Drew Evans, CEO and Creative Director of Homme + Femme, Discusses Upcoming Eddie Bauer Collab And Keeping Warm For Winter

CASSIUSLife: Homme + Femme is coming up on ten years, right? This is your 9th year in business, started in 2013. 

So give a quick summary for the readers, your elevator pitch, if you will. Tell us the story of how you started out as a kid from Compton who entered the industry through event planning, and now you’re CEO and creative director of your own fashion label.

Drew Evans: The elevator pitch for the past nine-and-a-half years, let’s see… Well, my name is Drew, Andrew Evans. I grew up in Los Angeles, [on the] West Side, and I went to visit my grandparents in Compton on the weekends.

I had a very unique upbringing. I got to see the culture of Compton and what was going on in the era of the 90s, with the whole 2Pac, Suge Knight era, and I lived it. So that gave me a little bit of confidence. 

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And I also went to school on the West Side with a bunch of kids that were in the creative space, kids that were in the music academy and the art academy and stuff like that. So I had a unique perspective.

I knew what the streets were talking about, and I also knew [what] the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills and the West Side was talking about. So [I had] that perspective and [knew] people on both sides of the tracks.

My little brother started throwing parties at the American Legion and at warehouses and stuff like that, and I saw how much money he was making. I’m like, “Man, I should do this, too!” So I started throwing parties when I got out of high school with my brother.

I started doing events in Hollywood at the 21-and-over clubs, and a guy by the name of Taz Arnold who was like, one of Kanye’s creative people he had around in his camp and his stylist. They asked me to do some events for him in 2012 around summertime. 

We did like, a series of events that were really dope, and a lot of kids were coming from the culture. Kids like Rhuigi, who has the brand Rhude now. Like Chris Stamp, founder of the brand Stampd.

We had a bunch of actors and athletes and just cool kids from all around the culture coming out. Karen Civil used to come to our parties a lot, and 40oz Van from NYC. We had Trinidad James when he first blew up with his song ”All Gold Everything.”

And I just kind of got known for being like that party guy with Tisa Clothing, which was the brand [back then]. And then when my internship was over, I wanted them to pay me and they didn’t have a budget.

So I started being around Taz a lot and seeing his creativity and his influence, [and] I started to really get confidence that I can make clothes because I wanted to be like Puff [Daddy] or like Dame Dash and Jay-Z with Roc-a-Wear and Sean John. That was one of my dreams. And I’m like, “I can do this myself.”

So I started making samples. And I made a sample at the mall at the Del Amo Fashion [Center] in Torrance, CA. There was this hockey sweater that [I made as] an homage to Coco Chanel, and it went viral on Instagram.

So without Instagram in its infancy, I don’t think I would be where I’m at because that kind of took everything to the world and it allowed the kids to see what I was creating. I was able to use my influence and my network [from] growing up in L.A. and being in the scene and getting my stuff out. 

And nine years later, here I am.

CASSIUSLife: You’ve said that you wanted to be a bridge, if you will, between streetwear and luxury fashion. 

Last year, we spoke with Wickel Titalom from Grailed, and he talked about how there’s this issue with streetwear not being seen as luxury fashion. 

And so my question to you is how do we get from a space to where there’s  no longer a bridge, but streetwear can be seen as luxury fashion? I don’t know if that makes sense.

Drew Evans: It makes sense. And a lot of people around me know my qualms with that. It’s like, at this point, streetwear is luxury fashion, I don’t even think there’s a bridge anymore.

If you look at Louis Vuitton, for instance, when Virgil [Abloh] was at LV for those four years, they had their highest sales ever! Now there’s nothing more luxury than Louis Vuitton. And every principle that he brought to Louis Vuitton that made the sales go up was from the streetwear culture. Like their designs, they were just put together [more] aesthetically and the infrastructure was more sound.

I think people looked down on streetwear because it was seen as “not as classy” as luxury fashion. But if I go anywhere, I see people wearing Off-White or Louis Vuitton. Even like Denim Tears, Tremaine [Emory] has his own brand, but in the luxury fashion stores, you know what I mean?

