Upcycling Fashion in LA
Manny Jstyle
I met Manny J in Los Angeles around 2011 at his studio in downtown LA. Manny ran a well known mens’ style studio where celebrities frequented and pulled freely for various events. Through the years I have followed Manny as he evolved from the Gents Closet to Thread Haus and his journey has been unfolding beautifully. More recently he has introduced upcycling into his collection and continues to build on the sustainable and forward thinking way of creating his collections. I recently asked him a few questions regarding his journey and here’s what he had to say…
You have been working with the theme of versatility and sustainability for several years, even before it became so mainstream. What made you look in that direction when everyone else was looking at fast fashion? To be honest, I was inspired by friend Bk Phillips Bk was doing these amazing upcycled duffle bag pieces and I asked him to one day show me and overtime he did and we became great friends.
I've always looked at clothes as just fabrics with function and I love individual style and when we had the opportunity to raise money for our charity I had an idea to upcycle our wasted fabric swatches and our damage cut pieces creating our caps for cause initiative and each year evolved to another Thread Haus signature piece.
What are some of the most important elements you feel people look for when they dress? Well, I'm glad you asked me because this is the basis of Thread Haus; conscious, comfort , convenience, quality and style. So one I believe we all are conscious about something. We all seek to have comfort. Convenience allows access. We all see Quality different and we have our own Style.
We have seen fashion move in and out of LA, where do you see fashion in the LA market? What do you think is next for LA Fashion? I cant say what's next in fashion… I can only create something that people feel will add value to their life and hopefully that can transcend into fulfilling something greater than myself and besides LA is hodgepodge of style and culture, so many aspects of life plays a part of the multiple trends.
What do you have coming up next? What can we look for from you? Currently we are testing our subscription box services for our caps which allow a customer to receive 3 caps every 60 days and it will keep them up to date with current styles as well as they can share Thread Haus with their family and friends. We are also testing customization capabilities so customers can customize their Crew Cap from the comfort of their devices.
Our goal has always been to have global manufacturing we pride being able to make stuff in LA but eventually for us to expand and offer a fair price point we may need to expand to other regions we are trying to stay away from China, there are so many places in the world that offers beautiful manufacturing resources and our goal is to explore them. With that said, our next move is to create a ready to wear line that can mimic all my past experience from making mens’ accessories to tailored suits and now sustainable fashion and allow the world to Pak It Up!
For more information on Manny J and Thread Haus check out his Instagram page and the Thread Haus website.