Donn Mason: Irreverent Furnishings
New line Donn Mason is designed for men with discriminating taste in underwear.
The Costa Mesa, Calif.–based collection includes boxers, briefs, undershirts, pajama bottoms, robes, smoking jackets, socks and slippers with a high-end Hollywood look. The line also will feature other items geared toward the discerning customer, including ties and bed sheets.
The line is the brainchild of Rob Apple, Jared Brandt and Ryan Heide. Apple, a second-generation apparel manufacturer, met Brandt in the late 1990s, when the two were working for urban skate line Menace in Los Angeles. They recently teamed up with investor Heide to launch Donn Mason. Until recently, Brandt was designing for Santa Ana, Calif.–based skate label Split. He is now heading up design for Donn Mason; Apple is handling sales, marketing and merchandising; and Heide is using his celebrity connections to garner publicity for the new line.
“I’ve always been around the fashion industry—I grew up in it,” Apple said. “I always knew I wanted to do my own line.”
The concept behind the Donn Mason line is to offer men a contemporary- priced, design-driven lifestyle line that will include basic boxers and briefs in Egyptian stretch cotton, Pima cotton and Lenzing’s Modal fabric, as well as smoking jackets and robes in silk and terry cloth.
The collection is heavy on details— boxers are designed with a slim fit along the leg but with a bit of stretch for comfort. Styles are screen printed, embroidered and discharge dyed. Some styles have raw edges and appliqueacute;s; others have tuxedo-like pintucks and tuxedo stripes down the side seam. One style has Western snap closures and a back yoke printed with an image of a pair of classic sixshooters. A pin-striped punk-inspired boxer style has the word “Donn” appliqueacute;d across the back. Several styles have a hidden condom pocket attached to the inside waistband.
The pajama bottoms and robes merchandise back to the boxer and brief styles, and a collection of silk and cotton ties coordinates back to the line, which also includes matching socks.
The company is also offering a line of jersey knit Pima cotton sheets in white, heather gray and black. Other sheet sets include a velvet goose-down comforter set with silk sheets and a black-and-red logo-print silk duvet with coordinating sheets.
The Donn Mason luxe treatment will extend to packaging. Items will be packaged in a Donn Mason suit bag. Apple also said the company will be using a familiar suit pattern throughout the line. “Since we’re the Donn, we want to adopt the pin stripe as our signature print,” he said, adding that the line is also mixing in some original paisley prints, plaids and stripes.
The collection is designed locally but is manufactured in India and China.
The company is still costing the line, but Apple said retail prices will range from $25 for a basic undershirt to $45 for a basic boxer brief. The more detailed interest pieces will range from $60 to $80 at retail, and some items, such as the smoking jackets, will cost more than $100.
The collection will bow at the Aug. 30–Sept. 2 run of MAGIC International in Las Vegas. For more information, visit booth #DE5333 in the designer section of MAGIC, or call (949) 929-3757. —Alison A. Nieder
