PARIS — It could have been the unprecedented heat — temperatures above 104 degrees Fahrenheit had buyers and brands wilting even in air-conditioned spaces and also led to a daylong complete power outage for Welcome Edition — but it seemed like climate change conversations were driving concrete purchasing decisions at the trade shows and showrooms around town during men’s fashion week here.
Beyond the immediate appeal of a loose linen top or a lightweight mesh shirt, buyers and brands said natural and sustainable fabrications; versatile, adaptable wardrobe options, and timeless silhouettes were at the top of their shopping lists for spring 2027.
Historically, the spring editions of the Paris men’s trade shows have been less significant business-wise than shows for fall collections, but that is shifting.
“Spring-summer is becoming a much more important market now. I’m finding budgets are increasing because the season is longer,” said Jennie Arnau, founder of Peregrine Showroom in New York. She highlighted “brighter, lighter fabrics and a lot of yellow” among the trends standing out in Paris. “It seems like people are enjoying color again, and cleaner lines.”
“The Paris market has an abundance of newness, from shows to showrooms all over town,” Bruce Pask, associate vice president, men’s fashion office, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, told WWD. “It’s almost too much to take in with such a compact timeframe, but we discovered some compelling brands and collections that we are excited to share with our customers.”
The importance of the June shows is also growing incrementally as more brands choose to show pre-collections to tie in with earlier purchasing for women’s. This was notable on the stands at Man / Woman and Welcome Edition, as well as in showrooms around town.
Several established brands brought along a selection for women for the first time this season, like hemp specialist Jungmaven, showing at Man / Woman, and heritage workwear label Nigel Cabourn, at Welcome Edition. At the latter show, T-shirt specialist Sunray Sportswear presented its first dress as it leans more heavily into women’s.
“If a womenswear brand wants to do decent business and capture budget, it’s clear today that it needs to be present during pre-collections,” said Antoine Floch, cofounder and director of Man / Woman. “We will now be concentrating our efforts on men’s and women’s pre-collections,” he said, meaning putting Paris shows during women’s ready-to-wear in March and September on hold, at least in the near term.
The show was spread across two venues this season, its traditional space at Pavillon Vendôme and another just around the corner, in order to give brands more breathing room and welcome an expanded offer. Around 110 brands were showing, versus 80 a year ago.
The show included a showcase from Karévan, a hybrid concept that is part design studio, part curated showroom, recently launched by Steve Sanderson, cofounder of the former Oi Polloi store in Manchester, U.K., and Graeme Fidler, a menswear designer who has worked for brands including Polo Ralph Lauren, Aquascutum and Bally.
They were showcasing projects including the Double Cashmere capsule for Scottish knitwear specialist Lyle & Scott, a Globe-Trotter luggage collaboration with Mordechai Rubinstein, the relaunched Freeman Sporting Club and Nineteen34, a men’s swim and resort wear collection with muted vintage prints.
“We’re thinking of presenting the idea to the big retailers who are struggling to get brands now they have too much,” said Fidler. “Nobody wants to see a sea of stuff anymore.”
Elsewhere around town, there was the Sphere showroom, where newcomers Lad, which also hosted a runway show, and Matthieu Ruiz were showing alongside returnees Gardouche, La Cage, Lazoschmidl, Ouest Paris, Rolf Ekroth and Cachí, which hosted a film screening for a short accompanying the collection directed by Max Delagrave with texts by Chloé Delaume and voiced by Béatrice Dalle. There was also the Run space from WSN and ANDAM, featuring 12 designers across men’s, women’s, accessories and, for the first time, fragrance. New this season, meanwhile, was CIFF Paris, a debut showroom from the Copenhagen trade fair in the Marais, with 19 labels showing as the operator seeks to navigate the need to build multiple touch points internationally to help its brands grow.
Highlights from the trade shows and showrooms in Paris
Courtesy of Everyday Mountaineering
Everyday Mountaineering
Category: Menswear
Showing at: Man / Woman
Story: Aiming to bridge the gap between outdoor wear and luxury clothing, New York-based Scott Ferguson, who was born in Scotland, was a first-timer in Paris. He launched his label after working in photography, performance and installation. With cheerful colorways, including orange and purple, the lineup included sharp rain jackets and functional pants, a chore coat with graphic outsized buttons in a hemp-cotton blend, and sweaters made from a paper cotton blend or machine washable merino.
