-Facetasm - currently breaking into the worldwide fashion industry, doing runway shows now. Lots of graphics, prints, colors. Great scope of ideas, from massive shorts with flags attached to them to printed, reversible jackets. Impossible to summarize in a paragraph. High quality
-Minotaur - techincal meets traditional clothes and fabrics. think White Mountaineering but with subtler tech. Good write-up on Four-Pins a lill while back. Quality is incredible
-Naissance - Casualwear with an eye for tailoring. Reminds me of Nanamica, wide scope of fabrics, silhouettes and styles.
-Rottweiler - smaller workwear brand. Hard to find info about, but Americana inspired. high quality. Expect denim and rugged looks
-Hard Hit - Streetwear brand, very little info available. Lots of prints and simple clothes (tees, sweats, etc.)
-Unused - finally breaking into America, lots of cool stuff going on here. It's better if you look up their lookbooks, they have a ton of ideas in their clothes, but they aren't too weird for modern menswear/streetwear dudes. Some stuff is Undercover punk-cool, other stuff is less structured (rollnecks, big sweaters, wooly hats). generally quality is on point.
-Isness - A blend of technicality, with an emphasis on comfort. Heavily designed sweats, rain jackets, and techy clothes with tailored details.
-02DERIV - Very techinical clothing (waterproof parkas, puffer jackets, taped seams, etc.) with nods to streetwear. think of older Taps designs and quality with streetwear friendly pieces (slimmer cuts, prints)
-Gomme Homme - dude used to work for Issey, started his own line of casual stuff with occasional tailerod piece. some of it is too visual kei for me, but the quality is generally quite high. Lots of variety, from drop crotch to bondage to suiting. Similar to Ryuichiro Shimazaki
-filmelange - similar to naissance, but with emphasis on knitwear and comfy-ass fabrics. specialties include gorg sweaters. STRONG emphasis on basics; whenever I look them up I always find lots of basic tees, sweats, hoodies, and socks. Quality is above reigning champ imo
-niuhans - heritagewear with modern tailored stuff. don't know a ton about them besides they manufacture a lot of their stuff in-house.
-ones stroke - streetwear friendly designs, collabed with xibalba (quetzalcoatl). Lots of drapey comfy clothes, but also do plenty of slim pants and trim dusters.
-Commono Repdoructions - reproductions of older clothes. very small runs of product. Clothes are very simple, but structured. One of those brands that could fill a wardrobe with versatile, simple pieces.
-uru - Streetwear with avant garde sensibilities - remaking gym clothes with mesh, for instance. really high quality clothes.
-Phigvel - ultra nice heritage wear, lots of baggy fits and super super rugged denim. great accessories. very similar to mccoys, orslow, pherrows
-Mr. Olive - preppy menswear inspired clothes, extremely tailored slacks, sweaters, coats, and so on. collections are often themed (collegiate wear, western stuff) and so on. similar to labrat and bankrobber but includes more prep staples. More of a 'fashion' brand than a streetwear brand
-Factotum - Streetwear brand turned fashion brand. takes influences from tailored menswear (like n. hoolywood) and louder streetwear (like phenomenon/swagger). really hard brand to sum up briefly. I like their denim and outerwear.
-digawel - super great outerwear. Bombers, riders, m65s, the works. Otherwise, casual menswear. lots of playful cuts and oversized tees. Chech out Trove, too. Great quality
-Made in Standard - not a lot of info out there, but basically reworks of wardrobe staples (american inspired slacks and sneaks) and usable tech (parkas)
-Universal Product - big emphasis on comfycore, but with the eye for tailoring that filmelange doesn't care for. Menswear stuff and basics are their bread n butter.
-Bukht - boundary-pushing menswear, bordering on streetwear due to variety of fabrics and cuts. I love their clothes, you seriously have to check out their lookbooks. Imagine Nonnative but all the way gonzo pieces (curved knits, cropped wool jodhpurs, etc.). high quality.
-FOB factory - denimhead kinda brand, make fantastic jeans and a variety of other workweary clothes. They used to have a kinda funny Levi's parody patch on their jeans, but they've been making denim almost as long as Big John I think.
-Hurray Hurray - dabbles in remaking clothes and making bizarre one-off pieces. Output ranges from simple outerwear and shirts to pieced-together jackets. Cool accessories too.
-bru na boinne - make a lot of shirts, denim, and basic jackets, but also occasionally patch their shit up or make statement pieces (like the furry jacket). quality is gooood
-Waste(twice) - Under the nepenthes banner. clothes are very high quality and each season varies in focus (menswear, workwear, techy jackets). Great backpacks and traveling pieces. Strong companion to other Nepenthes brands like south2west8 etc.
-efilevol. - lots of variety in their clothes, very casual and street friendly. Clothes vary from really nice to pretty good in terms of quality (all made in Japan). some really nice seasons where they blend influences and styles, crossing ivy league with modern streetwear (like the loafers and bomber combo). Similar to digawel and discovered.
-Cootie - part of the heritagewear scene, along with tenderloin, rats, and so on. quality is very high, tho I like when they step out of the trad workwear boundaries and make plaid pants and other silly things
-Adam et Rope - make a variety of clothes, from windstopper tech pants to traditional shirting and trousers. clothes vary in quality but the designs are generally cool. I believe this is the house brand of an eponymous department store. More women's clothing than mens. Similar to United Arrows.
-Monkey time - streetweary brand under the United Arrows banner, collbabed with ones stroke and some other cool brands. Seasons vary in quality but the designs are usually cool
-NITRAID - graphic heavy techy stuff. streetwear friendly I don't remember much else about them
-The Letters - menswear brand, big emphasis on shirting, but with some really cool pattern mixing on the pants and outerwear especially. Count on them for quality shirts and heavy coats.
