Alex Drexler from Alex Mill.
There are two boutique menswear brands that I think are killing the game right now — the first is
La Paz from Portugal; the second is
Alex Mill from New York. I stumbled upon Alex Mill's first NYC outpost on Elizabeth Street about a year ago, and was so taken by the vintage look and feel of his slubby, textured cottons that I googled the brand on my cellphone right then and there and proceeded to geek out like a complete nerd. A few months later I got in touch with Alex Drexler, the label's founder, and shot
this outfit post featuring product from his spring/summer collection, and last week I emailed him and asked if he'd care to sit down for an interview. If you recognise his surname, it's because his father is
Mickey Drexler (dubbed 'The Man Who Dressed America') — the gentleman who steered Gap into every American closet, and who is now responsible for the juggernaut that is J.Crew. This afternoon in SoHo I spoke with Alex Drexler about his Dad, the merits of manufacturing offshore, his love for minute menswear details, and his collaboration with the Japanese label Omnigod, which launches tomorrow. Here goes:
How did you get started in the menswear business?For the last seven or eight years I've been working in production — I worked for Andrew Rosen, and I worked for Steven Alan. Originally I went to law school, I wanted to be an FBI agent or a district attorney, but I realized that I wasn't going to be able to make it through law school, so I dropped out and went to clothing. I never really wanted to get into clothing to be honest with you, but it was in my blood.
Did your dad help you get your first job?I tried to never rely on my father for too much, but I feel like having Drexler as my last name helped me get my foot in the door. But you know how it is with clothing, if it doesn't fit and it doesn't look good, then nobody really cares.
Was he happier with the idea of you getting into law or you getting into clothing?He wanted me to be happy.
How long in the making was Alex Mill?We spent a year and a half or so concepting it — the logo, the details, all the little things that went into it — then we launched with Odin and Barneys and about 25 stores, and we opened our own store at the same time.
How many of you are working on the brand?There's like six or seven of us. It's very small.
Where does the Mill in the name come from?Mill stands for quality.
Was it a conscious decision to drop Drexler in the brand name?The line was never a designer name. It was never about me, it was about Alex Mill.
So is Alex Mill a guy?No, it's just a name.
I read that Andrew Rosen is your mentor in the business, what have you learned from him?Andrew's specialty is production and merchandising, and all the little details — negotiating with factories, costing etc. Before I started Alex Mill I worked for him on a line called Gryphon for five years, and Andrew is very hands-on. We went to India a lot, and all that gave me my background in production and manufacturing. I feel like if you start a company and you don't know how to make things, then where are you?
Where do you make most of your product?We do some in America and some in Asia. We have a lot of intricate details in our shirts, and it's very hard to get all these details — (picks up one of his shirts) this shirt has been washed for an hour and a half, it's brushed on the inside, it has our signature embroidered X, it has special buttons — it's not easy to do this in America. We went where the right manufacturing resources are to make what we're looking to do.
That's interesting because I feel like people always think Made in America signifies higher quality in manufacturing.It's not so easy to do a lot of our detailing in America. But I don't think it matters where it's made as long as it's the right quality. For me it's all about our fabrics. That's really important, too — it doesn't matter if it's made in Japan, if it's made in New Zealand, or America — if you don't have really nice fabrics, nobody's really interested in wearing it.
That was the first thing that attracted me to your shop — the fabrics and textures. How do you find your fabrics? I don't feel like I'm finding a lot of these cloths from anyone else.We don't really use stock fabrics. We use a lot of individual custom fabrics, we make our own prints, our fabrics are washed, they're brushed, they're enzyme washed, there are all these custom things we do. Our fabrics are from Japan and India and the US, they're from everywhere.
Tell me about the Omnigod collab — how did that come about?Omnigod is a company that carries our product in Japan, they're a Japanese leader in denim and textiles, they reached out in our first season, and it started from there. The Japanese always wanna know what's new.
What are the advantages of working with a company like Omnigod?It's interesting to work with them because I always learn a lot from the Japanese. They have a unique way of looking at things. They're experts at denim, their shirts have a customised orange selvedge edge, and I'm just learning about how it works. I always wanna keep learning more about textiles and fabrics.
What's yours and what's theirs in the collab?The shape is theirs and we chose the fabrics and detailing, and then they made it.
On a completely different tack, what's the best piece of relationship advice you've ever been given?Have space. That's an obvious piece of relationship advice. That said, my girlfriend works with me on Alex Mill, but we do have space (laughs).
Have you had any famous customers since you started out?Eric Clapton is a customer, Paul Dano just wore Alex Mill this week, John Krasinski, the lead singer from MGMT wears it.
Who's your dream customer?Bruce Weber, I think he has great style and he's super cool, and Peter Beard... I love photography, so those guys wearing Alex Mill would be cool.
Final question: Would you consider yourself to be a perfectionist?I'm very particular on the details.
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