Streetwear is luxury now. I think we’ve arrived at that point as far as men’s wear. I think in women’s wear, there’s still a couture element to it. But in menswear? No one’s really wearing, like, silk suits and couture. It’s basically streetwear: denim, jackets, T-shirts…

I have a lot more confidence now. And with my team and with us growing, it’s all about the details for me, the subtle things about it, like the lining of a piece, making sure that the leather is soft, or the wool is brushed a little bit better than before… the embellishments, the hardware, and our content. We’re embracing more of an “excellence” perspective.

When I was younger, I didn’t really see too many African American brands that were really pushing that culture of Black excellence. And I think that we’re trying to push that with our brand.

If you look at our content, everything seems to be more of a luxury vibe, like starting with the Kentucky Derby collaboration and then moving into our Fall ’22 drop. We want to show elegance and opulence in everything that we do.

And the marketing has a lot to do with luxury fashion, too. You look at Louis Vuitton, you look at Gucci, and you see it as more elegant than Supreme. But now, when you see Supreme doing collabs with Louis Vuitton, and Gucci doing collabs with Adidas and The North Face, there is no difference.

Eddie Bauer, another historic institution, right? Like another great name and just circling back. Like, when we’re talking about our brand in the [last] nine years and us trying to build that luxury vibe to streetwear, I think we’ve been blessed to really have some pretty dope names recently be associated with [us], that can help us further build a foundation [for Homme + Femme] and build that perception in the community and in the marketplace.

The Eddie Bauer collab came about [because of Sabrina], a friend of mine who used to work here. She went to college with a woman that is head of collaborations at Eddie Bauer [named Gia Huante].

So we’ve been friends for almost ten years now. Sabrina, has been very, very influential and just pushed me forward at moments in my career, introducing me to certain people.

So we ended up working with Gia, and we’ve been working on it for 16 months, and they just saw what we were building. And, you know, [it helped] obviously [with] Sabrina working here and seeing the momentum that we were building and what we were doing and believing in me for all these years. She referred us to Eddie Bauer.

And Eddie Bauer decided to work with us still, even after [Sabrina] moved on from Homme + Femme, just because they they saw what we were doing and they saw where we were headed. And I’m very appreciative of it.

The collaboration is going to be crazy. It’s going to be dope. My goal for the collaboration was to bring back the 90s and early 2000s nostalgia of Eddie Bauer. It was one of the dopest brands back in the day. And for it to still be here is dope for me.

I wanted the kids of nowadays, to see how it was in 1996 or 2002, you know what I mean? Like, they’re always looking for those nostalgic moments, and we were able to create some stuff that represents that.

We were able to go to New York a couple of weeks ago and actually shoot [our winter photoshoot]. And the whole idea for me was big body, East Coast winter, cold weather stuff mixed with some modern day twist — with a little bit of West Coast involved in it. Because I’m from the West Coast. (smiles)

CASSIUSLife: So for our readers, if a guy asks you, “What are some tips I need to make sure I stay fly and stay fresh [this winter]?” Because you know, out here in the East Coast, our standard issue uniform is the Carhartt jeans, Timberland boots, and scully hat..

You can look fly and still be freezing to death. I mean, there’s a bunch of that, right? So how do I strike the right balance? What would you recommend?

Drew Evans: We’ve got a big assortment ,but we have different styles. So for me, my favorite piece is [from our Eddie Bauer collection] the fisherman overalls.

Overalls are making a comeback, but I never will see somebody wearing a fisherman overall in day-to-day life. It’s more of a fashion piece or a stand out piece, but it’s dope. I would wear that on a day-to-day basis, and I would get that attention walking down the block. 

And I would wear that with the puffer jacket! You’ll be looking really buff but you know you’ll be warm.

If you want to do some everyday stuff with your Timbs, you can wear our marble fleece, the top and the bottom, with maybe a little Carhartt hoodie under it — or the Homme + Femme hoodie under it. And some long johns, that’ll keep you pretty warm.

Y’all not like us [on the West Coast]. It’s 62 degrees here, and we’re freezing! So I wouldn’t need too many layers. We also had our puffer jackets that are dope. We’ve got some very good fleece stuff. We have a lot of stuff, man. We’ve got hats, T-shirts. We’ve got a good range..

