TROY — Somerset Collection, residence to the most elite boutiques and department stores in the mitten state.
Among these stores, at the forefront of their men’s departments are mannequins gloating a cookie cutter image of this season’s current fashion trends.
Notably within these department stores were shoe and sportswear departments boasting statuesque men donned in formal attire in a variety of colors with fashionable minimalist sneakers attached to their feet rather than the typical oxford or apron style lace ups.
A bevy of fashion forward men, particularly in the tech industry, are flocking to fashionable sneakers in contrast for their formal wear.
Nordstrom’s men’s shoes department manager, Lawrence Kurtzman, said this style has been walking the streets of Manhattan for over a decade. Kurtzman was a former assistant manager of men’s shoes at Nordstrom in New York.
“Common Projects, they’re designer sneakers. We keep selling out of stock — we’re doing really well with them.” Nordstrom salesperson Andrea Delisi said.
Kurtzman said Common Projects was launched in 2004 by two guys who weren’t even in the fashion industry, but were “Sneakerheads” that wanted a high end designer sneaker that were constructed with the same quality as a dress shoe. Common Projects are stitched together—rather than glued—which is quintessential for most sneakers.
“You can wear them with a t-shirt and jeans, with socks or without, but you can also wear them with a suit — especially a slim cut suit — which you’ll see increasingly all over mannequins,” Kurtzman said, “Not just Common Projects, but they’re probably the prototype for it.”
“That’s the hot new item. I’ve sold two John Varvatos suits to people who wanted that look,” Delisi said.
Kurtzman said in Detroit — which he calls a follower city in terms of trends and particular types of fashion — they’ve sold over 210 units in one style alone by Spanish brand Magnanni since receiving them this past fall. He said it’s a clean token shoe they can sell to just about anybody as it doubles as a comfort shoe as well as a sportier trendier look.
“You had many guys in the 90’s wearing Jordans, and those guys took just as good care of their sneakers as they would their dress shoes. They grow up — they enter the business world and they ultimately end up carrying those styles over.”
Cloud Services Product Specialist at IBM, Mason Sokana, 26, said he likes to dress the way his clients would, and if that entails sneakers then it’s totally acceptable.
“The dress code is a lot laxer than before. When people think IBM they think blue suit, white shirt, tie. Before 2000 you never caught an IBM’er in anything less than a suit.” Sokana said, “But now it's more relaxed — you dress like your client.”
Sokana said slacks with casual footwear is becoming exceedingly common for developers and internal employees, but for those with client facing positions, it’s not always appropriate.
“If I’m going to meet with a bank, I'll wear a full suit. Anything less wouldn’t be apposite for that client,” Sokana said.
Real estate agent George Johnson, 22, says he won’t be caught in a pair of sneakers with his suit anytime soon.
“Michigan is way too conservative, but maybe in a different city,” Johnson said.
Kurtzman said it’s a trend that’s not going away living in a technology driven world, and tech companies just don’t have that same dress code as a wall street, law, or accounting firm would have.
