The 25th Edition of New York Men’s Day Returns at Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan as Partnership Continues
Celebrating its 25th season, Agentry PR is excited to announce New York Men’s Day (NYMD)’s bi-annual menswear collective, presented by PROJECT by Informa, on Wednesday, February 11th, 2026.
Sessions will be held from 10:30am to 12:00pm ET and 4:30pm to 6:00pm ET. Returning as presenting sponsor, PROJECT will be showcasing highlighted brands participating in the next edition of PROJECT Las Vegas (February 17th – 19th, 2026) as well as labels from PROJECT’s Incubator Program during New York Men’s Day.
“Menswear is always evolving, and New York Men’s Day is at the forefront of that evolution,” says Edwina Kulego, VP of Global Business Development and Growth at Fashion by Informa. “The energy NYMD brings to kick off New York Fashion Week is unmatched, showcasing the creativity and innovation. At PROJECT, we share NYMD’s mission of supporting emerging talent and curating everything the modern man needs. We’re proud to be the title sponsor and champion the future of menswear.”
New York Men’s Day (NYMD)
Continuing its partnership with Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan, the showcase will return to the state-of-the-art flagship dealership in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City. NYMD will occupy the ground level of the facility, inaugurating five new brands and three returning designers.
“We are thrilled to be hosting New York Men’s Day at Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan yet again for this quintessential tradition in New York City fashion. Our 330,000 square foot space seamlessly transforms to showcase the emerging designers’ collections. The showroom is fit to create immersive experiences and NYMD is a partnership we continue to invest in to make that vision come to life,” remarked General Manager, Manuel Terrones, Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan.
Conceived to nurture emerging talent and consolidate top menswear/genderless designers in an easy-to-view venue, NYMD will feature eight designers/collections collectively. Each participating designer will present their latest collections in their own designated sections within the Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan space to reflect the label’s identity and inspiration. Taking place simultaneously over two-hour periods, in addition to PROJECT by Informa’s presentations, four brands will present in the morning session and four in the late afternoon. The format of showcasing all presentations at the same time creates ease-of-flow for media, buyers, influencers and VIPs, allowing them to move through collections and spend time with designers as their time allows.
Participating designers include (in alphabetical order by brand):
- A. Potts (menswear)
- Avon Anglers* (menswear)
- Chelsea Grays (menswear)
- Christopher Lowman* (menswear)
- Monday Blues Studio* (menswear)
- Peak Lapel (menswear)
- PROJECT by Informa Las Vegas Preview* (menswear)
- Science Project Company* (menswear)
- Wangda* (menswear)
*Showing for the first time at NYMD
Making its footwear sponsorship debut, Vogel NYC, America’s oldest custom shoemaker, is excited to be part of New York Men’s Day (NYMD), solidifying the brand’s mission to champion American design and craftsmanship on one of menswear’s most influential stages. As part of its sponsorship, Vogel NYC will unveil the ICONS Collection—a considered lineup of nine timeless silhouettes, each expressed in Work, Weekend, and Wonder styles. Designed and handcrafted in New York, the ICONS Collection represents a bold step forward for the 145-year-old brand as it expands from bespoke shoemaking into a new era of modern American luxury.
“Vogel has been making shoes by hand in New York City since 1879,” said Craig Arthur von Schroeder, Creative Director of Vogel NYC. “Our participation in NYMD is both a celebration of our heritage and a commitment to the future of Made in USA shoemaking. The ICONS Collection is our way of bringing that legacy to a wider audience.”
Grimoire returns to NYMD this season as the official skincare partner, delivering skin prep for every model before they step into the spotlight. Grounded in performance and precision, the New York–based brand once again sets the standard for radiant, camera-ready skin. Grimoire will take its fashion week beauty ritual into a retail offering with a limited Backstage Bundle featuring the three hero formulas that the models receive: Beach Guise, Vanity Monday, and Eye Roll. Designed to hydrate, energize, and refine in real time, the kit offers an insider’s approach to runway-ready skin.
