Brands to watch in the new year

5 brands I'll be keeping a closer eye on 2025 that are pushing the industry forward

Sending out nothing but love to everyone affected by the recent fires out in Los Angeles. Devastating what’s going on over there right now. If you’re working with any communities and need any sort of support, please feel free to message me directly and I’ll do my best to help or connect you with locals who are working on supporting those in need right now. There are a ton of incredible groups of people, brands and stores who are all doing their part right now.

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It’s that time of the year! It’s a fresh start, and you know what that means, it’s time to highlight a few brands that I’ll be keeping a closer eye on this year. These brands might already be familiar to many of you, but I wanted to talk about them because they displayed new growth and developments in 2024. This has me excited for them and fashion in general, as I’m hoping they will push new ideas forward and hopefully leave a sort of ripple effect on the rest of the industry.

Before we begin, I wanted to say that all subscribers should join the substack chat if they haven’t already — it’s booming with conversations, and I’m starting a new series called Late Night Intel, which will be a chat exclusive. Here, I will drop some live information on releases and other info before anywhere else. I find myself finding new releases that just won’t be able to make future newsletters because the stuff will already be sold out, so I want to make sure you’ll be able to get that info as soon as possible. This will be a paid subscriber exclusive because I’m going through a gatekeeper renaissance right now, and I simply don’t want to blow up certain releases in a major way. Plus, this is just another way for me to thank all of the paid subscribers who allow me to do this full-time.

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BRANDS I’M WATCHING IN 2025

To start us off we’re heading straight to South Korea, where there’s so much heat I don’t know where to begin. I find that brands over there are focusing more on technicality through fabrics and paneling in their designs. XLIM is one brand in particular that I’ve been really enjoying in this space. Their range of stuff is great, offering a variety of great outerwear but also a wide range of accessories like bags, and scarves—like the one right below, which is a hood that has a scarf built into it. Such a fun piece.

I think also the color choices and the way the brand utilizes paneling to contrast these colors is done in a very tasteful way. They have this great section on their site titled Episodes, where basically it’s various lookbooks from past drops, but it’s nice to look at to get inspiration and just to get a sense of how these types of items can be styled. I’m personally a huge fan of mixing menswear with more technical pieces and this is a brand that fits that category too well. I also really vibe with their instagram account, which gives some behind the scenes stuff as well as constant content on upcoming collections. Really interested to see where this brand goes in the future.

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RICE NINE TEN

The knit game is an interesting space, and while I think that there a lot of great knitwear brands providing us with classic styles, I do think we need a little more variety and new ideas to come forth. That’s where I think Rice Nine Ten fits in the picture. Their knits are truly incredible and they’ve been introducing new style ideas that have me excited to see where knits are heading.

I discovered this brand when I think they only had maybe 1000 followers on Instagram. Now they are pushing 15 thousand plus, and I’m happy for them because I think they deserve the hype. As soon as I saw the stuff I just knew they were about to pop off, and if you’re a regular reader of the newsletter then you should already be familiar with this brand. Their take on sport inspired knits is cool, but I do want to see more hoodies from them because what they’ve made in the past is just incredibly cool.

You can follow them on Instagram here. Their website is here — for some reason my chrome is triggering a dangerous site alert, but I think that’s because of some firewalls being triggered. So if you get that it’s fine, the site is safe.

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UMBRO

2024 was a huge year for Umbro. Their rebrand, which was backed by great designs, solid marketing, and a bunch of amazing collaborations, really turned things up for them. Slam Jam’s recent involvement with the brand also really helped, where they focused their efforts on designing, and I think the success proved that. I can honestly say that anytime I posted Umbro last year on the IG page, it ended out performing pretty much everything else I would post. The hype was real.

Just look at the range of items that dropped last year, it’s actually crazy. They are all hits.

And that’s just some of the stuff that dropped last year. Anyway, really hyped to see what the new year holds for them. Obviously we have to remember that 2024 was Umbro’s 100 year celebration, so there was definitely more energy, more designs, more collaborations, and so on. Will that energy continue in 2025? Maybe. Only time will tell at this point, but I’m definitely excited to see what they have coming next.

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18 EAST

This has to be my favorite brand right now, hands down. Their blend of skate influence and menswear is so on the money that I feel right at home. Last year was also huge for the brand with great collaborations with brands like Nanga and Earth Studies that continue to push the brand in a great direction. They also keep upgrading their quality and overall designs that keeps things exciting. Plus, the actual way the stuff fits is just too good—I’ve said this a million times so what’s one more? Their Saph 5 pocket denim is still my favorite pair of jeans I own. So comfortable and the way they stack on any shoe I pair them with should be studied.

A lot of exciting things in the works for them which has me at the edge of my seat. I’m hoping that the energy that they brought at the end of the year will be carried throughout 2025. Hoping for bigger collaborations, more stores around the globe and of course just nice clothing that’s enjoyable to wear.

Their website is here, and their IG is here!

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A.PRESSE

Discovering this brand really turned my world upside down, and I think it’s mainly the quality that A.Presse brings to the table. It’s on a whole new level that stands on its own. They have a great take on menswear, but the fabrics they use and the construction of the garments is just crazy. They’re from Japan, but they are starting to slowly expand into the North America market, which I’m extremely stoked on.

Hopefully their presence lights a new fire for other brands to push themselves forward as well, and it’s always nice to have some new blood to keep things exciting. If you’re in Japan go out of your way to see this stuff in person. You will not regret it.

You can follow them on Instagram here.

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And that does it! Listen, this is just the tip of the iceberg as there are a handful of brands I could have mentioned that are killing the game. These are just some of my personal standouts that I think are doing a lot of cool things. Would love to hear what brands you’re rocking with right now and are excited to see more of in the new year, so make sure you leave those comments down below!