Style. That’s what the Stone Rose collection has. Say bye-bye to boring and hello to cool sexy menswear. The Stone Rose collection has that “wow” factor. Designed for the fashion-forward male, these shirts and blazers are created for men who must look good whether at work or at play. The shirts are created with over-the-top coolness and details like collars with contrasting colors and patterns inside, straight collars and contrasting buttons and cuffs. The hot blazers are extra cool with contrasting piping along the lapel and pockets. These are definite must-haves for the male wardrobe. Shai Medalsy says he designs and creates all the products using new cutting edge materials with synergies of new colors always fitting comfort in with the look. He says he uses a lot of 100% rich cotton fabrics to create his fabulous line, but does not limit himself and experiments with a lot of different fabrics in interesting ways.

Growing up with a father in the apparel industry, Shai tried resisting going into the family business – apparel industry. He finally stopped resisting and here he is today making these fabulous collections of men’s shirts. Shai says one of the reasons he resisted so long is because while growing up, he saw the industry as being very tough and competitive. But, in 2002, he kind of fell into the fashion industry. At age 24, he started his first menswear shirt company. He started creating new styles with interesting color combinations, and says working in the fashion industry now, allows him to be creative and expressive with his product designs.

Starting out as a designer, Shai needed to establish production of his clothing line.  He and a partner went to Istanbul, Turkey, because Istanbul is renowned for their craftsmanship in the men’s shirt market. Going to Istanbul, Turkey soon became an adventure in shirt-making production.

Regarding his foray into the world of men’s shirt production, Shai said:

Because neither of them spoke the native language, they hired a translator who followed them around Istanbul to help communicate their production desires to the local factories. Shai and his partner brought along samples of the shirt designs they wanted produced and would show them to the workers in the factories. Shai says the workers would respond with “yes, yes, yes,” to every statement or question posed by the translator about making the shirts. Happy the conversation exchange between the translator and manufacturer had gone well, Shai and his partner thought everything was fine. But, when they received the first samples (and they were all made wrong), they realized the manufacturer had not understood a single thing, and apparently the translator did not understand them either! They quickly realized communicating your fashion concepts in Turkey was much harder than they had expected.

What’s the lesson here for the rest of us?

Lesson number 1: Make sure you understand the language of the country – just a little.

Lesson number 2: Make sure the “translator” understands both your languages – more than just a little!

When asked who his mentors in the industry are, Shai said:

Shai’s perfect celebrity to design for would be Matthew McConaughey, because what you see is what you get.

If Shai was not designing his fabulous menswear line, he would be a philanthropist.

The Stone Rose collection ranges in price from $139 to $395. To purchase the Stone Rose collection, visit Akira Chicago.

A. Finney is the founder and head designer at Andrea and Me and Me Too. Her firm designs funky women’s handbags, fashion jewelry, and home decor. Having worked in the legal industry for the past 20 years, she says her passion has always been to create beautiful accessories. She started her business in 1999, and in 2001 she won in the accessories design category at the Black Fashion Museum for her belts called Waist Accents. She uses a lot of vibrant colors to make statements with her accessories and art designs. Their motto is they make designs for women with “way too much attitude.” A. Finney can be reached at: www.andreaandmetoo.net

Tags: apparel, designer, menswear, Shai Medalsy, Stone Rose Collection, Unique Mens Shirts