7 In-House Menswear Brands the Real Nerds Are Buying

Some of the hottest in-house brands right now are quietly hiding in plain sight, mixed in on the racks of the world’s best multi-label shops. Whether you’re digging through designers IRL or toggling between fifty-eleven tabs at 1 a.m., you’ve probably stumbled onto a name you’ve never heard of, only to realize it’s exclusive to that one retailer. That’s the magic trick of in-house brands: clothes sold under a retailer’s own name, produced by a third party, and often very, very good.

Typically, it starts with shop owners building long-standing relationships with the brands they carry. From there, collaborations creep in, lessons are learned, and suddenly they’ve got a strong handle on where the best denim comes from, who actually knows knitwear, and which country absolutely nails outerwear. Not to go full Menswear MBA on you, but private labels give retailers control over branding, design, pricing—and yes, those sweeter margins compared to third-party brands.

One of my earliest “oh, wow” moments with private labels came courtesy of the now-defunct Need Supply and its sister shop, Totokaelo. NEED, the in-house line, offered pieces under $275 that confidently hung next to heavy hitters like RRL. Totokaelo’s private label, Archive, leaned into designer fabrics and acted as a gateway drug to the brands it sat beside, like Jil Sander and Lemaire. It was premium without the full financial commitment, which is really the dream.

While most in-house lines today are just a click away, there’s still something special about the ones you have to visit in person. Enter Ven.Space, the Carroll Gardens shop founded by Need Supply and Totokaelo alum Chris Green. The store stocks an eclectic mix of hard-to-find brands alongside its in-house line, Ven. 11231—featuring similar silhouettes and materials to those semi-obscure, IYKYK labels, but available only if you physically show up.

At this point, if you’re a shop owner without a private label, it almost feels like you’re leaving money, or at least a loyal future customer, on the table. With that in mind, I’ve rounded up some of the best in-house labels from the world’s most respected retail shops, spanning Canada, England, and Sweden, all the way to New York, Los Angeles, and good ol’ Austin, Texas. These are the brands worth lingering for while you’re just browsing their third-party racks.

Haven

Brothers Daniel and Arthur Chmielewski are the founders of Vancouver-based menswear brand and retailer HAVEN. While they boast one of the most impressive stockist lists in the world, it’s their shopsake line that’s been getting the well-earned spotlight lately. The brothers blend GORP-world practicality with made-in-Japan GORE-TEX jackets, then balance it all out with their signature hand-knit Canadian Cowichan sweaters. Add in jackets cut from Loro Piana fabrics, boots made in Italy, and collaborations with revered outerwear label NANGA, and it’s clear HAVEN has dialed in its sweet spot and isn’t letting go anytime soon.