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Canadian outerwear label Moose Knuckles wants to break out of its outerwear niche and become a global fashion label for everyday living. An important step in that ambition is the brand’s new campaign, launched on 28 August and the first by celebrity stylist Carlos Nazario, appointed global creative director in March.
The buzzy campaign features Canadian celebs including singer Alanis Morrissette, Euphoria star Javon “Wanna” Walton, skateboarder Beatrice Domond and Toronto-based spoken word artist and musician Mustafa the Poet. It’s shot on the streets of Nazario’s native Queens and Harlem, New York, with the clothes featured in everyday life situations, on trains, outside a club and on the street.
“With the campaign, we’re saying ‘this is a product that is going to do the work for you if you’re someone who lives an active lifestyle in an urban city’,” Nazario says. “This is not Moncler, it’s not a ski coat, we’re not pretending to be a sports brand or an activewear brand. It’s a coat that can withstand those extreme weather conditions, but it is really designed for an urban lifestyle.”
It could be a smart pivot. During and after the Covid lockdown, as people savoured the joy of outdoors, the gorpcore trend spelt good news for many outerwear labels including Moose Knuckles, Canada Goose, Moncler, Arc’Teryx and Salomon. Then, as office and city life surged back, consumers incorporated technical fashion into their everyday wardrobes, prompting outerwear labels to align better with everyday fashion.
The shift to fashion
Emerging from a business dating back to 1921, the modern Moose Knuckles brand was founded in 2009. The brand is privately owned and declined to share revenues. The product mix includes coats, jackets and hats and gloves, with prices ranging from $110 for a hat to $1,295 for a coat. The appointment of Nazario, global fashion director of i-D magazine, is a natural follow-on from several years of fashion collaborations. He’s styled celebrities such as Rihanna, Bella Hadid and Naomi Campbell, and is the first Black stylist to style a cover for American Vogue.
“Carlos is one of the most talented creatives we’ve encountered — objectively, one of the most revered fashion personalities in the world,” says Ayal Twik, chief marketing officer of Moose Knuckles, who co-founded the brand with Noah Stern. “His distinct fashion sensibilities harmonise seamlessly with the essence of Moose Knuckles; we’ve merely scratched the surface in terms of tapping into the myriad ideas he brings.”
The brand has produced collaborations with British-Greek designer Mary Katrantzou (2018) and buzzy New York labels Eckhaus Latta (2022) and Telfar (2021 and 2022). Moose Knuckles is gearing up for more collaborations, says Twik. Nazario plans to work with young creatives “at the precipice of success” on projects, to help them reach their potential and give them access to new suppliers and factories.
When Nazario was approached to be global artistic director, he wasn’t super-familiar with the label. But, after some research, he decided to dive in. “The market is so saturated with just so much shit. No one needs another coat,” he says. “I think in order for me to feel good about selling anyone anything and it has to be something that I truly feel is going to enrich their lives — and I thought that about Moose Knuckles.”
“Moose Knuckles is a luxury brand. Educating our audiences about the most desirable elements of our universe is always at the forefront of our minds,” says Twik. “Moose Knuckles has often been associated as a fashion brand (and we are) but people can — as is often the way with technical labels — forget that the craftsmanship that goes into our product is second to none.”
As winter approaches, Harrods customers buy into Moose Knuckles, says Harrods buying director Simon Longland. The retailer launched the brand in 2019. “Moose Knuckles is tried, trusted and offers our clients exceptional quality and technical performance with a unique and bold style, which I expect to become increasingly refined as Carlos Nazario’s tenure continues,” he says. “With his vast experience in the industry, and his keen eye for design and detail, it will be very exciting to see Moose Knuckles develop into the collection and into new categories and potentially collaborations.”
New opportunities: Product and social responsibility
Plans for further fashion partnerships will help the label target new geographies, Twik adds. “While our global reach brings us immense satisfaction, it also presents a world of opportunities within each unique market,” he says. Canada is the biggest market, but the brand is now enjoying “exceptional growth” in the UK, Germany and China, with growing interest in non-outerwear pieces, Twik says. “A case in point: our signature logo icon cap has become one of our top sellers, signalling ample room for expansion in these categories.”
Alongside his creative input, Nazario is keen to broaden Moose Knuckles’s social responsibility profile. The brand will hold coat drives in all its territories going forward. For the Autumn/Winter season, it will partner with charities to donate coats to people coming out of prison, the unemployed, the homeless, families facing hardship and the needy among the LGBTQ+ community, Nazario says. “As a fashion brand, we’re salespeople, but I also think what the last few years has shown us is we can actually make a positive change on a small scale or a large scale and still make a lot of money,” he says. “That’s my intention here.”
Looking ahead, Nazario is also overseeing a redesign of all stores, starting with the Montreal and Soho flagships. He’s not quite ready to share details of upcoming fashion collaborations. But his enthusiasm is palpable. “I’m excited for growth,” he says. “And I’m excited to see our ideas expressed, meet our new collaborators and reimagine what a company like this can be, how it can affect people and how we can communicate with people.”
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