PROCESS: Outlier Three Way Shorts

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New York lifestyle menswear label Outlier is a rare breed — a domestic operation from top to bottom and start to finish that takes immense pride in creating timeless style and function for the modern, active man. Today, HYPEBEAST PROCESS takes you behind the curtain of Outlier’s Manhattan workshop for an exclusive glimpse at how much care and attention goes into a pair of the Three Way Shorts — a popular short which owes much of its versatility to an intelligent construction from Schoeller Doubleweave Twill fabric. And beyond the physical construction of the garment itself, we also get a look at the actual size of the label’s operation, along with a bit of insight on what it takes to keep this proud American label innovating and running smoothly. The final product is currently available via Park & Bond or the Outlier online store as an exclusive colorway.

Photography: Doug Dalrymple

Steps

01 JAHOON
02 MR MA
03 THE CUTTER
04 THE RAINBOW
05 THE FACTORY
06 THE COLLABORATION
07 THE FINISHING
08 SAM
09 THE INVENTORY
10 JESSE
11 RACHEL & KRISTA
12 REITERATE
13 ANDREW
14 ADRIENNE
15 ERICA AND ANNE

Step 1 / JAHOON

The heart of Outlier is New York’s Garment District, and Jahoon is our man on the ground running things in the district almost every day.

Step 2 / MR MA

The physical work of sewing up a garment starts at the cutting room, and we happen to be partial to Mr. Ma’s fine establishment.

STEP 3 / THE CUTTER

We think of our Three Way Shorts as a gateway drug, they cost a bit less than the pants so it’s the path that a lot of our customers use to get their first taste of that good Outlier shit. But unless the cutter does his job right there are no shorts for anyone…

Step 4 / THE RAINBOW

As we grow as a company we get to color up a bit, shorts first.

Step 5 / THE FACTORY

Larger sewing operations have their own cutting rooms, but in the vertical world of midtown Manhattan we cut in one location, bundle up the goods and move them a block or two to the sewing room floor.

Step 6 / THE COLLABORATION

These particular shorts are made in an exclusive color way for our friends over at Park & Bond.

Step 7 / THE FINISHING

Once sewn, quality control begins, we try to count every bar tack and check every stitch.

Step 8 / SAM

The man with the van. A few years ago we used to bike clothes back to Brooklyn in messenger bags, now we move a lot more clothing and we work exclusively with Sam.

Step 9 / THE INVENTORY

We keep it close. All of Outlier’s inventory is currently situated in the middle of our studio, literally and figuratively. It’s always within reach, keeping us on top of quality control and in touch with our products.

Step 10 / JESSE

At the studio we need to get things out of the real world and onto the net, without Jesse there would be no words about the shorts. No twitter either.

Step 11 / RACHEL & KRISTA

We try hard to have some of the best customer service in the game, and Rachel is who makes it happen. In the background you can see camera-shy Krista hard at work shipping things out.

Step 12 / REITERATE

We don’t think of garments in terms of seasons, we think in terms of iterations. We try to make classic products that we can sell year in and year out, and to do that we need to constantly be improving them.

Step 13 / ANDREW

Our design process is deeply collaborative, any Outlier employee can develop a product if they want to, but Andrew touches them all and makes sure they look great and fit flawlessly.

Step 14 / ADRIENNE

Production is a logistical whirlwind and Adrienne stays on top of every aspect, from the pattern pieces to the fabric orders to the factory schedules.

Step 15 / ERICA and ANNE

Unlike most clothing companies that work in seasons, we are developing new products year round and Erica is the one making it all happen. She’s talking to Anne who owns one of the small factories where we produce experimental items.

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