feel is intentionally reminiscent of vintage, well worn tweeds. This silhouette is straightforward, featuring a large front chest pocket, hidden button placket, with twin pleats along the back yoke.
