Q & A — Endovanera Spring 2009

David Her­sh­berger and Mitch Mose­ley joined forces in 2005 to estab­lish the hip styl­ish Los Ange­les label Endovan­era. Cre­at­ing clothes that they, them­selves would wear, Endovan­era has a dis­tinct style that sets it apart from its peers. Endovan­era bor­rows from tra­di­tional menswear forms, updat­ing them for today’s mod­ern mar­ket. Sea­son after sea­son, Her­sh­berger man­ages to take con­ven­tional cloth­ing and change the cut in a severe man­ner that results in a fashion-​​forward, but sophis­ti­cated piece. This spring, Endovan­era greets the sea­son with pants that are pen­cil sharp, loose-​​fitting slouchy knits, and light, sleek coats. For those still liv­ing in an age of tra­di­tional cut 2-​​button blaz­ers and flat waist pants, per­haps Endovan­era can be the key to an effort­less chic wardrobe update.

The Fash­ion­isto: Would you describe Endovan­era as a dark label?

Mitch Mose­ley: No we just hap­pen to like dark colors.

David Her­sh­berger: And bad ass things.

TF: What gen­er­ally inspires the look of a col­lec­tion and what makes this spring col­lec­tion spe­cial? For instance, I love the waist­coat with the cutout back…how did that come about?

DH: The waist coat was a play on the gun hol­ster sil­hou­ette. And I wanted to try the col­lar vest idea. We try to avoid themes when design­ing the col­lec­tion because we don’t think in that way. We just try to fill our closet with things that we want, in that time frame called a season.

TF: As a label, how do Los Ange­les and New York affect you?

DH: I love them both for being amaz­ing. Both have the savy and both have the rest. LA style tends to be crazy and over do things, NY style can be too stuffy and restricted.

TF: How are the tasks of run­ning the label divided? What part is collaborative?

MM: David is the right brain and I am the left. David han­dles all design of the col­lec­tion and also plays a heavy role in the pro­duc­tion aspect of the busi­ness. I stick to mer­chan­dis­ing and the struc­ture of the col­lec­tion and busi­ness operations.

TF: How have the recent pit­falls of the econ­omy affected your label?

DH: What do you mean?

MM: We have def­i­nitely had to play it a bit safe over the past year. Every­one knew this was com­ing so we have adjusted by stream­lin­ing the col­lec­tion and min­i­miz­ing unnec­es­sary costs. We are so small that we can still increase our mar­ket share, but it is just at a much slower growth rate as pos­si­ble for a label of our nature in pre­vi­ous years. I have also hired an assas­sin to col­lect all unpaid debts.

TF: How are you approach­ing fall 2009?

MM: Cautiously.

DH: With a theme so that I can answer that inspi­ra­tion question.

TF: What are your short-​​term and long-​​term goals for Endovanera?

MM: Over the next few sea­sons we are going to place some pretty heavy focus on for­eign mar­ket expan­sion and the wom­ens col­lec­tion. Obvi­ously we want to grow the label, but we also want it to remain unsat­u­rated so we will focus on inter­na­tional expan­sion, while keep­ing dis­tri­b­u­tion con­fined within cur­rent and new territories.

DH: Eshalla, I get to con­tinue to make clothes with Theresa and Olga and have sup­port from our friends. I would also like to con­tinue to improve on qual­ity and all that.

Pic­tures pro­vided by Endovan­era