Band of Outsiders
Sexy and preppy aren’t words you hear together too often. But listening to designer Scott Sternberg describe his new collection, you picture Ryan O’Neal in “Love Story.” Or, depending on your demographic, perhaps Ryan Phillippe in “Cruel Intentions.”
Sternberg’s line, Band of Outsiders, includes slimfitting dress shirts and handmade silk ties constructed from vintage tie fabrics that date back to the 1930s.
“I love ties,” Sternberg said. “It’s the one thing guys have that’s their own. What can you change all the time that is so uniquely yours?”
Band of Outsiders’ ties come in limited-edition vintage silk prints, silk solids and wool/cashmere blends that Sternberg described as “old-school preppy.”
The shirts come in silks, yarn-dyed stripes and flannels with contrast piping down the side. Each shirt has darts to “give you a little tush” and a fishtail hem that allows the garment to be worn untucked over jeans or khakis.
“What I love about L.A. [is] we’re so relaxed here,” Sternberg said. “I thought, ’How can you inject that into a tailored aesthetic?’ You look through magazines, and it’s the same old ties. It needed an injection of youth.”
Although the shirts have a slim, contemporary fit, the designer is adding looser fits “to make it a little more accessible.”
The ties are hand made and hand rolled in New York, and the shirts are made in California’s Orange County.
For Spring, Sternberg will take traditional fabrics and play with treatments to modernize the look. There will also be a few bright colors, a hint of a Western theme and subtle details such as cloth-covered 18-line buttons.
This is a new venture for Sternberg, an Ohio native whose background is in the entertainment industry. After a trip to Ron Herman–Fred Segal Melrose, during which he noticed a dearth of ties for sale, Sternberg decided to launch the line. He walked into the landmark retailer with samples of his ties and asked, “How can I get a tie on every mannequin in the store?”
Apparently, all he had to do was ask—and show up with the right product. Now, in addition to the Melrose store, he sells to Jeffrey and Steven Alan in New York.
Wholesale prices run from $65 to $135 for shirts, $65 for flannels and $75 for yarn-dyed stripes, Sternberg said. Ties range from $40 for solid wool styles to $50 for versions made from vintage fabrics. “It puts me with the least-expensive things at Fred Segal, entry level at Jeffrey and on the high end at Bloomingdale’s,” he said.
So far, buyers seem to be reacting to the novelty of tailored traditional shirts and ties coming from the land that created the dual concept of the high-end T-shirt and the low-rise jeans.
“The juxtaposition of this little guy making shirts and ties out of L.A. has helped,” Sternberg said.
For more information about Band of Outsiders, call (323) 804-9804. —A.A.N.
