How Fashion Brands Are Prioritzing Versatility And Comfort This Season

Spring has sprung, with summer well on the way, which means it’s time for a wardrobe refresh. For the sartorially inclined who also believe in knowing more about the brands they buy from, representatives of Alex Mill, Rails, Lafaurie, Bonobos and Corridor reflected on their respective journeys and guiding philosophies—while also offering a preview of their latest exciting offerings.

Somsack Sikhounmuong, creative director of Alex Mill, has a mantra that sums up the brand’s style and spirit. “Not more clothes but the right clothes!” he told me. “The right clothes being pieces that you’ll wear and keep forever. Special pieces that are always designed with a focus on quality and style. Looking great and cool shouldn’t be complicated.”

Alex Mill started in 2012 with the essential goal of finding and making the perfect shirt—something timeless, well made and not boring. “Today that filter has extended to every piece we design,” said Sikhounmuong. Lately, he’s been recommending the new men’s work jacket, in a lightweight basket weave cotton linen and classic boxy shape, to anyone in the market for a day-to-night/weekday-to-weekend piece. “The beautiful wash and color makes any outfit instantly cool without ever looking like you tried too hard.”

Cashmere is sort of Alex Mill’s thing; every spring, the design team dreams up new cashmere styles. Their latest features a “super soft,” more lightweight cashmere—ideal for spring temps—and graceful details such as a slight bell sleeve and open neckline. “We are huge fans of taking a classic and putting a cool spin on it and the Isa is a great example. It takes the classic mariner’s tee and is updated with a cool slouchy fit and an of-the-moment polo collar.”

When Rails’ creative director Jeff Abrams started the brand 15 years ago, the idea was to elevate wardrobe essentials—like the classic button-down shirt—with a more luxe tactile experience than anything available on the market.

Today, Rails has evolved into a full range of lifestyle staples, and a global sales network of more than 1,000 retailers in 30 countries, including 15 free-standing Rails stores.

“Our collections focus on versatility, quality, and comfort, which allows our customer to navigate his day in style, no matter the occasion,” said Abrams. “We always aim to blend our easy California roots with an elevated European sensibility and create pieces for the modern man on the move.”

“We’re always in pursuit of developing unique, premium fabrics with unmatched hand-feel,” added Cody James, the brand’s VP of men’s design. “From our heritage shirting and vintage-washed t-shirts to classic outerwear and all-season trousers, we are focused on the details and craftsmanship of what makes a garment special.”

For a while now, James admitted, he has been living in the brand’s slub blended cotton-linen fabric; Rails’ Callum pant is a travel-ready, versatile pant that can be styled from casual to refined. Think of it as the perfect mix between your favorite slacks and most comfortable lounge pants. As James put it: “It can take you from Venice Beach to the Mediterranean coast.” He added, “We also offer the same fabric in a classic elastic-waisted short and lightweight Ambrose chore coat, to create a timeless, sophisticated set.”

Rails’ summer collection also draws inspiration from 1940s French workwear. Collarless and made from Rails’ signature linen-cotton blend, the Antoine is “our modern take on the classic button down,” said Abrams. “It’s lightweight, easy, and comfortable, perfect for dressing up or down.” Meanwhile, the Silas shirt has a 50s California inspiration, with lightweight sweater-knit cotton fabrication—the hand-feel is dreamy—and contrast striping. It’s a lively update on the classic camp shirt silhouette that speaks to the brand’s commitment to comfort and versatility.

Pierre Lafaurie grew up in a rooftop flat in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris. Pierre grew up surrounded by fine materials and pots of glue, since the flat was also a workshop for the making of lampshades.

After a period as a textile brand salesman, Pierre launched his own menswear brand, Lafaurie, inspired by the style of the artists and intellectuals on the Left Bank. One of the launch items was a painter’s jacket in cotton canvas—a piece that would become iconic for the brand.

When Pierre passed away in 2018, his sons, Théo and Pablo, took over the reins of the brand. “We have revamped and always continued reinventing and developing our brand while staying true to our heritage,” Théo told me.

Today, Lafaurie continues to draw inspiration from the creative and artistic scene, not just in Saint-Germain-des-prés in Paris but internationally. Pragmatism, minimalism and high-quality luxury fabrics at an affordable price are priorities, along with what Théo describes as “a playful sense of détournement.”

