You're Supposed to Stumble Upon This Store the Old-Fashioned Way
If you love clothes, the most exciting feeling in the world is discovering that a nearby store sells excatly the stuff you crave. I was blessed enough to experience this a few weeks ago when, itching to uncover a new stockist for ANCELLM, I actually did. Listed under "North America" stockists, I scoped a previously unheard-of retailer was called "AFACTORY."
A factory? I thought. What does that mean? Turns it, it means "Jake's favorite store."
After digging up an Eldridge Street address on the store's Instagram page, I raced over. I couldn't believe it. Not only did they sell ANCELLM but other niche favorites, like Barbell Object, INNAT, and Rice Nine Ten. I felt like I'd won the lottery. Not because I'd hit upon an opportunity to spend money — I mean, sure, that too — but because it felt like I'd willed this space into existence.
The endorphin rush from getting exactly what you want when you least expect it? Bliss.
Timing-wise, it's kinda insane that I found this store at all. The AFACTORY team — there are three members with backgrounds in fashion, who preferred to answer questions for this piece as a collective — told me that they'd opened only 10 days earlier. How do you like that? This is the first time I've sniffed out a just-opened local retailer since... hmmm. It's been a while. But that rush, that surprise, is AFACTORY's aim.
It's laced into the belowground entrance and the soft-focus glass panes that line the wall you pass through to enter, both recalling Japanese architecture and gently obscuring the goodness inside. And it informs AFACTORY's unpretentious layout, which emphasizes the clothes as much as it guides you towards the rear of the store, which hosts a roomy changing room and, soon, a backyard. It all feels very old school. Very early-days of menswear, but with the best clothes of today.
This is a store of discovery. The clothes, the location. Everything about AFACTORY is particular but it still imparts the thrill of newness. "We were very happy with the way you found us," the AFACTORY team told me, "because you literally got our intention."
How would you describe the store to someone who hasn't visited?
AFACTORY: Well, everything is secondary to good product. But we still wanted to make a cozy, friendly place in this busy area of Chinatown.
We always put it like, we're introducing brands we believe in. Every brand we work with has great potential. And they're fresh. Even with brands sold at other stores, we make our selections to showcase them in a different way.
How do you choose the brands you carry?
It's hard to put into words but, basically, it's a kind of... compatibility. Like, Ancellm sits nicely with INTĒRIM and they both make sense with The Duffer N Nephews. We're trying to think of it like, could our friends wear these clothes together? Will the products mix well?
We also care about the people behind the brands. We have relationships with them, which is important because we're thinking long-term. For both brands and stores, it really is down to people. If the people behind them are cold, they'll probably fade away.
Speaking of relationships, there are three of you overseeing AFACTORY. How do you balance the decision-making?
We're different people but we're always thinking about cohesion. When we pick our brands, we're thinking about giving AFACTORY a clear identity. And we're focused on quality — not just sewing and finishing but the ideas, the fits. We have a hunger for good garments. Like, when we're buying product, we attempt to be savvy and think of who'd wear each item but, at the end, we're fashion nerds obsessed with clothes. And we 100 percent trust each other.
That ties in with the name of the store. We thought of it like, we're taking all these different elements — the brands' different aspects, our different backgrounds — to create one finished result, like a factory's assembly line. It's about putting together all these different things that resonate.
The location is interesting because it's not an obvious "fashion retail" address.
Yeah. We didn't want to do something on Orchard [Street, near Dimes Square] because there are so many stores and restaurants there. Also, our friends have stores near here, like BLANKMAG, and a nice restaurant is opening around here soon. This area is going to be kinda post-Orchard, but also not crazy.
But if you hang around this street, you'll see many locals. It's very family-and-friends here. We really like that.
Is there a lot of foot traffic from shoppers?
Yes, which surprised us. We haven't done any press or publicity and yet a lot of people have stopped by. Not even "fashion" people! Regular customers who appreciate and are excited by our brands. We haven't really seen the "fashion" customers yet. It's been a lot of people walking through Chinatown or going to the photo gallery across the street.
You know, most of our clothing is not cheap. But we've had many customers purchase clothes from brands they've never heard of before. We're happy about that, because we don't want to only cater to the "fashion" side of things.
What do you want?
This has been a golden experience for us. We dreamed of opening a store for years. And we saw a lot missing in the retail experience. There are so many good brands out there but not enough stores introducing them. A lot of stores focus on just selling stuff. But we were thinking back to our teenage years, our twenties, and how it felt to go to really great stores, hang out with the people who worked there, and learn about new brands. These were really memorable, valuable experiences. No clicks or AI recommendations. Passion and experience.
We just want to be a good store. A good, classic store. We talk about our favorites all the time. The legendary ones. They don't do marketing and people still go visit to look and discover. That happened here a few days ago: some students stopped by here and they were just so excited. They were like, "Can we take photos?" It reminded us of when we were their age, when we were students going to stores and being like, "This is sick."
This place could be a melting pot, of people, of knowledge. We don't feel like we have that kind of community spot at a menswear store, otherwise. Of course, we're not comparing ourselves to other stores. It's just — that's what we want to make. A really good store.
