The Misterio Tremendum

(Let’s just get this out of the way; pronounced ‘unique-low’.)
Took a trip up to NYC a bit ago and stopped into this place while moving up Broadway through Little Italy. The store has the stripped down basics feel of an American Apparel with the kind of cheap commercial experience of a Gap/H&M/Old Navy; big, wharehouse-y, too many people… This cheap retail feel also applies to the clothes. Lots of basics. A bunch of stuff you would see at any other store like this. And uninspired artist-created shirts downstairs. The clothing also has that poorly-made, yeah-you-and-me-both-know-you-are-only-going-to-wear-this-for-3-months, H&M feel to it, which, from a quality and environmental angle bugs me so much (kudos to American Apparel for breaking this horrible trend that seems to be infecting all of retail and probably has a lot to do with the fact they have chosen to produce overseas where quantity invariably takes presidence over quality (and the fact that US consumers are OK with spending $10 on something that won’t last them 6 months)). [Interesting aside, a recent environmental report out of Australia emphasizes this need for longer lasting consumer products. This study estimated that even if every household in Australia switched to renewable energy to power their homes and stopped driving their cars, average household energy consumption would drop only about 20% because so much of the energy we are responsible for “using” comes from the energy needed to produce the things that we buy. I know, totally meta.]
So, needless to say, I wasn’t down. Though I did pick up this cool minolta shirt. (They do collaborations with random companies to put out these retro takes on currently operating businesses, which is refreshing from a company that seems so staunchy/fake-cool.)
Business-wise, I like their cautious approach to growth. Their moment has kind of come and gone in Japan (where they are from) and now it seems they are just trying to get a foothold in some overseas markets. Their being from Japan definitly gives them a cultural cache that works with the American audience. It feels like what the Sweden-based H&M was doing a few years ago, except at a much slower pace. As far as I know they only have this one flagship store in NYC.
So, it was disappointing. Check out the place… if you are really bored in NYC.