It's official: Brendon Babenzien has left the building. Since 2006, Babenzien has served as the creative director for Supreme, the low-key visionary behind the scenes of one of the most relevant brands in the growing intersection between street culture, skate culture, sneakers, and high fashion. Babenzien's tenure at Supreme was actually his second—the East Islip, NY native cut his teeth working at a surf/skate shop as a teenager and also worked on PERVERT with Don Busweiler, a gone-but-not-forgotten label that set a certain bar for streetwear brands of the '90s. Now, Babenzien is off to restart his old label, Noah.
Babenzien started Noah in 2002 after leaving Supreme for the first time. Noah tended towards prep staples (fitting, given his upstate-NY roots and a childhood spent playing lacrosse) like khaki mac jackets with epaulets, navy toggle coats, and wider straight-leg white pants that wouldn't look out of place in the Hamptons or SoHo. Sold in certified cool guy shops like Nom De Guerre, its high price points and overall aesthetic proved to be ahead of its time. It initially shuttered around 2007.
According to WWD, Babenzien is in the process of raising $2 million to build the brand and putting together a strong team. The target customer is the kind of guy who grew up buying Supreme but is looking for something a little more well... grown-up. WWD notes that demographic as someone "likely in his late 20s and early 40s."
“Twenty years ago, skateboarders were outcasts and football players were cool. Now [the skateboarders are] at the top of the food chain,” Babenzien told WWD. “They aren’t being addressed very well. If you want to spend a ton of money, you can buy great clothes. But can you balance that with an understanding of what’s happening socially at the moment and what kind of music people are listening to?”
The line is expected to drop this fall and features items like water-resistant corduroy shorts, double-faced camel hair hoodies, and waterproof jacket made from luxe Loro Piana fabric. WWD reported that jackets will start at $400 and top out around $800-$1,200; tops and bottoms will start at $180; sweats will range from $180-$380; and T-shirts will cost approximately $48.
[via WWD]
