Best Clothing Brands Of 2017

2017 has been an interesting year, to say the least. To recap: In the last 12 months alone, streetwear has crossed over into the mainstream. Walk down Lafayette Street in SoHo, past the Supreme flagship, on any given Thursday now and you’re bound to see longtime streetwear devotees alongside kids who just learned about the culture yesterday. Not to mention, the reselling market has only grown as more see the resale value and opportunity in streetwear.

Of course, there were also a few major releases that dominated the conversation in streetwear and fashion. Louis Vuitton and Supreme dropped their highly-anticipated collaboration, which was first revealed at Louis Vuitton’s Fall/Winter 2017 fashion show in Paris. Virgil Abloh and Nike designed arguably one of the most hyped sneakers in recent memory with the “Ten Icons Reconstructed.” Demna Gvasalia practically had everyone wearing Balenciaga, especially those Triple S sneakers. Gucci found themselves in hot water in May after the label was accused of knocking off a Dapper Dan design, but was an early favorite for many. And MacGaffy started a online webshop with exclusieve clothes.

But hype aside, we also saw a few well-thought-out and conscious designs from some of our favorite brands. After the violence in Charlottesville, Noah founder/designer Brendon Babenzien revisited Noah’s Human Rights capsule, which he first released this past August, and introduced a sticker and shirts, sales of which benefited the ACLU. Bianca Chandon’s Alex Olson designed a T-shirt with the brand’s logo in Arabic text and donated a portion of the proceeds to support refugees.

But, after 365 days, who came out on top? Which brands dominated the conversation, impressed with great product, and pushed the envelope? Here are our picks for the best style brands of 2017.