ONES TO WATCH: RING JACKET
While Ring Jacket is new to most of the world, this Japanese luxury tailored clothing brand has a rich history that dates back more than 60 years.
And one thing has been true since the beginning: Ring Jacket has produced its tailored clothing in-house, with a full-canvas construction that features the hand sewing skills of artisans in its Osaka workshop. Known in part for its distinctive textured fabrics, Ring Jacket collaborates with the finest mills in the world to develop unique cloths that are exclusively its own.
“Our balloon fabric is by far our best-selling fabric,” says Nicholas Ragosta, director of wholesale for Taiwa, the international wholesaler and distributor for Ring Jacket. “This fabric is made of 100 percent wool cloth but acts like a jersey alternative in that it doesn’t wrinkle and is good for traveling. It expands and contracts while retaining its shape, much like a balloon would perform.”
While the label made its official debut here in the U.S. back in December 2013 at The Armoury in New York, it didn’t open wider distribution in the States until the fall of 2015. Ragosta says that the brand’s sportcoats (which retail between $1,200 and $1,750) are its best performing category, but he has seen also significant growth in Ring Jacket’s shirting category (especially its knit dress shirts made in jersey cloth). So what can we expect from Ring Jacket this year? “For 2017, we are going to stock core styles here in the U.S. for easy replenishment. We hope that this will be a great resource for our wholesale accounts.”
Look for Ring Jacket next week at The Tents in Las Vegas.
