Both & Apparel, a New Mexico-based company, has announced the launch of its new range of denim pants, offering its clients a masculine fit. Both & Apparel's mission is to empower, outfit, and serve the global transmasculine and nonbinary communities.
According to Finnegan Shepard, founder, and CEO of Both & Apparel, members of the transmasculine community face unique challenges in terms of finding clothing that fits them. He was assigned female at birth but has identified as male, and undergone top surgery, and hormone treatment, he found purchasing clothing with a masculine silhouette and the correct fit impossible. Clothing made for cis males is too tight across the chest, hips, and thighs while being too broad in the shoulders and too long when it comes to the inseam. On the other hand, clothes made for women are designed to emphasize curves. With hormone treatment, fat and muscle distribution changes, but not bone structure, which has implications for developing a pattern system that achieves the goals Finnegan sought. After waiting decades for someone else to do it, Finnegan decided that he had to solve the problem himself with a range of clothes that provided both fit and style for trans masculine men.
Says Finnegan Shepard, “Our new denim collection is one of the best examples of community-sourced design. We launched our first pant capsule in August 2022 and started gathering feedback from community members. Many people returned to us saying they could never find a pair of denim pants that fit. They were all too long in the legs and too small at the waist. They told us that it would really transform their lives if they could get denim pants that fit them, were comfortable to wear and had a masculine silhouette. We came up with several iterations while trying to figure out what the end product should look and feel like.”
The process of developing the collection was long and complex. The company had to consider several options. Should they opt for stiffer denim as it holds its shape or should they go for softer fabric as it is more forgiving? This is a market where there was indeed a huge gap within its denim collections, and Both& Apparel is filling this gap. The team has gathered a lot of feedback through social media channels regarding colors, fabric, fit, and texture, so that the end product is perfect.
Concluded Finnegan Shepard, “within the community, there is a wide range of style preferences and body shapes. Our goal is to systematically gather research and expand out our options–in terms of color, size, and style–as growth allows. Denim was the leading choice for 2023 because of the simple reason that in 2022 it was the most voted-upon style. One of Both & Apparel’s most unique value propositions is that we don’t design in a vacuum–we work directly with the community to source the most pressing needs and desires.”
About Both and Apparel
Both& Apparel is a company that is pioneering the concept of non-binary fashion, starting with apparel for trans men. The company is powered by the belief that transmasculine, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people deserve gender joy through access to products and spaces where their unique needs and desires are prioritized.
Media Contact
Name: Finnegan Shepard
Email: finnegan@bothandapparel.com
Published by: Omar Hamdi