Other sponsors include luxury haircare brand Oribe Hair Care, who is providing products and teams; and Augment will provide make-up teams and products for designers to use on models during their respective presentations.
Creative Director, Photographer, and founder of Union Management Jahn Hall will provide his casting services to one NYMD designer this season.
Agentry PR, which was founded in 2010 by fashion visionary Erin Hawker, produces and executes New York Men’s Day.
“We are thrilled to return to Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan for our 25th showing of New York Men’s Day,” said Hawker. “The incredible space and technology provides the perfect backdrop for our platform and we are excited for PROJECT by Informa to show up in a bigger way this season through their sponsorship. This season, we have PROJECT Las Vegas Preview; six debut designers in menswear: Avon Anglers, Christopher Lowman, Monday Blues Studio, Science Project Company, and Wangda; and the return of A.Potts, Chelsea Grays, and Peak Lapel. We can’t wait for New York Men’s Day to kick off Fashion Week in February again,” said Hawker.
ABOUT AGENTRY PR
Agentry PR is a full service marketing communications agency, founded by Erin Hawker in 2010, headquartered in New York City. Agentry PR specializes in the fashion, lifestyle and entertainment sectors across specializes in the fashion, lifestyle and entertainment sectors across all facets of marketing and public relations, from brand strategy and media outreach to events, sponsorships and VIP relations.
ABOUT NYMD
New York Men’s Day (NYMD), is a bi-annual collective fashion initiative intended to help nurture emerging talent and consolidate the showing of contemporary menswear and gender fluid collections. Each season, NYMD features a collective of menswear or gender fluid brands in a group presentation format over two-hour periods. The format of showcasing multiple presentations at the same time will create ease of flow for media and buyers, allowing them to move through the studios at their own pace. NYMD was founded in 2014 by Agentry PR, and is now in its 24th season.
ABOUT PROJECT BY INFORMA
Representing what’s new, now, and next in men’s contemporary apparel, footwear and accessories, PROJECT is where domestic and international buyers go to be inspired by higher-end brands, find products from relevant mid-market labels, and connect with likeminded industry thought leaders and fashion insiders. Through a fusion of community, education, media, and experiences, PROJECT propels the next season’s top trends, generates global awareness, and ultimately drives commerce. For more information, please visit www.projectfashionevents.com.
ABOUT MERCEDES-BENZ OF MANHATTAN
Rooted in a legacy that began in 1886—making Mercedes-Benz the longest-standing luxury car brand in the U.S.—Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan employs over 230 team members dedicated to delivering world-class hospitality and craftsmanship to generations of loyal customers. In 2026, the brand proudly commemorates 140 years of innovation, celebrating the birth of the automobile and 100 years since the Mercedes-Benz name was established through the historic merger in 1926.
ABOUT ORIBE HAIR CARE
Since 2008, Oribe Hair Care has set the standard for hair care within the prestige category. Blending award-winning packaging and its signature Côte d’Azur fragrance, the collection is designed with talented hairdressers, sophisticated salons and discerning customers in mind. Represented in more than 40 countries, Oribe Hair Care has become synonymous with best-in-class product performance and technical education, sparking deep connections with its consumers. These are the products of the hair-obsessed.
ABOUT GRIMOIRE
Grimoire delivers clinically tested, luxury-grade formulations powered by cutting-edge, sustainable innovation. By combining the science of elite skincare labs with a radically inclusive approach, Grimoire redefines what modern prestige skincare can be: effective, joyful, and unapologetically human.
Co-founded by Vincent Branchesi and Karim Fadel, the brand offers high-performance skincare designed to help skin recover from real life—sun, stress, sleep loss, and the occasional good time. Grimoire is vegan-certified, cruelty-free, and rigorously tested across all skin tones.
ABOUT AUGMENT
Augment co.,ltd. is a hair and make-up agency and photography studio based in Ebisu, Tokyo. Sinden, a hair salon located in Harajuku, Tokyo, also provides management for various artists, casting agents, designers and event producers. The brand participates with hair and makeup for many leading fashion shows during Paris New York fashion weeks.