-STOF (SMF) - similar to facetasm, lots of fuckin around with silhouette and pattern. varies in quality but i love the oversized stuff. not a huge fan of the super slim stuff (made some really tight highwaisted denim legging things that were really bizarre), but they make some fantastic, strange clothes like xxxxxl sweaters tagged size m, vests that go down the ankles, and shirts with clashing patterns. wearability varies but the good stuff is soooo cool. Also make a line called sun sex and see or something like that.
-seminead - emphasis on wearable wardrobe-friendly clothes, with subtle subversive touches (cropped jeans for instance).
-Rip Van Winkle - very high quality street/tech/goth(?) brand, crazy nice leathers and highly designed jackets, jeans, and so on. they hit more than they miss imo. Leather jackets are great, and they don't make a single bad item. Also see: John Lawrence Sullivan.
-Whereabouts - don't know a ton about them. some remake stuff, some versatile outwear and casual clothes. Similar to Universal Product in that the clothes are simple, high quality, and attractive.
-Superior labor - super nice accessories (socks, bags, etc.). Sometimes they make clothes, I think, but generally stick to leather wallets, socks and so on.
-Curly - great little label that makes simple clothes with a twist. reminds me of bukht sometimes. Lots of womenswear but even then, a lot of it is unisex. Good quality. Also check out Curly Collection.
-Saltwater Cowboy - Sunny Sports affiliate, both labels do the sporty, beachy casualwear vibe really well. Less surf california and more citydude who used to live by the ocean from this label.
-Lantiki Crown - in-house label of a store. lots of collabs with other nice brands. They make denims and shirts, emphasis on wearable clothes.
-Pulette - mainly womenswear, high quality basics and comfy clothes. GORGEOUS knits!
-Still By Hand - lovely shirting and knitwear. very comfy, high quality clothes. I think they do denim too.
-Hold Fast - workwear-friendly, hardwearing clothes. If you want that baggy, give-no-fucks look, check out this brand, AndSuns and 50)Duppies
-Vote Make New Clothes - streetwear, lots of prints and patterns. Sweats and tshirts rule the lookbooks. some really cool concepts but quality varies especially on prints. Quintessential 'japanese streetwear' brand.
-ARTYZ - small menswear startup, dude fundraised his first collection I believe. Started out making clothes with 50's steeze with modern cuts on jeans, moved onto a wide variety of goods. shoes are bonkers
-MEAN - shirts and outerwear are standouts, simple clothes with typical japanese variation (i.e. curved hems, exaggerated cuts, raglan sleeves, and so on).
-A Vontade - workwear, all made really well and a great variety in the cuts (mix of slim and loose pants, cropped and long jackets and shirts). cool brand that incorporates its influences and does something a little different with them. If you want big boy cargo pants, look here or Man of Moods
-Voo - casualwear, lots of prints and modern cuts. You might have to look through a variety of printed tees, and denim to find a more interesting piece, but the quality is good enough that it's worth it.
-Roen - 'fashion' brand. does a lot of tacky stuff (Swarovski skull embroidery!) but still makes cool pieces, like some killer slim black jeans. leathers in particular are nice. I think they made the outfits for one of the new Final Fantasy games. Also: see Roar
-Five Brother - Workwear brand, make some great heavy chambray shirts and outerwear. I'm running out of adjectives for hard-wearing, americana clothing in the vein of Tenderloin and NBHD, but it's all quality gear.
-DressCamp - tons and tons of prints. Fashiony brand, so expect some goofy clothes but the less crazy stuff is totally wearable. everything from rainbow dropcrotch pants to multicolor longsleeves and pleated skirts. Also: Nozomi Ishiguro.
-Riding High - loopwheeled sweats and tees. high quality and very casual, like most of the denimhead brands.
-Back Alley Old Boys - casual workwear, lots of callbacks to americana classics but the cuts are more updated than most of the repro brands. Quality clothes.
-The Laundress - printed tees, maybe sweaters, and homecare stuff. scents, soaps and more. Make a fantastic cashmere wash!
-Tiger Brocante - casualwear, approaching streetwear, with lots of approachable blends of menswear with outdoorsy stuff (tailored and cropped linen pants, band collar shirts). A lot of very wearable summery clothes that make me wanna go traveling.
-ITTY-BITTY - tailored menswear. Nods to workwear with a lot of hard-wearing fabrics and some wider/boxier cuts, but not a lot of denimhead stuff; less emphasis on looser jeans and denims, no flannels etc. similar to waste twice
-Sanca - casual comfy basics. lots of shirting but also cool textured shirts and jackets.
-Frapbois - zany ass fashion brand. approaches streetwear. emphasis on womenswear but the cuts are usually generous enough for men. they do make mens clothes, and they're suitably crazy. loud colors and when the colors are muted they usually throw in a pattern. Also see ne-net and mercibeaucoup. Pants are almost always dropcrotch, patterned and/or a weird color, and the shirts range from legit hydrating as hell all-over print and disney collabs to bizarre megasized tees.
-Auralee - ultra nice male and female clothes with casual cuts and fabrics (terry cloth blazer is stunning). Gorgeous #chillwave colors, the suiting is some of my favorite ever (def not traditional #menswear)
-2-tacs - techy casualwear. Porter collab is fantastic. general offering varies in quality, but the vast majority is very cool. climbing pants with casual fabrics, water-resistant parkas, the works. Also make a like called Brown that epitomizes simple wearability.
I'll try to include descriptions with the rest of the stuff i post. Feel free to add cool stuff you see around the internet, obscure or not.
