For years, we’ve been hitting up the fashion-forward Reform Lifestyle boutique in Cresskill to give our wardrobes a boost of laid-back luxury with a West Coast vibe. Now, the guys in our lives can do the same with the opening of REFORMEN STYLE on November 2nd. Inside the sleek shop covered in natural woods, owners Jamie Evar and Heather Kushman have curated a mix of unique pieces, sourced mainly from California-based brands (not always so easy to find in these parts) ranging from cotton brands like Surfside Supply and Cotton Citizen to athleisure lines including Rhone and Swet Tailor to plenty of hip, high-end jeans created with a dash of comfort sprinkled in for good measure (think extra stretch or an unexpected drawstring) like S.M.N. or Hiroshi Kato, a line of handmade jeans crafted from imported Japanese denim.
While 2020 might not seem like an ideal time to open a new business, Kushman and Evar say they jumped at the chance to launch a guy-focused offering when a new location opened in the same complex as their Reform Lifestyle boutique and affiliate store Reform Kids. And the influx of young NYC transplants coming to the area, used to shopping independent retailers on the streets of Soho, made the timing even more perfect. As luck would have it, one of those NYC transplants happens to be a local fashionista, Bri Rubach Mankovsky, whom the girls have previously worked with on style projects, and who was also up for the challenge of this new venture.
“I feel like in the last five years people kept saying, ‘You should open a men’s store.
My husband needs clothes or my sons need to find stuff to wear,’ and we know there’s a need since men are dressing differently right now,” according to Kushman. “They’re working from home. They might go from watching their kids basketball game to a meeting to dinner and we help bring the style to all of those components. Casual Fridays have now turned into Monday through Friday and that lifestyle goes with what we’ve curated at our store.”
One of the Reform crew’s greatest talents has always been matching even the most style-conscious customers with perfect pieces they’d have never (ever) thought could work for them. Same goes for the guys.
“At a department store a guy will come out with the same two Vince shirts he’s been wearing for years,” says Evar. “Here, we want him to leave with something new that he loves that he didn’t think was in his wheelhouse. And he ends up with something for everything – whether it be gym, work, a Saturday night out. It’s a matter of finding the right channels and giving them a different experience.”
Since our husbands won’t try on anything new that we bring home, we’ll leave it to REFORMEN and happily take one more task off our to-do list. Win-win!
REFORMEN STYLE 15 Broadway, Cresskill 201.600.9830