ABOUT VOGEL
Founded in 1879, Vogel is one of America’s oldest custom shoemakers and a long-standing standard-bearer of handcrafted excellence. For nearly a century and a half, the brand has outfitted equestrians, cultural icons, and discerning clients with footwear made one pair at a time in New York City. Today, under the creative direction of Craig Arthur von Schroeder, Vogel is entering a new era that brings its storied craftsmanship into the modern fashion world with clarity, relevance, and vision. This evolution is embodied in the ICONS Collection—nine foundational silhouettes reimagined for contemporary life and built entirely in the United States. Each style reflects the brand’s dual heritage of equestrian precision and innovative design, blending bench-made tradition with a forward-looking aesthetic. As Vogel returns to the center of American fashion, it remains a rare fusion of heritage, craft, and modern American style.
ABOUT A. POTTS
Aaron Potts was born and raised in Detroit, MI to a working-class family with roots in the American South. A childhood filled with church, weekend fishing trips, going to work with his carpenter father and shopping with his dress-loving mother would shape his future view of art and design. He discovered fashion in high school and never looked back. He attended Parsons School of Design and held internships with Marc Jacobs, Tracy Reese and Donna Karan before embarking on an international career designing for Emanuel Ungaro, Ellen Tracy, Escada, Tamara Mellon, Badgley Mischka and others.
In the spring of 2019, he launched the passion of his life, A.Potts. Through a lens of what he calls “EVERYDAY EDITORIAL”, A.Potts embodies his embrace of creativity and usefulness – pieces that are as special as they are practical, designed to address the needs and wants of busy creatives. This street-ready & runway-worthy collection fuses utilitarian details with couture volumes, executed in modern, yet practical fabrics.
The collection is an expression of Aaron’s love of beauty that unites and celebrates people of all races, sizes, ages and gender expressions. The unifying factor is the collective spirit of artfulness, chicness and self-exploration. A.Potts is inspired by Black history, classical Japanese design, utilitarian gear and the creative souls in the A.Potts tribe. A.Potts has had the honor of winning the FGI Award for Best All-Gender design in 2020, was chosen as a “Paradigm Shifting NYC Designer” by Harper’s Bazaar, had a look featured in the Met Museum’s “In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion” and has been seen in Vogue, the NYTimes, Harper’s Bazaar, L’Officiel, Paper and other influential publications. A.Potts can regularly be seen on influential culture creators such as Janet Jackson, Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Jacob Elordi, H.E.R., Usher, Machine Gun Kelly, Ciara, Billy Porter, Angela Davis, Deon Cole, Joel Kinnaman, Amy Sherald, Chloe Bailey, Monet Xchange, Carol AIt, Robin Thede, Jill Scott, Questlove and many other artists from the worlds of dance, art, entertainment and writing.
ABOUT AVON ANGLERS
Founded by designer Patrik Rzepski, Avon Anglers is a New York–made menswear brand built on the belief that what we make, and how we make it, matters. Designed and produced entirely in New York, the brand works in small batches with long-standing local partners, prioritizing craftsmanship, honest materials, and a thoughtful approach to production. Avon Anglers focuses on garments that endure, pieces rooted in restraint, utility, and longevity rather than excess. Transparency, provenance, and community are central to the brand’s ethos, offering a quieter, more intentional vision of contemporary menswear where true luxury is found in how something is made and how long it lasts.
ABOUT CHELSEA GRAYS
CHELSEA GRAYS is a purpose-driven luxury fashion brand centered on unisex, androgynous, masculine-informed design. Rooted in political and social awareness, the brand merges structured tailoring, utilitarian influence, and narrative storytelling to challenge conventional ideas of beauty and identity. Through small-batch, sustainable production and community-focused initiatives, CHELSEA GRAYS redefines modern luxury as both culturally reflective and socially engaged.
ABOUT CHRISTOPHER LOWMAN
Christopher Lowman is a luxury fashion brand born in New York City, blending elevated tailoring with contemporary street influence to create a new language of modern American design. Founded by designer Christopher Lowman, the label is grounded in precision, craftsmanship, and emotional storytelling—each collection exploring personal experiences, cultural moments, and the evolving identity of New York.
