Paradised is expanding into a new category, bringing its sun-kissed design ethos to menswear for the spring 2024 season. The collection offers T-shirts, cardigans, sweaters, dress shirts and trousers ranging in price from $90 to $500.
Paradised creative director Sinje Lesemann explained she’s been interested in entering menswear for some time, and decided to do so after seeing the large amount of male customers buying pieces from her women’s collections.
“We just wanted to play around with it for men and I don’t want it to get too out there,” she said. “I think our guy is still quite classic. He likes to have fun, but he’s not going to go nuts. It was important for me to find styles that feel a little bit more classic, but give our little sun-kissed touch to it to make it feel in line with what we do.”
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The collection falls in line with the brand’s resortwear aesthetic and leverages core design codes from the existing line. Lesemann constructed several styles out of the brand’s signature Turkish towel fabric, like its Wylie dress shirt accented with fringe, and stayed true to Paradised’s commitment to sustainability by creating T-shirts dyed with botanical extracts. The entire collection is made in Brooklyn.
Lesemann took inspiration from workwear for the men’s collection, creating structured trousers in a faded gauze fabric.
“What I always love about Paradised is this kind of juxtaposition of sunny, but tough — friendly, but cool,” she said. “I like that idea of taking styles that are maybe a little bit towards workwear, but because we make them in faded gauze, that’s so not workwear. It makes it sort of light and not just toward the idea of resortwear, but still feeling cool and city appropriate.”
Paradised has experienced steady growth since the brand introduced a new name in 2018. Previously called Koza, the brand’s founders decided to change the name to appeal to a larger group of customers and reflect its sun-kissed ethos.
Lesemann explained the brand experienced some successes during the COVID-19 pandemic, embarking on collaborations with SoulCycle and Bandier. The company is also gearing up to introduce a home collection.
“Ever since we changed [the name] it just felt right,” she said. “We’ve been steadily having great success with it because it feels like it makes sense, Paradised. I think everybody can associate something with it and it’s abstract enough, but it feels sunny. It’s important that it feels positive and kind of optimistic, so this is really important to the brand DNA.”