2023 Year In Review

It’s safe to say that 2023 has been a whirlwind year for many people, and for many reasons. We wanted to take a moment to look back on this year at Dave’s and highlight some of the things that make us smile when we look back on them. We know that none of this would have been possible without the hard work of the staff, the care of our customers, and the support of the brands and sales reps who make so much of this possible.

Early this year (January and February) we had a few of our customers who took the FriDave’s thing seriously and to the furthest parts of the world! One friend of ours proudly wore his Dave’s New York beanie while on an expedition to Antarctica and helped us put a pin on our map in a place that we would have never thought possible! Another friend brought his Dave’s tee all over Japan to places that we hope to visit ourselves one day.

In March we launched the first full run of our Foundation Pants! We had tested the Navy back in October 2022, but this March we introduced two new colors to the line, Olive and Black, in addition to restocking the Navy. The Foundation Pants are such a source of pride for us with members of the team working to get the fabric, fit, and details right. We’re overjoyed with the response that we’ve gotten from people who are now back to buy their 2nd and 3rd pairs! We can’t thank everyone enough for how good it feels to hear people talk about the Foundation pants and use terms like “quality, fit, design, aesthetic, function, durability” and many more. We will continue to work to improve on the pants and offer them in more sizes and colors (coming soon!).

April was a milestone month for us. On April 11th Dave’s New York turned 60 years old. I wrote a blogpost about how it felt to have celebrated 60 years, that my brothers and I have been working in the family business for over 20 years, that our parents have been a part of it for over 50 years, and imagining what it was like for our grandfather to open the store 60 years ago. A lot of businesses do not make it this long, and we are proud, thankful, and dedicated to trying to make it last another 60 years! Thanks to everyone who shared their kind thoughts and well-wishes when we posted about it. We could not have gotten here without the love and support of our friends, neighbors, and loyal customers from all over the globe!

May saw the release of something that we called the Dave’s Alt-Camo logo tee. This was a special launch because the logo on the back of the tee was our DNY iconic logo filled with an alternative camo style print that was designed in-house Dave’s youngest grandson…Dave! It is special when something creative can come from someone who cares so much about the business.

June was also a really incredible month because Dave’s made an appearance at Pitti Uomo in Florence, an international men’s fashion trade show. We officially debuted a collab with Roy Roger’s, a heritage family workwear brand from Italy whose roots in denim and workwear are older than ours! Being a 3rd generation family business and meeting another 3rd generation business like Roy Roger’s made working together so easy. We both share a love for workwear and heritage that we put into a line that will be released this coming Spring. We can’t wait to share more details about it with you.

As the calendar turned towards September, we released a collab with the great people over at HIGHSNOBIETY. Having known some of the team for over 10 years, it was great that this project came together and was released at the HIGHSNOBIETY pop-up for NYC Men’s Fashion Week. It was fun to create products and designs that added some HighSnob style to Dave’s classics, and the iconic NYC Sanitation Truck tee was a hit! We hope that this is the start of future projects as well.

October had its own special project - and one that was amazingly designed by Henbo Henning. This was our 2nd project with Henbo and he designed an NYC cityscape featuring some iconic characters like King Kong, a Rat, Pigeon, Bagel and classic city staples like the subway, pizza, and water towers on rooftops. We were so excited to see this launch and the response from people who know Henbo was unreal. It was also great to see how many people who did not know Henbo just took to his design and really liked how uniquely NY it was. 

Lastly (but certainly not least) in December we launched our Foundation Vest. The vest was a months-long process of design, trial, and error, but when it launched, it was a moment of pride for the team who tried to get every detail right. The vest has been a great addition to the Foundation collection. It is our first piece of outerwear designed in house, but it won't be the last!

And while we highlighted a lot of the events that happened, there is a huge list of people that we can't thank enough for their support. From the friendly faces that stop by and say hi to the new relationships created, it makes it all worthwhile. 

We can't wait to see what 2024 will bring, and we are really excited to share some big updates too! Have a safe, happy, and healthy New Year. See you soon!

Adam, Dave's New York