Aaron Levine & The Madewell Revamp
He's brought mall brands back from near-death and he has a righteous beard: he is the Mall Messiah™️ and his new reign at Madewell has me hopeful for this era of menswear.
I own a lot of great coats. Like an excessive amount. So much so that my new-ish barber refers to me as ‘the coat guy,’ which seems like a polite way to admit that he doesn’t actually remember my name. I’ve only been to him twice so far, but both times we spent a decent chunk of time talking about the coats I’d worn.
The first time it was the Drake’s raglan coat. His remarks were ‘Man, this is heavy’ and ‘Why is it so long?’ and ‘How much did this cost?’ — The man was flabbergasted as I began to answer all his questions. But I enjoyed the conversation and I felt like he walked away with a new appreciation for outerwear. The second time I showed up I was greeted with ‘Hey! It’s the guy with the nice coats!’ as he walked over to grab my coat to hang it up. We got to talking and he mentioned how this one seemed more tailored to my body, how it fit better in his opinion. He also liked the ‘pattern because it’s not as dark as the other.’ He complimented how smooth it felt and how much lighter it was. Then he asked me how much it cost and where I got it from. I asked him to guess. He said it must have been at least as much as the previous one and that it looked like something you’d get from one of those ‘fancy overseas sites where you pay in euros.’
“It’s from Abercrombie and it cost me $200.”
I saw this man’s face change as he used all sorts of curse words to accuse me of lying as he went to check the tag for himself.
“You got this…at the mall?”
“I got it at the mall.”
The conversation that followed was about price and value and accessibility and how brand images change and about how a dying brand no one cared about seemed to have gotten a new chance at life at the hands of a man named Aaron Levine.
You might not know Aaron Levine, but you’ve definitely seen him online. Maybe it was in an Aime Leon Dore look book. If not ALD, maybe you’ve seen him on a Drakes ad on instagram. I’d bet that you might have seen a particular New Balance ad and thought ‘Man, that guy has a great beard.’ For me, the first time I saw Aaron Levine was on Tumblr at some point in the early 2010’s.
Not really caring for fashion back then meant that all I knew of him was that he seemed to know how to dress well, or at least he did in that one photo. When I discovered Four Pins (RIP) and started to wade into the #menswear pool, I heard Aaron referenced once or twice. And then I saw his name on forums. And then eventually photos of menswear heroes of mine posing with him started to appear online. The whole time I kept asking myself ‘Who is this guy and why does everyone seem to know him?’ If I’m being fully honest today, I think I was surprised that he seemed older than everyone else I looked up to. For a while that was it and then one day as I was getting ready to listen to a relatively new (at the time) podcast called Blamo, episode 8 happened to feature Aaron Levine himself. I listened and was fascinated at how someone would choose to work with a brand like Abercrombie & Fitch, the same brand I’d spent years poking fun at. I remember being intrigued and curious as to what would come of it only to immediately forget about it entirely once the episode ended.
Then one day in 2021 as I was shopping with my wife at our local mall, she walked past Abercrombie and asked if we could pop in real quick; she had seen a video about their brand refresh and was curious. And then it hit me. ‘Oh Aaron Levine used to work for them.’ At this point he was no longer with the brand, but his fingerprints were clearly still impressed on the products through the team he left behind, many of which I still follow on instagram today. I went in curious and came out with 3 jackets, two of which were the same coat in two different color ways. I was so shocked at how well everything fit and how it all felt like it should have cost 3 or 4 times the price I paid. I immediately shot him a DM with my thoughts.
The mall brand I hated had now become a place where I’d head over to grab reliable basics at a great price. I still wear the jackets as much today in 2024 as I did in 2021. In the landscape of menswear, to wear something for 3 years and still want to keep wearing it checks off both the physical & emotional durability boxes. It’s a testament to good design and quality product.
If you want to know more about his time at Abercrombie & Fitch, this episode of Throwing Fits does a great job of covering all the basics; if you want to hear about what he’s up to currently with Madewell, listen to this one. If you’re looking to deep dive into his jobs in detail, those pods do a great job at covering all the bases. In terms of what I want to talk about in this post, it’s not so much about what else I’d like to know about how he’s done business as much as it is my outsiders view on this phenomenon of mall brands becoming relevant again in the menswear space and why I think this aligns so well with our views on clothing here at Thread Space.
