TREND REPORT: MENSWEAR

Menswear has often been defined by a focus on functionality over fashion, which can make options feel limited or repetitive. Rigid expectations and gender norms can restrict how menswear is reimagined and designed. A new wave of menswear designers is challenging these boundaries, bringing fresh imagination, innovative silhouettes to the forefront.

Here are three emerging menswear designers to have on your rader.

EGNARTS

EGNARTS is an emerging small-batch fashion label based in Seoul, South Korea, known for transforming everyday garments and objects into contemporary fashion through inventive construction techniques, creative finishes, and reimagined, fully functional elements.

The young brand’s signature aesthetic draws heavily on traditional workwear ques, like their Hidden Cargo Pocket pants and Two-way Changeable Jackets. By fusing avant-garde design with utility, EGNARTS is creating a new category of multi-use, sustainable garments while still firmly being Fashion.

EGNARTS also embraces artistic design elements, incorporating hand-painted and stencil-sprayed details. For example, they spray familiar workwear motifs, like wrenches and nuts, onto simple items such as plain white t-shirts. The brand’s playful spirit is also evident in products like their ‘Watch Tape’ – a functional tape featuring a watch graphic – and the ‘Pants Jacket’ and ‘Jacket Pants’ – garments featuring the words “jacket” and “pants” on the opposite items. With their unique made to order approach, EGNARTS pieces are also crafted with minimal waste, meaning they are not only injecting both humour and creativity into the small brand scene, but a true sustainable practice as well.

Shop the collection here

Jetpack Hom(m)e®

JETPACK hom(m)e is a genderless fashion label that infuses menswear silhouettes with a bold sense of freedom and creativity. Founded in early 2016 by Ryan Morar, the brand's first collections were conceptualized and crafted in his home studio in Los Angeles, CA.

JETPACK hom(m)e challenges conventional notions of how clothing should be designed and worn. Silhouettes are turned inside out, graphics are distorted, and labels and tags appear in unexpected places - such as on their Quilted Collage Hooded Coat, which features handmade embroidery and resin buttons, or their Reconstructed vintage polyester trousers with offbeat seams and raw edges.

Many of the brand’s pieces are made from original handmade textiles or upcycled garments. Familiar items like thrifted stuffed animals, crocheted blankets, discarded sports kits, and old graphic tees are reimagined - ripped apart, reconstructed, dipped, dyed, embroidered, and embellished into entirely new, one-of-a-kind creations. Notable examples include their Assemblage Jeans, made from vintage parts, a hand-cut deconstructed leather jacket from dead stock dual-sided leather hides, a sleeveless shirt in 1960s retro Tuck-Stitch knit, and their Handmade patchwork fabric made from 1970s Beige/Ivory Duct Cloths - a signature technique for the brand.

With a relentless focus on detail and artisanal craftsmanship, JETPACK hom(m)e defines luxury. When once discarded materials are recontextualized and transformed, their value is redefined, creating new possibilities at the intersection of streetwear and sustainability.

Shop the collection here

Khanh Brice Nguyen

Khanh Brice Nguyen is a London-based designer who explores the beauty of the human body through innovative knitwear techniques. His gender-fluid, sophisticated pieces challenge the traditional perceptions of knitwear - often seen as thick, bulky and concealing - and instead, embrace the body with delicate, form-fitting designs. 

Skintight drop-stitch knits in soft, gentle tones sensually mold to the wearer’s shape, highlighting their unique contours. Examples like his Aqua scar set with cream monofilaments, soft mako cotton ‘Rain’ trousers with mock interrupted ribs, and Moss fishnet crochet tops in shiny viscose use yarn almost like “watercolor for the body,” tactically sculpting and revealing the body in new ways.

Nguyen’s deep appreciation for craftsmanship began during his internship at Dior, followed by a year spent refining his knitwear skills in a knit mill in Italy. However, it was during his MA at the Royal College of Art in London that he realized his desire to create knitwear that wouldn’t conceal the body but rather allow for self-expression. Collaborating with dancers, drawing inspiration from movement and storytelling, became a key foundation for his designs.

Pieces like the Aqua long sleeve drop-stitch knits with intentional drops, trompe l’oeil distressed sets and sheer streak vest highlight the tension between exposure and protection. Each garment is designed to move with the body, tactically revealing it while also serving as a protective second skin that supports and empowers the wearer. Nguyen’s work is both delicate and powerful, opening new realms for menswear through personal identity, body positivity, and sensuality.

Shop the collection here

Written by Grace Robinson