Thursday, January 13, 2011

Heller’s Café at J.Crew {& Spring '11 Collection}

Finally, something just for the guys who love J.Crew! The following is a post from the New York Times Magazine blog on the latest collaboration J.Crew is offering (click here to read in its entirety).
Regulation Work Wear | Heller’s Café by Warehouse
By Lindsey Botts
January 7, 2011

Larry McKaughan, head of the vintage clothing company Heller’s Café, has garnered a cultlike following among heritage-obsessed shoppers on the hunt for authentic, turn-of-the-century clothing. So when J.Crew approached him to collaborate on a capsule collection, he jumped at the chance.

“Their willingness to think outside the box and bring in other brands to the company is brilliant,” McKaughan gushes. “They know what they’re doing.” And so does he, having anticipated the now perennial trend for rough-hewn work wear and published a book on Americana arcana, “King of Vintage by Heller’s Café Inc.”

The resulting Heller’s Café by Warehouse collection (Warehouse is the company’s Japanese-market offshoot) comprises 10 workaday staples, including chambray button-ups, fitted worn-in denim and jacquard henleys. Calluses not included. Available at jcrew.com.
This collaboration already has its own defined section ("Heller's Café by Warehouse") under Features at JCrew.com (click here to shop online). Several of the pieces are reproductions from McKaughan's personal archive. According to the site:
Larry McKaughan of Heller's Café fame teamed up with Warehouse, Japan's cult-favorite denim brand (and one of the most true-to-tradition garment makers around) to bring us—and you—this extremely limited-edition, vintage-inspired piece(s).
And there's a bit more for the J.Crew Aficionados out there. We got to see some images of the Spring 2011 Collection for Men in an earlier post ("J.Crew Presents their Spring 2011 Collection" post). "Thanks!" to J.Crew Guy In Canada who shared the following links which show a bit more from the latest collection:
What are your thoughts on the collaboration between "Heller's Café by Warehouse" & J.Crew? Are you excited about the Men's Spring 2011 Collection?

4 comments:

  1. Brilliant!--heritage brands are the perfect collaboration for J. Crew. Heller's Cafe and Warehouse have beautiful offerings so can't wait to see, but guessing we might not get it in our limited-square-footage-local shops.

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  2. Would love to look at the Heller's pieces, but the JC site is down. Was it something I said?

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  3. OK, the site is working. I just looked at the $260 sweatshirt.
    Hoodie. Gray & black.

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  4. If you want workwear you can get much nicer workwear for a lot less. I've bought some great workwear pieces from Carhartt, Dickies and others. Great quality and similar styles but without the brand status of Heller's Cafe.

    IMO this is Millard Drexler's way of coaxing customers toward the $800 umbrella. A "collector's item" $260 sweatshirt that looks like it came from Walmart? Why Emperor, you do look smashing!

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