ABOUT MONDAY BLUES STUDIO
Monday Blues, Studio is a sustainable luxury house devoted to reimagining discarded burlap coffee bags into rare, 1/1 artifacts. It’s signature line, Coffee Couture, transforms these raw materials through meticulous, couture level construction. The studio traces its origin to a single act of creation by an intentionally anonymous creator, whose identity remains secondary to the work itself. From that moment emerged a new language of resilience, material rebirth, and quiet extravagance. Minimal yet intricate, raw yet refined, each garment is made to order, singular, and designed to exist as both clothing and memory.
Monday Blues, Studio: Made to Be Remembered.
ABOUT PEAK LAPEL
Peak Lapel, founded by Jack Milkes and Ben Stedman, is a unisex label inspired by traditional, preppy menswear. The duo’s shared love for classic and historical men’s clothing brought them together to create their own take on “men’s fashion”. Peak Lapel aims to “modernize menswear”, through the history of fashion, in combination with modern silhouettes, fabrics and influences from streetwear.
Ben and Jack are both students at Parsons School of Design. Ben is from Massachusetts and is studying Strategic Design and Management, a major focus in fashion business. Jack is from Los Angeles and is studying Fashion Design. Peak Lapel was formed with both of these types of design in mind, which created the perfect team to modernize this part of menswear.
ABOUT SCIENCE PROJECT COMPANY
Science Project Company (SPC) is a luxury streetwear brand built on clean structure, intentional design, and a quiet sense of authority. Founded by Heginz Janvier, the brand grew out of a moment when fashion felt predictable, and collections focused on output instead of expression. Thus, the brand was created as a place for experimentation, while pushing barriers with intention and personal narrative at its core.
SPC draws from military codes, technical tailoring, and functional layering to build garments that are disciplined. Its stripped-down forms speak to those who see clothing as a tool for communication rather than ornament.
With recognition from Complex, Hypebeast, and other notable leading cultural publications, the brand establishes a framework for thoughtful, future-facing dressing, giving its community a wardrobe shaped by purpose rather than noise.
Born to Haitian immigrant parents, Janvier was raised in the inner city of North Jersey as one of five children. Grounded in a provider’s mindset and shaped by a street-level education in style, his early love for fashion came from what he saw on the sidewalks—not runways. After earning a Finance degree and climbing the ranks from retail floors to corporate offices, he quickly realized the 9-to-5 path wasn’t his final destination. He left behind the safety of the corporate world to build something of his own. SPC is the product of that leap: a reflection of resilience and the refusal to be boxed in.
ABOUT WANGDA
Wangda Chen is the visionary founder and creative force behind WÀNGDA, a New York–based label that marries Eastern craftsmanship with minimalist sensibility. Born and raised in China, he boldly relocated to the U.S. at the age of 16, a turning point that profoundly influenced the duality at the heart of his work.
Wangada cultivated a designer’s curiosity and a storyteller’s nuance, rejecting conformity in favor of emotional sincerity. Early on, his sister and grandmother’s small sartorial alterations fueled his fascination with tailoring, a childhood spark that grew into professional determination.
Launched in 2023 in Manhattan’s Garment District, WÀNGDA channels this personal journey into each collection. The brand’s aesthetic, quiet luxury defined, combines razor-sharp structure with deconstructed ease, resulting in pieces that are at once polished and imperfectly human.
In his own words, the brand is “Eastern craftsmanship, reimagined in New York… fashion that transcends mere clothing, it tells a story. A story of heritage, of innovation, of you.”
This mantra is woven into every stitch: heritage fabrics are reinvented through avant-garde minimalism, tailored for an urban world that both demands presence and cherishes quiet confidence
Wangada Chen’s trajectory, from a curious teenager tweaking his clothes to a brand founder redefining modern tailoring, eloquently speaks to resilience and cultural synthesis. WÀNGDA’s ethos champions garments as living expressions: they adapt, evolve, and carry forward stories, his, yours, everyone’s.
##