I remember being in my late teens/early 20’s and trying to make sense of my personal style. This was during the Hedi Slimane Saint Laurent era and I did not have Saint Laurent income. But I’d save and lowball on Grailed and I’d do whatever I could to amass a collection of what was, at the time, the look that everyone was trying to achieve. At one point, I had 5 pairs of boots & shoes from the brand, none of which I actively wear today. In fact, while looking for a pair of running shoes this past week I came across a pair of Wyatt boots tucked under my bed, now entirely forgotten and covered in dust, that I used to swear I’d wear forever. Times have changed! And although I’m positive I could work them back into my rotation strategically, they just aren’t necessarily what I’m into today. They were hyper-specific pieces that were popular during a hyper-specific time and now have become irrelevant in my wardrobe.
The menswear space seems to be shifting (thankfully) from a product-specific / hype focused model to one that emphasizes personal style above all else. I don’t think wearing a specific brand matters as much as it once did. I don’t think certain pieces are considered as necessary to be relevant as they once were. I think so many brands are putting out so many good products that it’s less about what you’re buying and more about how are you making it work for your personal style. Whether a jacket cost you $1,000 at Our Legacy or $13 at the thrift store doesn’t matter as much as how you make it work for yourself does. This opens up the door for all sorts of things to happen: you can wear whatever from wherever and it still can be considered good personal style. For younger people or those with tighter incomes (due to a plethora of reasons; fatherhood has shrunken my jawnz budget), it removes the financial burden that used to come with wanting to be a part of the current menswear zeitgeist.
Part of what was so wonderful about the Levine-era Abercrombie was that their offering was (1) intentionally designed (2) accessibly priced and (3) timeless in nature. If you look at what he did for Club Monaco, it was (1) intentionally designed (2) accessibly priced and (3) timeless in nature. And if you go look at what he’s doing at Madewell it’s…you get the point.
Here are some broad thoughts on Madewell Men’s line:
In the Throwing Fits episode where he speaks about working at A&F, one of the points that Aaron repeatedly brings up is that he’s a ‘true product guy,’ which is to say he (genuinely) cares about the products he’s helping produce. You only need to look as far as the Viberg jungle boot he helped create to see how attentive to details he is when it comes to designing a product that's meant to be well worn. Sure, the boot costs $995, which is a long ways off from the Madewell price range, but I think that further shows how much he cares about what he’s got his hands in; I am convinced he’s put in the same amount of time, energy and thought into any of the Madewell products as he has into the Viberg boot. A ‘product guy’ at the helm of Madewell means that you’re not getting a cheapened out version of a jean, rather you’re likely getting the best version that could possibly be made at that price point. When someone is as passionate about products as he is, the passion bleeds into every product regardless of the cost. I believe that it’s good business to support brands and companies where the people in charge genuinely seem to care about making the best possible version of a product possible.
When I shop for something now I usually start by asking myself ‘Does this item look like it’ll be relevant to wear in 10 years?,’ followed by ‘Will I still want to wear this in 10 years?’ — When it comes to the newest Madewell Men’s line, the also to both of those questions is yes. Having just turned 30, I feel like my personal style is sort-of locked in. This doesn't mean that it won’t change, it just means it won’t change as drastically as it used to from season to season. I’m shopping for 30-year-old me, but also for 35-year-old me and also 40-year-old me. I want to purchase things with the intention to wear it into the ground for the next decade, not because I have to but because I want to. There is something really wonderful about having a garment of clothing follow you through many seasons of life, watching it age as you age and break in perfectly. What a lot of brands fail to do is consider if their products have been designed to age with their customer, if it’s something that has a lifespan past the current season. I know that it might be too early to tell with the men’s line, but if I can use my wife’s experience with Madewell’s women’s line it’s clear that products not only last, but also seem to get better as they age. It’s always good to see a shirt or pair of pants be kept in the rotation for years at a time.
