First Look: NYC Label Knickerbocker Chooses Melbourne for Its First International Store

Knickerbocker’s founder, Andrew Livingston, knew he wanted to open the first international outpost of his menswear label in Melbourne before he even set foot in this country. “[Melbourne] reminded me a lot of what I love about my home state of California [and] New York City. Relaxed but with a buzz about it and a creative scene that felt unexpected and inspiring to me,” Livingston says.

His label produces refined wardrobe pieces, translating nostalgic European heritage styles for the contemporary man. Since 2013, Knickerbocker has been skirting the line between smart casual workwear, street culture and bicoastal city living. 

Deciding to open shop in a city you’ve never been to is pretty ballsy. But Livingston had the perfect set-up: business partners and friends based in Melbourne, Chris and Carlan Pickings. The Pickings are the owners of PPHH Store, Fitzroy’s part fashion and lifestyle, part barber and part consignment store destination. 

PPHH opened in 2013, the same year as Knickerbocker. After a couple of seasons stocking mostly European and Japanese brands, the Pickings stumbled on Livingston’s story. When he was 20, he was making hats in a 60-year-old Brooklyn factory. At the owner’s offer, Livingston wrangled a Kickstarter together, raising $15,000 USD to buy the factory.

The Pickings, who were in Paris for a buying trip, saw that Livingston was in Italy. They made the trip to meet him, got on well and became Knickerbocker’s first international stockist. “We’ve been friends ever since,” Chris says.

“[Knickerbocker] is all about quality, story and style. They’re a classic American menswear brand, but they never go too far into trends, but never too far away either,” he says. “Andrew describes it as Italian food. It’s simple and classic, but it’s about what goes into it that counts.”

Until 2018, Knickerbocker was a manufacturing company, making garments and accessories for themselves and other brands, before moving production to Portugal and focusing on its own line of apparel. 

In 2022, its relationship with PPHH shifted from stockist to distributor. The Pickings manage and distribute Knickerbocker’s local sales (like they do for Japanese footwear brand Moonstar and German apparel label Merz b Schwanen, the brand responsible for the famous Jeremy Allen White T-shirt from The Bear).

“The transition kind of went from just being a distributor [to] looking after the Australian [site and] building the customer base here,” Carlan says. “We just knew that we could do a version of [a store] here that would absolutely work.”

Chris and Carlan are now the co-owners of Knickerbocker Australia. It takes a lot to place that much trust and faith in other people to own an international branch of your founded label. “Knickerbocker is run by myself and my wife very similar[ly] to how Chris and Carlan run theirs,” Livingston says. 

“I think we’re very much aligned in terms of our values and that’s really the most important thing. They’ve built such a great community around their shops, and you can see it not only in their customers but in their staff as well. All sweet people and a family we’re proud to be part of.”

The Melbourne store fell into place easily. Australia is Knickerbocker’s biggest market outside of the US, after all. Housed in the old Song For the Mute shop, the Melbourne outpost mirrors the Lower Manhattan flagship. 

“It’s almost like an equivalent part of the city, we’re in this little sort of hub that feels very similar to Canal Street, in a way,” Chris says. “Their Canal Street store has these amazing long white walls [and] cement ceilings with red pipes in them. And this store had the exact same kind of fabrication of it; it felt like this really lovely nod to each other. It was like, ‘Oh man, even the pipes are the same’.”

The store was designed by the two husband-and-wife duos behind PPHH and Knickerbocker. The final fit-out is heavily inspired by the New York location, but with a lot more warmth. There’s a mix of industrial feel – with bespoke steel work by Dustin Bailey – balanced with mid-century tonal moments. The work of French modernist architect Jean Prouvé served as a big reference too. Moss green carpet and curtains, white panels and curved furniture create intimacy in the space.

The Pickings used the same builders and craftspeople they’ve previously engaged for PPHH. The pair are particularly fond of the fitting rooms, made on-site by cabinet maker Kyran Starcevich.

Artwork has been thoughtfully curated to match Knickerbocker’s international footprint. “We’re taking artworks from local artists, but then mixing those with pictures that are showing parts of Porto, Portugal, where [Knickerbocker’s manufacturing] factories are from,” Carlan says, adding that they’ve just hung up a handwritten note from Livingston too. “The art is about how we mix New York, Portugal and Melbourne into one hit.”

There’ll be Australian-exclusive product in the near future, too, like custom shirts timed with the Australian Open in January. For now, Knickerbocker is settling into its home away from home.

Knickerbocker

20 Russell Pl, Melbourne

Mon to Sat 10am-6pm

knickerbockernyc.com.au 

@knickerbocker_au