Blackstock & Weber

Blackstock & Weber is a Brooklyn-based fashion and lifestyle brand founded by Chris Echevarria that designs modern menswear objects drawing on travel, music, culture, art and photography while working within traditional menswear conventions. Its core product is footwear, centered on loafers: the Ellis penny loafer, the Mason horse bit loafer and the Clásico tassel loafer, each offered in multiple leathers and finishes (including croc-embossed, snake, leopard and denim uppers) and in both standard and lug-sole constructions, across a size range roughly spanning US 4 to 16.

Beyond loafers, the brand's online shop carries boat shoes and oxfords, eyewear, books and magazines, gift cards and collaboration items, reflecting a broader lifestyle assortment. Founder Chris Echevarria also operates an adjacent ready-to-wear line, Academy by Chris Echevarria, and a curated vintage and goods concept called the General Store, and has served as creative director of the Made in USA line Sperry by Chris Echevarria.

Founding story

Chris Echevarria trained in menswear design at the Fashion Institute of Technology and began working at the J. Crew Liquor Store men's concept shop in Tribeca, where he built a relationship with Mickey Drexler and helped scout brand partnerships for J. Crew's "In Good Company" assortment. He then moved into trend forecasting and afterwards into wholesale for Stone Island via M5 Showroom, spending about three years on the brand's US sales during its rapid stateside growth before leaving in 2016. He subsequently founded a sales agency, Past Present Future, whose clients included the English shoemaker Sanders; noticing that retailers under-invested in the "brown shoe" category relative to sneakers, he developed Sanders x Past Present Future footwear collaborations that outsold Sanders' in-line product at wholesale. He then asked Sanders to manufacture shoes for his own label, which became Blackstock & Weber in 2017. The first year was a one-person operation with 23 SKUs across four or five lasts, which he concluded was not sustainable.

Business model

The brand designs and sells footwear and related lifestyle goods, primarily through its own e-commerce site, supported by wholesale and retail partnerships and a planned first physical store.

Product sales of loafers and other footwear plus accessories, books, magazines and gift cards through the company's online shop, alongside wholesale placement with third-party retailers and collaboration releases.

Traction

Product assortment has expanded from an initial 23 SKUs across four or five lasts to a multi-category catalogue, with many colorways and sizes listed as sold out on the company's shop pages. The brand secured its first in-person retail placement at 3sixteen NY in 2021, ran collaborations in 2023 with Kith and Billionaire Boys Club and launched a clothing line, and announced plans for its own store in Manhattan.

Latest developments

Chris Echevarria announced via social media that he had signed the lease on a first store at 242 Mulberry Street in Nolita, Manhattan, to carry Blackstock & Weber, his Academy by Chris Echevarria ready-to-wear line and General Store curation of books, accessories, magazines and vintage; an opening date was not disclosed. In September 2023 Sperry named him creative director of its Made in USA line, Sperry by Chris Echevarria, whose first collection debuted at Paris Fashion Week Men's in January.