When you think about American fashion, the aesthetics of the East Coast and the West Coast couldn’t be any more different. The East Coast’s fashion capital New York City is characterized by an eclectic mix of grunge, chic, and functionality. In contrast, the West Coast style has a more laid-back, surfer vibe. New York City-based brand Saturdays sought to bring the two conflicting styles together when it was founded in 2009. One of the co-founders and current art directors of the brand is SCAD alum Colin Tunstall, who graduated in 2002 with a double major in graphic design and photography.
image c/o of Instagram (@colintunstall)
The opening of the Saturdays flagship store brought many concepts together. The storefront was a fully functional surf shop, contained a coffee bar, and had places for people to just sit and hang out as a sort of community gathering spot. Even though Tunstall’s major’s weren’t directly related to fashion and selling clothes, he was able to use the knowledge he gained at SCAD to help create the Saturdays brand image from designing logos and t-shirts, managing the lookbooks and blog, and helping with store setups.
image c/o saturdaysnyc.com
Saturdays boasts a more athleisure vibe with a sophisticated, minimalist twist. A lot of recent collections have also started to include more high-fashion formalwear without sacrificing California comfort. Although the brand is focused on menswear, a lot of clothing has more of a gender-neutral look with their graphic tees and outerwear being among my personal favorites. Most of the clothes stem from a fairly neutral color palette with some muted accents, making it easy to style pieces across collections.
images c/o of saturdaysnyc.com
Saturdays’ welcoming environment and unique brand is what catapulted it to success. The company has opened multiple storefronts not only in New York but also internationally in Japan and Australia. The brand’s unique synthesis of fashion, art, music, surfing, and coffee culture is what has customers hooked across the world.
image c/o saturdaysnyc.com