25 September 2016 // Anona van der Linde //Antwerp

//THIS IS VEDA

 

the ‘best friend’ jackets and designer Lyndsey Butler

 

window of the Mercer Street flagship store in New York

 

new winter 2017 collection

 

You may know Veda from these leather jackets with the words ‘best friend’ on the back; worn by Caroline Vreeland and Shea Marie during fashion week last year - they're a brand well known by It-girls all over the world (they did a collab with Manrepeller). Veda started out as a label for leather jackets, purely focusing on creating the perfect leather jacket - working only with the best materials and creating the perfect fit. 

Designed by Lyndsey Butler - who moved from Texas to New York when she was 18 and, surprisingly, started working in fashion after her studies in philosophy and religion at NYU. She started working at Yael Aflalo, who now runs The Reformation. It was supposed to be an inbetween job before going to grad school, but Lyndsey discovered she had a thing for working in fashion. In 2008 she launched her own brand, Veda. She started working on leather jackets because it’s one of her favorite pieces, however she could never find the right fit at the right price. 

But Veda is not only designing leather jackets; they've expanded the brand with a ready-to-wear collection with pieces of all kinds of different fabrics. They mix in some strong leather items every season to still create something that is very ‘Veda’. The brand is really good for some unexpected basics. Next to their perfect leather jackets, I’m in love with their pants and how the pants are not typically fitted to the material; like the leather pants (below), they have a wide high waist fit, and look like a pair of suit trousers, they are simple and elegant and not too rough or ‘biker' like you would expect with leather pants. The same with the jeans; not a typical jeans style, they are more dressed up and don’t have the jeans pockets and front closing etc. 

 

the leather pants and jeans

summer collection

winter collection

 

Veda is run from an office in a busy street in SoHo, not that far from the office you can find the Veda flagship store - on Mercer Street. The brand does three collections a year, and recently added the Mercer Collection - limited edition pieces that are produced entirely in-house in New York, and are only sold at the Veda store in Soho, or can be ordered online to be made. The Veda team does all of the sampling in-house, as well as some of the production. Other ready-to-wear pieces are produced overseas, as well as the best selling leather jackets - this way they can build up a stock and stay on their price point. 

The limited edition Mercer Collection is designed by the feedback and ideas they get from their friends and customers; they start designing pieces that embody the details that everybody already loves with new elements that people desire. The leather for the Mercer Collection is locally bought, and since they have some very skilled sewers working in the office - who can put a leather jacket together in one day - the collection can be produced really fast. Once the jackets are finished they are walked directly over to the shop on Mercer Street. This way they have the opportunity to try out new designs and react quickly on what’s working and what’s not.

 

Mercer Street store

 

 

 

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