I caught up with Randy Brewer, the head buyer and general manager of the three Villains stores in San Francisco, about what is selling for spring and what he liked for fall at the trade shows.
Randy described Villains as a fashion forward street wear store. “I’m not buying just for the skate kid – it’s much bigger than that.” He doesn’t buy T-shirts – he leaves that to the mall stores, he said.
I wanted to talk to him because many brands respect the store and boast when Villains picks them up.
Insight and WeSC are doing well. “They are not from America – they have a different fashion sense. They are a little more interesting and not quite the same as everybody else.”
Cheap Monday, also from Sweden, has “great price points and tons of style.” Spring looks great and fall is “amazing.”
“Paul Frank surprised me,” Randy said. “They have stepped it up. They’ve got a cohesive line together. It’s now really fashionable especially on the men’s side.” He noticed the improvement for spring and sees it even more for fall.
The Matix women’s line for fall “looks great – they have a new designer.”
Triple 5 Soul women’s line for fall is “The best streetwear line I’ve ever seen,” Randy said. They also have a new designer.
General positive trend for fall: Brands created more sophisticated looks with more detail instead of being so logo driven. “I’ve been begging for that for a long time,” Randy said. Also, many had strong jackets that were more tailored, more classic, including some nice pea coats that will work well for San Francisco.
A criticism of action sports brands: “They tend to do a lot of the same thing. This year, everyone has flannels. They tend to grab the same fashion trends and it’s hard to tell them apart.”
