Travel Inspired Men's Fashion Concept: Seat 14a
Founded by Nav Chatterji and the folks at Subtle Disruption, Seat 14-a is a travel inspired seasonal ensemble of handmade clothing and accessories for men. Brought to you by a group of entrepreneurs consumed by wanderlust, seat 14-a is men's fashion concept strongly inspired by Travel.
Seat 14A is the seat that kicked off this venture not more than 10 days ago.
"Each season, we team up with local fashion curators/stylists from a global destination that help us curate, source and manufacture a seasonal ensemble of handmade clothing and accessories for our patrons. Each ensemble is influenced by the local fashion trends of the destination, yet customized according to the personality and sizing preferences of each individual patron." says Nav about the idea.
How does it work?
1) The customer chooses a collection (currently they have Summer 2012 - Summer in Dilli (New Delhi), with Autumn 2012 - in Peru coming soon.)
2) Seat 14-a gets to know the customer by having him fill out a simple sizing and personality questionnaire.
3) Seat 14-a introduces him to his local curator/stylist, whom the customer advises while the stylist puts the ensemble together.
4) 3 Days prior to shipping, the customer gets a picture of his ensemble, if he is happy with it, they charge the customer and then ship it to them.
How are the stylists chosen?
"We are recommended local stylists from local fashionistas. We then hand select them. Currently we are working with ~10 local curators in New Delhi for our Summer 2012 collection and are in the process of adding more." informs Nav.
Targeting the US market with men in the 18-35 age bracket, the main challenge is to keep the costs affordable as a lot of collaboration is involved. "We are aiming to keep the total cost of an ensemble including shipping to under $150. This is a very challenging task, because there is no company out there that will provide a customer with an entire seasonal ensemble that is hand-made and customized along with their their own local curator/stylist at that price point." says Nav.
Few points to note:
- Each item is locally sourced, hand made (not labels) and specifically for whom the ensemble is being created.
- A local curator/stylist will work with the customer individually over email to curate, source and manufacture the ensemble.
- Occasionally a patron's curator may suggest other items that can be included to better complete the patron's ensemble (eg. 100% locally source cotton t-shirts for the Summer 2012 collection). These items are priced separately and are completely optional.
Check them out here. Also, talking about Men's fashion, have a look at Hangrr.