Retail pricing: From $50 to $550
Matthieu Ruiz
Matthieu Ruiz
Category: Ready-to-wear
Showing at: Sphere
Story: After training in industrial design and several years working in visual merchandising for Printemps, Matthieu Ruiz created his brand in 2023, built around botanical dyeing using plants like chestnut, broom and madder root to create airy pastel colors, the technique making each piece unique. He initially created capsule collaborations and installations with brands including Lacoste, C.P. Company and LVMH Métiers d’Art. With this first collection designed for wholesale, he explored masculine archetypes and the notion of imperfection to create lightweight silhouettes with an aesthetic he described as “soft brutality.” In a nod to his artisanal approach, the dyer’s apron became a layered skirt, while shirts, sweatshirts, lightweight ties, and pants featured graduated coloring and craft details.
Retail pricing: From 75 to 495 euros
William de Sena
Sena
Category: Footwear
Showing at: Man / Woman
Story: William de Sena, a successful commercial filmmaker by trade, started his brand when his favorite pair of loafers wore out one too many times and could not be repaired. Looking for meaning in artisanal processes, he sought out high-end Italian shoemakers to help him craft the perfect pair, which was the starting point for his Sena brand. He was showing for the first time in Europe, with a pared-back unisex collection of two different styles, a loafer and a deconstructed style made from soft black calfskin with leather soles, and teasing his third, a pair of shoes inspired by his passion for soccer in his youth. His first boots, intended to provide a more elegant solution than most of the men’s market, are also in the prototyping stage.
Retail pricing: From $650 to $695
martin brusewitz
O.P. Jewellery
Category: Jewelry
Showing at: Man / Woman
Story: This Stockholm-based men’s jewelry brand, a first-timer at Man / Woman, has built a world around founder Ola E. Bernestål’s passion for all things shiny, with an array of talismans and good luck charms alongside bracelets and necklaces unusual in the men’s universe. Comparing himself to a magpie and with the tagline “Naïve passion for shiny things,” he creates his designs with recycled sterling silver, working with coin makers in Sweden and recycled metal specialist Well Field Corporation in Thailand. Highlights in the collection included a statement necklace with segments resembling the twigs of a bird’s nest and a horseshoe ring, one of the brand’s bestsellers.
Retail pricing: From 60 to 1,500 euros
Courtesy of Lucie Neouze
Lucie Neouze
Category: Ready-to-wear
Showing at: Run
Story: French designer Lucie Neouze, a graduate of IFM, cut her teeth at Rick Owens, a distinct influence on her aesthetic, before setting out on her own. From a family of architects and raised in China, buildings and urban planning inform her graphic silhouettes of superposed wool, denim and leather, with patchworks and pleats echoing skyscrapers and temples, for instance, in their lines and jutting details. Neouze hopes to present her first runway show in Paris this September.
Average retail price: 1,200 euros
Courtesy of Jolipnj
Jolipnj
Category: Jewelry
Showing at: Run
Story: Chloé Foulquier trained at Ecole Duperré and the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, and initially worked in leather goods with Miu Miu and Balmain. But it was a desire for a more hands-on approach, with direct contact with the materials and no need for sketching, that inspired her to create her own glass jewelry line, fusing the material into organic shapes for rings, earrings and even false nails. Presenting to the market for the first time, her experiments with borosilicate glass create surprising effects, including a brass-like finish or the Space Oddity collection with its ethereal colorways. She recently worked with Aya Nakamura on custom designs that feature on the singer’s latest album artwork.
Retail pricing: From 180 to 340 euros
Courtesy of Fields of Necessity
Fields of Necessity
Category: Menswear
Showing at: Man / Woman
Story: London-based South Korean designer Peter Han is championing slow fashion and heritage fabrics with his small-batch menswear production with what he describes as a focus on authenticity. Previously a menswear designer for Margaret Howell, he launched his brand earlier this year and was showing for the first time in Paris. Han works with Japanese fabrics, Irish linens and Scottish wools to create simple, understated and versatile silhouettes, with everything made in small factories in London. Key silhouettes included lightweight cotton chinos, linen shorts and jackets and undyed wool sweaters, with buttons sourced from a heritage supplier in London and picked out by hand.
Retail pricing: From 95 to 595 pounds
