Argent Teams With Agolde For Denim Capsule Collection
● As workwear becomes more casual, women are looking for more alternatives to pair with blazers and tops.
It’s no secret that
everyone is dressing differently for the office after spending two years shuttered away at home.
Now that people are venturing back to offices, the day-to-day dress code has opened up and morphed into something more relaxed.
That's why Argent, a New York venture launched in 2016 to give career women versatile and fashionable dressing options, is embracing the casual movement and introducing denim to its array of blazers, pants, sweaters and blouses. It is doing that in a capsule collection with Los Angeles premium denim brand Agolde.
“Denim has always been on my radar,” said Sali Christeson, the founder and chief executive officer of Argent who has a technical and financial professional background. “With this capsule we feel we are representing work in terms of how women are showing up.”
The collection also emphasizes that Argent's blazers are ideal for pairing with jeans. “The key to our collection has been versatility,” the CEO noted.
Christeson found Agolde through a friend who put her in touch with Amy Williams, CEO of Citizens of Humanity, the parent company of Agolde. The two soon got to work hatching ideas for the denim pieces that Agolde will manufacture in its Los Angeles factory.
“Sali and the Argent team approached us with their Agolde favorites, and we used those signature fits as a starting point for these exclusive items,” Williams said. “We wanted our signature fits to be paired easily with a modern
Argent blazer, bold colors and shapes. We reflected on washes and fabrics that could be worn in any, and all, professional settings and would make the wearer feel confident, comfortable and powerful.”
The capsule takes two Agolde hero silhouettes (the '90s midrise and the Riley high-rise straight) and matches them with three washes — light, medium and dark — creating three jeans. “We removed the distressing and cleaned up the hems,” Christeson said.
In addition to the jeans, the capsule collection will include three new blazers, a vest, a cardigan and one silk viscose blouse designed and manufactured by Argent to pair with the denim pants. The denim will retail for $238 to $248, and the blazers will sell for $395 to $595. Everything will be available on the Argent website.
Argent is known for its colored suiting that brings bright hues to the workspace. Think blazers and suiting in hot pink, bright blue and magenta. “Color suiting is our overwhelming hero,” Christeson said.
But during the pandemic, color suiting and other professional clothing got shoved into the back of the closet. Argent shuttered its four stores in New York; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco, and Los Angeles and hunkered down. “We sat back and did some strategizing,” the Argent executive said, noting the pandemic gave the company time to get its arms around the idea of a denim collection.
“It was a long two years. But we knew this moment would come out on the other side,” Christeson explained. “Now we are dipping our toes into denim and have a lot of confidence in it.”