Behind The Lines: 686’s Jono Zacharias on Spring 2010 Streetwear

kailee bradstreet

• September 28 2009
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686 Founder Mike West started the company 17 years ago with the intention of “providing innovative, fashionable outerwear and technical apparel inspired from the same Los Angeles street culture and mountain lifestyle it was founded upon.” Today, the brand still holds true to that same standard, and that is apparent with the direction of its new Spring 2010 streetwear line, which reflects a “tech meets casual” look. The brand’s VP of Sales Jono Zacharias tells us what to expect:

686 Spring 2010 men's streetwear

What are the key design elements/trends going into your Spring 2010 line?
Key design elements are classic styles, fits and patterns with surprising accents of color or trim.  Our new line is tech meets casual with features like waterproof zippers, welded seams and taping.  We’re also using a lot of bright, color-contrast button holes, bar tacks and grommets as well as printed linings.

What are the biggest changes that you’re making from last year?
We’ve fine tuned our offering to focus more on our core customer as well as increased the offerings of the categories that work for us like board shorts and regular shorts.

What type of colors, cuts and fabrics will we be seeing in this line?
On the men’s side of things the colors are purer shades of blue with more royal and less turquoise. Our cuts are more classic and less oversized while with fabrics, we’re using more yarn-dyed patterns or yarn-dye inspired, meaning less prints and graphics.

What influences and inspirations have gone into the coming line?
The new Spring collection features classic, American style, with a vintage sport vibe and a freshness of unexpected color combinations.

What direction are pricepoints and retailer margins heading in for you?
We’ve always offered our product line with a certain perceived value, meaning that we offer the best materials and workmanship at a decent price. This also helps retail margins with a better turn ratio.

What changes are you seeing on the business side -  order sizes, the length of the season, sales channels, etc.?
The buying season for the consumer is definitely starting later - it’s now when they actually need the product based on the seasons. Some retailers are holding price longer to increase margin, plus they understand the fact that the consumer has changed their buying habits.

Is the number of SKU’s in your line expanding or contracting? Why?
In the categories that work for us like shorts and boardshorts, we grew in the quantity of the styles that we have to offer.  We did cut back on a few of the categories that don’t work as well for us, but it wasn’t anything tremendous.