If you stand at the intersection of Franklin and Gower, it’s a direct shot to the Hollywood sign. It’s this iconic address of some of the oldest studios in Hollywood that two LA-based entrepreneurs have chosen as brand name for their newly launched, mostly menswear line with over 1200 combinations of pants and shorts.

“I believe that the creative scene in Los Angeles and as it relates to fashion there’s that in between point of well-dressed, well looked after man with a California sensibility.” Explains Eduardo Braniff of the genesis for Franklin + Gower, the line he launched this summer with partner Christopher McCauley. The duo took their shared interest in printed pants of the preppy Palm Beach meets bespoke sensibility and spun it into something distinctly Californian.

Their concept is relatively easy. Choose a base fabric in two different cuts and put your own character on display by mixing and matching a selection of tuxedo stripes (or more subtle) piping down the leg. Think your favorite pair of pants in fantasy colors. Bonobos has recently found success with a similar concept in the pant business so the comparisons are inevitable. Braniff explains that the difference is the fundamental aesthetics, “we’re going for a much more expressive audience, much more colorful, targeting a guy that’s a little bit more comfortable with his own style and the clothes he wearing.”

Inasmuch as it takes a guy with a little bit more vision of himself to go for mint green with paisley tuxedo stripes, Franklin + Gower is a sartorial story; it’s about bringing a made-to-order sensibility to every piece. It promotes sharp tailoring and slim, asset enhancing cuts in the tradition of old “tailoring partnerships.” Explains Braniff. “Men have gotten comfortable with tailoring. We’re bringing it to a broader space by allowing more of your personality to the story. Our vision combined with our wearers,.

Bridegrooms have been getting a kick out of the unexpected colors to combine for a wedding party and from golf to cocktail to casual wear, Franklin + Gower is on their way of meeting their goal “to create a brand that is about the LA man, about those cues that make a guy LA: pants, shorts, bags, sunglasses.

It was inevitable that women would begin to covet the sweet tart colors and funky prints to which the brand has responded with few satiating styles that are available exclusively on their site. The label sells their full suite of offering online and blurs the digital and brick and border model by distributing to specialty retailers such as Inno in Los Angeles and Massimo in New York’s meatpacking district.
-Jason Campbell