Appreciators of Lafaurie’s blend of casual chic and rigorous tailoring can still pick up the painter’s jacket in cotton canvas—including in a palette of summer colors: sage, dalai lama, carnelian. The Frank architect jacket and Figaro cotton voile shirt are also must-have pieces, Théo said.

At Bonobos, fit is paramount. More fits and sizes than other brands—up to five fits in many pants and three fits in its shirts and suits, with an incredibly broad range of sizes—means that customers can be assured of finding a fit they love.

“We know not everyone is built the same way,” said Hazel Morley, Bonobos’ VP of design, who has been designing men’s pants for more than 16 years, and with Bonobos for 12 of those years. “We spend a ton of time here in our HQ in NYC fitting our products, wear-testing and listening to customer feedback to ensure our products stand up to the brand promise of giving men the confidence and comfort that they deserve.

Indeed, Bonobos was founded to solve the pervasive problem of ill-fitting pants. Founders Andy Dunn and Brian Spaly had seen way too many men rocking that saggy ‘diaper butt’ look. “They found that adjusting the pattern and changing the waistband to be contoured, or curved, minimized a lot of the excess fabric they saw out there,” said Morley. “Have you ever noticed how a well-loved leather belt doesn’t lay flat when you take it off? The contour waistband shape mimics this idea and helps with the overall fit.”

Over the years Bonobos expanded its offering beyond pants. They now offer a full range of items including beautifully tailored suits and performance-ready golf apparel, as well as a range of shirting options from easy care work shirts to printed vacation shirts.

“For summer 2024, we designed a collection of versatile vacation-ready pieces that can take you from the cabana to dinner, while still looking polished enough to work in your wardrobe for the M-F grind. We are seeing a huge trend in linen fabrications, which works perfectly for our customer. It’s a natural fiber with great breathability and a soft luxurious hand feel.”

The team also loves the innate casual polish of linen, which it sources from a renowned Italian mill; linen features in shirts, tees and sweaters, with Bonobos’ suits boasting linen with mechanical stretch. “Our coastal linen pants are made of a blend of linen with cotton and spandex, which is pretty unusual in the market and helps keep our promise of comfort,” said Morley.

A highlight of Bonobos’ latest offerings: their fun and inspired take on retro-knitted polo shirts, with patterns ranging from coffee cotton stripe to black dandelion cotton, coral chevron to navy bowling stripe. “These are super versatile and can be worn as a replacement to a dress shirt, or casually with denim or shorts.” There’s also a range of subtly sun-faded items, like the lightweight chino and short and sun-faded swim—pieces that have been through a special wash to give them a broken-in look.

But Morley is especially proud of their new 180-gram premium organic cotton t-shirt that was a year and a half in the making—available in crew neck, V neck, with pocket or without.

Beyond good fits, Bonobos strives to find the balance between trendy and what customers actually want. “In addition to relevant seasonal items, we also strive to offer our customer some consistency in a world that is always chasing trends. Many brands change so quickly that he can’t come back the following year to buy a new color in something he loved the prior year. We mark a handful of our most loved items as ‘icons’ and offer them year-round, so he can always get our top items.”

Corridor is a Brooklyn-based, independent brand with a punchy mission statement: “‘Art as Clothing’ is something we will sometimes say,” said Brandon Capps, Corridor’s sales director. “We believe it really gets down to what we believe our purpose is in this world. We ultimately want to create beautiful, inspiring garments in an ethical way alongside our partners.”

It’s an apparel brand but also, said Capps, a “community of artists” who find inspiration in color, nature, music, spirituality and New York life. “Our goal is to create transcendent, lovingly made clothing as spiritual expressions with universal meanings.” Corridor’s artists design their textiles and garments in-house and partner with ethical and environmentally sustainable workshops that specialize in the best quality weaving, knitting and sewing.

Corridor’s spring/summer 2024 collection features a new knitwear silhouette. They call it their plated SS shirt: a mid-weight, short-sleeved shirt with a slouchy fit and a ‘plated’ knit technique that uses a warp and weft that can utilize different color and texture.

But the brand’s most beloved offering is its striped seersucker woven shirt. With its soft, textured viscose/cotton blend and slouchy shape, it’s the brand’s best performing item for three years’ running, with no signs of that slowing down. “We believe it encapsulates a lot of what the brand is about. It’s a classic style that can work across nearly any customer cohort around the world. It really lends itself to looking well put together and comfortable in nearly any situation.”