“Move your body, not your clothes,” smirks Adam Selman on the other end of a Zoom call. This might sound like the trite, totally hashtag-able platitude that other activewear brands would dole out by the bushel. For Selman, it’s an explainer as to why his leggings are cut on a slight diagonal from the hip, so that when the wearer runs, she doesn’t have to keep adjusting sagging bottoms.
Those bias-cut leggings were one of the designer’s first innovations at Adam Selman Sport. His latest is patently brilliant. Working in partnership with new factories, he has developed a technique that bonds stretchy silicone waistbands to his apparel. The result is a sleeker product with fewer seams, minimizing the weight of the garments and amplifying agility. A new bra style has projection molding on the breast cups for added support, too. Naturally, A.S.S. has style, but these performance garments actually perform on the body, too.
Doing this kind of technological development is new-ish ground for the designer. A patternmaker by skill and a costume designer by fame, Selman has long been working out the kinks from women’s clothing. Now he’s innovating in ways that can be iterated on in his core collection moving forward.
In between pausing his ready-to-wear line and launching this one, Selman did some of the soul searching that much of fashion is reckoning with now amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. His A.S.S. brand is the result of all that thinking: built from the start to operate ethically and inclusively, with an expansive size-range and an emphasis on using environmentally sound materials. Because of lockdowns in New York, Selman has been walking from his apartment downtown to his studio in the Garment District every day, alone, to pack up and ship orders. He’s become familiar with his customers’ names, their habits, why they exchanged something or when they came back for seconds. He’s already thoughtful about his clients needs, but this act of engaging with them on a deeper level is sure to inspire him for the future.
