Derek Lam Closes His Collection Business, Refocuses on 10 Crosby
Derek Lam is closing his 15-year-old collection business. He and his business partner Jan Schlottmann will consolidate their efforts and resources around Derek Lam 10 Crosby, a contemporary-priced line that gets its name from the address of the company’s former headquarters. “The momentum is there,” Lam said of the 10 Crosby business. “It’s been growing at a nice clip, and there’s a lot of opportunity.”
A San Francisco native, Lam studied fashion at Parsons School of Design. He got on-the-job training at Michael Kors, where he worked for a dozen years before launching his eponymous label in an early aughts New York still reconstituting itself in the wake of 9/11. His elevated American sportswear, which was often influenced by his California roots (cue the Joni Mitchell soundtrack), was quickly embraced by the industry. Scarlett Johansson wore a floral print strapless number from his runway debut in the pages of Vogue. He picked up a runner-up prize in the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund competition in 2005, and the CFDA’s Emerging Designer Award (then known as Swarovski Perry Ellis Award) the same year.
Derek Lam Is Shuttering His Collection Business
In 2009, Lam opened an architectural marvel of a store designed by SANAA, the Japanese firm behind the New Museum, but its size and slightly off-the-beaten-path location eventually proved too ambitious, and it closed. Since 2016 he’s shown on the runway only intermittently. Other American designers of his generation and general aesthetic (Thakoon Panichgul, Jason Wu) have been likewise squeezed—by the shrinking of department store budgets or by shifts in consumer taste. He’s not the kind of designer who makes logo tees.
“The general business tide has not been in our favor,” Lam said, “and it’s become untenable to operate two brands.” He expanded: “The collection hasn’t grown in terms of dollars; it’s been steady, but the costs have increased tremendously, from fabrics to rent to all the communication and the work that needs to go into making the collection at a level I feel confident about. And also having general nervousness about the tariff situation, because we make our sweaters in China with Italian yarns, and about the rumors that some large retailers are going bankrupt.... There’s a lot of headwind.”
All that said, he hasn’t stopped making engaging, elegant, grown-up clothes. Just last week Margot Robbie made Vogue’s best dressed list in a graceful ivory number in the Katharine Hepburn mold that she chose for a Once Upon a Time in America photocall.
Reflecting on the last 15 years, Lam said the moments that stand out are the ones in which he stepped out of his comfort zone and did something unexpected of a designer brand. “I really loved working with Athleta when we did that athleisure collection, and I loved our work with eBay; we were the first crowd-sourced collection.”
Of late, he had adopted some sustainable practices in his eponymous collection, using non-chromed leather which requires fewer chemicals and eco-viscose in his designs. He plans to continue this work with 10 Crosby. “We started with recycled cashmere and polyester made of recycled materials. Knitwear seems to be the forefront of eco raw materials. But I’d love to expand that.”
Originally Appeared on Vogue
