“I know guys are scared of highrise, but you can still wear them low if you want,” says Willy Chavarria, holding a pair of jeans across his waist.
Chavarria and his partner David Ramirez, better known as the dudes at Palmer Trading Company, have teamed up with Texan work-wear giant Dickies to create a limited edition, 12-piece capsule collection exclusively for their Soho store.
Palmer Trading began as a hip Sullivan Street men’s shop in 2010, and has grown to include their own unique, internationally sought-after house brand. Their penchant for rugged and manly clothes (which carries over to their scavenged antique finds, like leather chairs and eagle bookends, also available in their shop) makes them a good match for old-school American brand Dickies. The result is certainly not coveralls you would wear to fix a carburetor.
“I loved working with such a mass market brand to make a focused and relatively small collection using masculine and durable materials,” says Chavarria.
They used archival pieces and fabrics from Dickies’ original 1922 collection as a springboard. Key pieces include flannel shirts, low-rider shorts and workmen’s vests and jackets made durable enough to last a lifetime of toil in an oil field (or nights out in a club).
Items have been tailored and refined, reflecting the designers’ individual styles. “David and I can be total opposites,” says Chavarria, a native Californian who sports a gold chain and tattooed sleeves. “It’s a bit like East Coast prep meets West Coast cholo.”
This is reflected in the stark images of the collection, photographed by Ben Morris, that capture the concept’s street inspiration. Prints will be for sale with proceeds going toward Barrios Unidos, a charity helping people transition from gang life into employment in the arts.
Chavarria and Ramirez started their careers at Ralph Lauren. While working corporate jobs, they set up Palmer Trading as a vintage store to sell American-made clothing and furniture. The intimate store has the feel of a cozy living room decorated with antique globes, deer antlers and repurposed wood from an abandoned factory. The shop’s name is derived from Palmer, the town in Massachusetts where they have a cabin and locate much of their vintage haul.
“I keep the clothes simple and straightforward,” says Chavarria. “Staying away from trends is important to focus on quality and practicality. No offense but if Kanye is wearing it, then it probably isn’t going to work for us.”