There’s a lot of pieces but for you, man? Like, you don’t want to be too puffy, so I’ll go with the navy blue and orange marble fleece set, and little hoodie under there. You could go to our website and get you a hoodie, or you can bring a hoodie that you’ve already got. 

And maybe some long johns under the pants, and your boots, that would be perfect. And we have a trapper hat if it’s too cold. And if you good, you can just wear a little trucker hat, like our Homme + Femme & Eddie Bauer trucker hat.

CASSIUSLife: Trucker hats are always in and out of style, right? Like when they’re hot, they’re really poppin’! And then there comes a point where the bubble bursts, but then once the bubble bursts, then people are like, “Okay, let me break mine out again!”

Drew Evans: Yeah, exactly, man. There’s something for everyone. Something for everyone. We have experimental pieces. We have more subtle pieces, and we have pieces that look great and stand out but are essential pieces.

Like [with] our puffer jacket, the navy blue pops off with a little yellow zipper. It’s not too loud, but it’s just enough pop color for people to be like, “All right, cool!”

CASSIUSLife: Now, you said there’s something for everyone, and so pardon my ignorance. But what about the ladies?! Homme + Femme means “men and women” in French, right? And we’ve got stuff for les hommes. But while I do see women on the website and on the IG, what have we got for the femme?

Drew Evans: We were just talking about that in the office an hour ago! “When are we going to make some female fits?” For me, I’ll give you this intimate insight into the business, right?

We want to do some female stuff with their own fits and stuff like that. We just never really have the time or the resources to develop that. Like, with me owning the brand 100% and financing it and supporting every part of it, the growth can only go as far as the capital, right?

So we do want to eventually, one day… I look at Homme + Femme as a generational business. Like in streetwear, just to go back [to what we were talking about before], you see brands come and go. [They don’t] really stick around and have longevity. For me, I look at Homme + Femme as a generational theme.

I look at it like a Ralph Lauren or Calvin Klein, or even like a Louis Vuitton. One hundred, one hundred fifty years, generational theme. So we do want to develop a female line eventually.

But in hip hop, and in the 90s more particularly, we embrace more of, like the female kind of boyfriend jeans, a tomboy swag. 

Like TLC, for instance, they wore men’s clothes, like, you know what I mean? Or Aaliyah, she would wear female silhouettes, but she would wear a big jacket, and sometimes baggy jeans. That’s kind of the demographic that we’re hitting right now. But eventually we do want to have a female silhouette.

CASSIUSLife: So if a young lady comes in… your advice would be…

Drew Evans: Get in the small or extra small size! But, you know, a lot of girls, man, they don’t want to wear extra small. They want to wear a large jacket. They want it to be flowy and really big on ’em. So it’s kind of a catch-22 because, like I said, they’re going to buy what they want.

And I know a girl that works here. She’s extra, extra small, but she’ll wear a large jacket. She likes that look, you know what I mean? She likes that feeling. She’s for sure tapped into that 90s nostalgia culture, too, and that’s how she likes to wear her clothes: small tight pants and a big jacket!

CASSIUSLife: You talk about Homme + Femme being a generational brand. You’re shooting for a century-and-a-half, 150 years, similar to the Kentucky Derby. 

But right now, you’ve got two collabs under your belt, one already done and the other one coming up next week And you’re wrapping up your first decade in the game.

So my question to you is, what do we look for in the next five to ten years? When we hit 2033, and I’m talking to Drew again, what are we looking at?

Drew Evans: You’re looking at a 44-year-old Drew in the prime of his life. We’re looking at the evolution of Homme + Femme to being a real household name.

You look at [a brand] like Tom Ford, that’s a young brand, right? Somebody that was brought up in the 90s and made his name in the 90s, and 20, 30 years later that’s consistently respected. You’ll see Homme + Femme be consistently respected.

It’ll probably be a ten figure business by then, for sure. A billion dollar business by then. Hopefully, it will still be independent. 

You’ll recognize our silhouettes. Like how Levi’s has the standard 501 jeans or Carhartt is known for their work wear? You’ll see silhouettes that are known for Homme + Femme. We’ll have women’s wear, for sure. We’ll have eyewear and fragrances, and we’ll have retail stores around the world.

We’ll be the modern day luxury brand.