Real Nice Clothes for Real Life Nine-To-Fivers (EXCLUSIVE)
We talk a lot about real clothes from a fashion sense, daily-driver gear with a distinct "designer" POV. But what about really real clothes? Real clothes for real life, grounded garments made to get dirty but as thoughtful as any so-called luxury good.
Those are, of course, also real clothes. And they're 925 Originals' specialty.
925 Originals is Kurt Narmore's radically straightforward answer to the question of "What do people actually wear?" It's stylisticly aligned with Noon Goons, the uncomplicatedly cool clothing label that Narmore founded in Los Angeles nearly a decade ago, but 925 Originals gets even more to the point.
These are, simply, staples done better. But 925's apparent no-frills proposition masks extremely laborious production, fabrication, and finishings, all at an utterly comprehensible price point.
Wary of so-called "elevated basics" that charge a premium for clothes that aren't quite? Good. 925 Originals is not that.
"What we're doing is quality product, real people, real stories," Narmore says. "You don't need to be a fashion head to rock this. It's like the name says: what's your nine to five? Traditional workday hours."
The unpretentious name reflects 925 Originals' unpretentious clothing, which includes corduroy-trimmed work jackets, brushed cotton shirts, ringer tees, and perfectly washed-out denim jeans.
You've heard this pitch before. But you haven't seen clothes this quietly quality.
925 Originals is the result of much manufacturing wizardry, with Narmore leveraging his experience in the biz to create truly nice clothing from the ground up. Everything is made in America, everything is almost absurdly intentional, and zero corners are cut. For instance, a vast majority of brands make their garments out of generic fabrics purchased wholesale — not 925 Originals! Here, the focus is on bespoke textiles.
As we walk through the 925 Originals showroom, Narmore points out delightfully nerdy details: one T-shirt was given a potassium wash before its pocket was removed for a touch of tattered contrast and a denim set was specially treated with what Narmore calls his "Nirvana wash" in homage to a pair of lived-in jeans once worn by Kurt Cobain.
"The manufacturing power we have allows me to actually open up the vision," Narmore says, pointing out quilting applied in-house to a barn coat's exterior.
The upside to all this vertical integration is that Narmore keeps 925 Originals' price low and quality high. The necessary downside is that 925's products are all inherently limited, with runs sometimes topping out upwards of 75 pieces.
Hardly a downside, though. If anything, the small runs add a little spice to garments designed for maximum wearability.
"I'm not going logo driven," says Narmore, gesturing at the racks of real clothes that surround him. 925, available exclusively at Nordstrom from this fall onwards, will soon debut campaigns demonstrating its clothes' approachability. Nine-to-fivers wearing 925.
"We're gonna feature my buddy's dad, who builds flat-bottom drag boats. We're gonna go behind the scenes and shoot the badass fucking boats going 100 miles an hour on the water," says Narmore. "And my other buddy, he's a hair stylist, does YG's hair. It's grassroots marketing. We're just gonna do cool shit."
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