How To Create The Perfect Menswear Store?
If you don’t like buying your clothes online, getting the right gear together can be a true pain these days.
Finding the good stuff is nice and easy, thanks to the genius of people like Jeff Staple (Stapledesign), Jesse Thorn (PutThisOn) or the guys from Carryology. BUT: Finally you are left with a bunch of links and brandnames. Shipping from the US takes ages and costs you a fortune – No chance to try and see if the shirt you like actually fits you. The solution? Oldschool Retail to the rescue!
If you ever come anywhere close to Munich- check out HARVEST!
When you enter the store you are warmly welcome by Phillip Stolte, who is owner, designer and shopkeeper in one person. Philip designed the shop’s concept and identity as part of his university degree and then just turned the theory into reality. HARVEST is celebrating retail as it is supposed to be.
The selection is rather small, but very well curated. The store’s design is uncluttered and simple, but still offering enough cozyness to encourage you to go browse the racks for the latest piece. There is also a small but good collection of bags and other accessories on offer. Philip selects everything according to what he likes, and apparently we have similar taste – I could buy the whole store.
The brand-lineup includes well known names such as ACNE, DUNDERDON, NORSE PROJECTS, OUR LEGACY and FOLK, but also less familiar smaller brands such as the beautifull bags from Swedish brand SANDQVIST or HAN Sunglasses from Kopenhagen. Not surprisingly, they are also the first shop I know to sell the well-hyped Japanese PORTER bags in Germany. You notice instantly that someone spent just that little bit of extra attention to detail, that makes things truly great.
From time to time Philip is also joining forces with smaller local brands and friends to create collaborations exclusively for Harvest. A sleek sailor-style Dufflebag by AKINDOFGUISE or a cozy winter parker together with SCHAAF. In collaboration with Munich’s Geheimrad they even created a bike that looks absolutely stunning.
Philip’s most recent project is the Folk Flagship Store that is set to open just around the corner of the original Harvest Store. Apparently Folk liked Harvest so much that they wanted him to help them start their own store. I missed the opening party yesterday, but for my next trip home to Munich a pre-christmas visit is a save thing. The photos look promising ->
After all I’m assuming and hoping that good old ‘brick-and-mortar retail’ is set for a restart. As more people like Phillip want to ‘do their own thing’ some- instead of trying to kick off the ‘next big internet-thingy’- will hopefully open a coffeeshop or bookstore in your neighbourhood. If you are looking for the right idea- I’m missing a well-stocked, MadMen-style cocktail venue! Who’s up for it?
Info:
Harvest Store
- Zieblandstraße 5, 80799 Munich, www.hrvst.de
Folkstore München
- Amalienstrasse 40, 80799 Munich
Unfortunately I’m not even near Munich, but all of this looks and sounds so great that it actually would be a good reason alone to go for a weekend trip to Munich.
[...] those of you who tuned in new: Harvest is a great Menswear store in Munich. I reported about them earlier. Cheers to Philip! The online store almost looks as nice as the offline [...]