NEW YORK — With its neighborhood-friendly stores and tongue-in-cheek advertising, Brooklyn Industries is counting on its loyal following to support its two new stores.
Founded in 2001 by Lexy and Vahap Funk, who met in an upstate New York artist residency in 1995 and abandoned their respective European homes to relocate to the Big Apple six weeks later, the company, no surprise, is artistically oriented.
“Our designs can be satirical, political or purely graphic,” Lexy Funk said. “Because we don’t sell anywhere else than in our own stores, people are very supportive of our clothing. We’re also involved with the community each store is in.”
Limited-edition coats, T-shirts, skirts, pants and bags adorn Brooklyn Industries’ four stores, including the 1,500-square-foot South Williamsburg unit that opened its doors Saturday at 184 Broadway. Another Brooklyn store is scheduled to open in February at 100 Smith Street. Outerwear sales account for 25 to 35 percent of the retailer’s business, with a $118 hooded down coat and a $98 belted ski parka being current hot items, Lexy Funk said.
Unlike its competitors, Brooklyn Industries does not replenish styles throughout the season, and its shoppers are hip to the fact that when it comes to the merchandise, what you see is what you get.
“Once we’re sold out — that’s it,” Lexy Funk explained.
The brand often does one-offs with local designers and artists such as graffiti artist Lase, who fired off a limited-edition T-shirt and a mural for one of Brooklyn Industries’ stores. To support up-and-coming talent, artists are periodically invited to hang their work on the stores’ walls, and DJs are sometimes given free clothes. The brand also supports the Brooklyn Film Festival and the local basketball team. Those handouts are welcome signs to customers, she said.
“When we first opened on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, the area was down-and-out. Bars and restaurants were starting to move in, but no real stores,” Funk said. “We don’t charge an arm and a leg, so people feel an allegiance to us.”
Interest in the label has increased so much that Brooklyn Industries is considering setting up a wholesale division next year, Funk said.
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The pair sort of fell into the retail business. After meeting and falling for each other at Art Omi, an artist residency in Omi, N.Y., Vahap Funk packed up his belongings in Turkey, and the American-born Lexy Funk packed up her life in London so they could live together in New York. They married shortly thereafter. Initially, he ran Stingy Lulu’s restaurant in the Easy Village, she worked in an ad agency and they never saw each other. Determined to spend more time together and make art their livelihood, they started making and wholesaling Crypto bags and T-shirts, and opened a Crypto store in Brooklyn in 1999. Seeing how people responded to their designs in the Crypto store made the Funks want to develop a more comprehensive collection and Brooklyn Industries was created.
Today, the 20-person company is eyeing further expansion, while trying to build up its current business. A new print ad features a 10 percent discount coupon for winter coats and an image of “the snug down coat” with the tag line, “This Is Not a Sleeping Bag.”
“Everything we do, even if it’s very small, is important for the company. But we still want to offer nice clothing people can afford to buy,” Lexy Funk said.