If you’re dating / married, you know the pain of losing your partner to Madewell for an hour or two. God forbid it happens to be during one of their sales??? You might as well cancel the rest of your day because you’re now on fetching duty. ‘Can you get me these pants in a smaller size?’ and ‘Maybe grab the white version of this top please!’ become your call phrases. I’m thankful that when my wife wanders into Madewell, I now have a section to waste my own time in. (Note: Our local mall has a Madewell Men’s being built so this might be hyper-specific to me. You might still be doomed.) Soon it’ll by my wife’s turn to be on fetch duty.
Price point wise, I think Madewell is in a sweet spot where it isn’t so cheap that it makes you question the quality but it isn’t so expensive that it’s unaccessible. I like to use jeans as a metric to base this off of. At Madewell, jeans are $138. That’s not as cheap as some Levi’s models, but their pricing ranges drastically. It’s also not like what you’d find at a Self Edge, where jeans can be in the +$300 range (and for good reason; quality is unmatched). But I think the Madewell customer isn’t necessarily looking for raw denim from Japan, but they’re also looking to step up from the denim they might have previously worn where the crotch blows out every 3 months or so. You’re in a good middle where you can afford to spend a little more to get better quality without over-committing to a long and tedious break in period. This might be a large majority of what guys shopping at Madewell are looking for.
I think Abercrombie’s rebrand at the helm of Mr Levine gives me a ton of hope for Madewell. Knowing that my $200 A&F coat gets complimented and asked about nearly every time I wear it makes me genuinely wonder what drove me to spend 10 times as much on the Drakes raglan that is only ever acknowledged by other menswear nerds. (This is a joke, I love coat so much.) I think it’s been a firsthand case-study on how normal everyday people really love this coat because it checks off all the boxes in such a classic & timeless manner, whereas the Drakes coat is super niche and not something the masses understand. In one sense, I love that it feels like Drakes is a subtle little secret that only a select eye can point out…but…I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love being stopped and asked about the A&F coat every time I wore it. It truly is the most talked about garment in my arsenal, and it’s allowed me to have dozens of conversations with all sorts of people, from guys my age to a girl who asked where she could get one for her boyfriend to an older man who complimented me on it as he got into his Bentley to my mom saying I looked handsome in it — it speaks to everyone. I think this is what I’m expecting from Madewell, products that speak to everyone regardless of age, gender, or financial background.
MALL BRANDS ARE BACK BABY!!! In a world that is so digital and so far removed from the intimacy of shopping in person, we should celebrate every time a brand comes out with a revamp that puts people back in physical spaces. Although online shopping has done so many great things in terms for shopping, the biggest con is that it diluted the shopping experience down to a few clicks and keyboard clicks. It’s become cold and quick and easy. I’m excited to be back in a brick & mortar space, excited to try things on again and banter with the staff. You should be too. The experience of being a…’jawnz enthusiast’ is equal parts about the product itself as it is about the journey to acquire it. There’s no need to wait for a package to ship any longer — you can jump in your car and take a short drive to experience it in person again.
If you’re a guy looking to make sense of what your personal style is, the journey is a long one paved with many mistakes (my biggest was long shirts that went down to my mid thigh) and a lot of trial and error. When I get asked ‘Where can I start?’ I think the answer now is clearer than ever: Madewell. I think it’s the perfect place to begin to form your opinion on what you like while being able to trust that actual thought was put into the product that you’re purchasing. And the best part is this isn’t an entry level brand that you’ll eventually graduate from. I think the products are so well designed and made that they’ll seamless integrate into your wardrobe as you start to expand into the pricier side of things; the $138 jeans will look just fine with your $90 Converse as they will with your $450 Paraboots.
In terms of Aaron Levine, it’s cool to see that in a space that can be filled with ego and arrogance there exists a guy at the top of his game who chooses to remain humble and grounded in what matters the most: the product. When asked about why I admire his work as much as I do, it’s because I believe that he could truly choose to work any brand that charges $$ for their products and yet he continues to opt-in to help raise up brands (and teams within those brands) to create products that they should be proud of and that you, the customer, can be proud of too. I think that’s honorable and worth acknowledging in the menswear world. Oh, and he’s the only other human besides myself that I’ve heard of that likes to wear the steel toe Blundstone 990 casually and I think that’s pretty cool.