APC is a French clothing brand created in 1987 by Jean Touitou, in Paris. The company's name stand for "Atelier de Production et de Création", the label is specialized in ready-to-wear clothes and accessories for men and women. After stumbling by accident into an entry-level fashion job, Jean.T started working with Takada Kenzo, founder of the famous label "Kenzo". Takada introduced him to Japanese design and fashion. This pushed him to start his own collection. At first, his collections were simply named "HIVER" or "ETE". Over the years, the label gained its renown for their high quality minimalist Japanese canva denim. This denim is dry and rigid. Although their range includes a lot more products, their denim is still their best product. They are also known for being authentic and accessible because of their minimalist philosophy and style. Initially based in Paris, the label is now present across the world.
Touitou's artistic director is his wife, Judith Touitou. They gets their inspiration from 90's workwear and minimalist style which can be characterized as elegant, simple and casual.
The label is above all a minimalist label that produces as much for men's clothing as for women's. It is important for them to keep functionality at the center of their creations. Ignoring every single trends or new style, Jean.T assume this absence of extravagance because it allows the brand to be authentic and timeless because trends fades, elegance doesn't.
For this new season, the label's collection is mostly composed by dark colors such as grey,black, dark green and navy. However this time they wanted to add a little more extravagance by adding some brighter colors such as white, khaki, blue, beige and new models to this collection. APC demonstrate an incredible knowledge and capacity to produce high quality clothes and accessories such as the Alan Parka, coats, sweaters, pants, caban and cardigan. The collection is mainly composed with extensive shirts, cargo, sweater, scarfs and accessories such as bags and headwear. All these products are available in our store and online.
APC Denim.
Inside our article "APC Jeans, Minimalism and Expertise", we explained how the success of the Parisian label come from the quality of their pants and their denim pants. In this article, we highlight the specificity of the APC denim. Touitou took only 15 days to create the first denim jeans for the ready-to-wear house. Because of outstanding quality of the fabric, the designer decided not to share the source with Jean.T.
After searching for a long time, he finally found the japanese weaver. The weaver decided to give him a recipe that was even better than the first one. Today, the japanese denim and this highly skilled manufacturing process is what makes the "Atelier de Production" one of the greatest high-end denim producer in France.
WHO IS JEAN TOUITOU, THE A.P.C LABEL TOUCH ?
I'm pretty sure you've already heard about the Parisian clothing label APC, but have you ever heard about the iconic fashion figure that created this brand ?
This is a quick story about the little boy that grew up the be the man behind this huge company's success. Born in Tunis, Tunisia in 1951. At the age of 9, his family decided to settle in Paris. A few years later after obtaining his baccalaureat in art history, he decided to study history and geography at Sorbonne. Dedicated to his goals, the young man from Tunis will start his journey in South and North America.
When he returned, Touitou completly changed his profession and let himself guided by his passion : art and fashion.
Having no experience nor training for the world he was about to get into, he managed to become an assistant for the iconic Japanese designer Kenzo. He took off in 1987 and start doing things on his own. He created APC with the help of a friend who believed in him. You can find the rest of his journey and more details on how he managed to take this brand at the top of France's fashion on our article "Who is Jean Touitou, the Label Touch ?"
Sizing Guide : HOW TO SIZE APC FOR MEN AND WOMEN ? OUR ADVICE.
The french Label is known all around the world for its quality of creation and very wide range. It is one of the biggest fashion brands, for 34 years the firm has been able to refine its know-how to reach one of the best quality of production (sweater, tee shirt, jacket, coat, bags, sweatshirts). Because of their wide range of clothes, it is important for the customers to select the right size and cut, and that's what we are here for.
You can access to the detailled guide on our article "Sizing Guide : How to size APC for men and women ? Our advice."
THE APC BAG, CLASSIC, TIMELESS AND MODERN
The label is known to avoid anything extravagant, however their bag collection doesn't really follow the rule. Jean.T wanted to make sure that women wearing APC never had to wear anything artificial or provocative to be attractive, so he decided to move the "fancy" aspect on his women's bag collection. In our article "The APC Bag, Classic, Timeless and Modern" we list some of the most notorious bags from APC's collections.
First, let's talk about the half-moon model.
Class, elegant and yet simple, this model never cease to win every buyer's heart. This model's colortype changes every season, for this one it will be red. This model is also available in blue, black and hazelnut. The features are what makes their products so desirable, such as its adjustable shoulder strap, a golden hardware and a golden logo on its front.
Practical and stylish are the key words of the half-moon. Its total value is estimated at 263€.
Then , The Hélène Bucket, The Jute Canvas In Spotlight.
This year's major trend is the use of natural materials. With its red leather and fabric reminiscent of a pea coat, The Hélène Bucket provides us a combinaison between of bright colored leather and subtlety. As for technical features present on the bag, there is a gold hardware on its adjustable shoulder trap. It is recommended not to dry clean it. Its total value is estimated at 260€.
And finally, The Pascal Tote Bag.
A denim tote bag, inspired by the idea of vacations. The product is made with raw Japanese denim, its design is just compared by a stylized and colored logo of the label. The model is changes from what the brand is used to offer, buy somehow we like it, right ?
APC INTERACTION AND JEAN TOUITOU'S LABEL COLLABORATIONS
Even if the French label was firstly known for its well-made Japanese denim jeans, it has continue to grow with the help of collaborations and interactions with big names from the industry. One of their most famous collaboration was with Kid Cudi for the collection themed on "Beautiful Madness" including a red perfecto jacket printed with a painting made by W.Blake, two color ways sneakers ( red and white ) and other printed tee shirts and embroided jeans.
Alongside with this collaboration, the label also collaborated with a major figure of French cinema, Catherine Deneuve. You can find more about these collaborations in our article "APC Interaction and Jean Touitou's Label Collaborations".