Bite-sized style news to know what’s happening in menswear this August
The fashion news and updates you need to know
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EVERY MONTH, the team at Esquire collect and curate the best and latest news in men’s style
Here’s what you need to know in August.
RUN02 is here, so run to Song For The Mute to grab it
Eight seasons deep into their collaboration with adidas, Sydney cult label Song For The Mute continues to hit it out of the park with every drop. Rarely has a collaborative effort between two brands become as iconic as the independent lines. Rarely has a secondary pillar become equally coveted.
RUN02, out 20 August, is the label’s second attempt at translating that reputation into performance wear, and nothing about the vintage, hand-drawn aesthetic that built the following gets sanded off in the process.
The Supernova Rise 3 returns in off-white and khaki, its midsole still carrying Ty’s handwriting; the Adizero Evo SL pushes further, working SFTM’s sketches directly into an unevenly dyed mesh upper developed specifically for the collaboration. Apparel follows the same brief: RUN01’s chalk and carbon shift into mineral espresso and olive drab, printed and embroidered with birds, wildflowers and half-finished phrases, the embroidery engineered to pill after washing so the pieces look lived-in almost immediately.
The accompanying campaign hits the right notes: unmade beds and damp laundry rather than crisp and clean finish lines – it’s okay to get a little dirty.
RUN02 is out on 20 August at Song For The Mute.
Arc’teryx takes the QVB into rugged new territory
Gorpcore fam rise up, Canadian outdoor brand Arc’teryx has opened their doors to their first ever Alpha Store in the Southern Hemisphere, taking over an enormous multi-story corner location in the Queen Victoria Building.
Background – if you’re not across Arc’teryx, get outside more. Literally, it’s the only brand you’ll ever wear again whenever you have to face anything remotely resembling weather. And we all know how well Sydney locals handle “weather”.
But the cult adoration for Arc’teryx is well deserved. Rarely do products that claim “built to last” live up to the hype. Arc’teryx does. A combination of technical materials and actual design aesthetic has transformed it from something reserved for mountaineers and hikers into an urban uniform. Add to that a robust warranty for their clothing – that’s how assured they are of their product – and you have the ingredients for a brand with a devoted audience.
To celebrate the opening, the top level of the QVB was transformed into an alpine dining spectacle, the Arc’teryx logo lighting up the dome like Batman’s signal. The transformation from retail world to remote wilderness was completed by the entire guest list fitted out with their own black Arc’teryx Beta jackets.
The new flagship store is home to the country’s largest dedicated Veilance space, Arc’teryx’s urban-focused line known for pared-back design and exacting construction. Alongside it sits a ReBIRD Centre offering on-site care, repair and wash services, a dedicated harness testing zone, and a rock wall inspired by the Blue Mountains. The store also features a First Nations art installation developed in collaboration with Miranda Hampson and Elders Uncle Ray Davison (Gadi Elder) and Aunty Barb Simms (Bidjigal and Gweagal Elder), drawing on thousands of years of Gadigal knowledge, sustainability, and connection to Country.
Shop G-002, Queen Victoria Building – QVB, 455 George Street, Sydney
Harrolds reopens in Sydney Westfield
Pre-covid era, there was one address in Sydney where men would go to inject their wardrobe with a much needed luxury booster shot: Harrolds.
This month, the retailer officially reopened their doors inside Sydney Westfield, with managing director Arasch Enayat welcoming back old and new clients with a fresh new roster of brands on the rails including Jil Sander, Isaac Sellam and Fear of God Essentials.
Returning to the fold are cult labels Thom Browne, Brioni, Amouage and Lardini.
Before their closure in 2024, the family-owned business had transformed itself from an IYKYK tailoring store located in Martin Place to a powerhouse of luxury fashion, responsible for bringing in some of the most coveted brands into Australia.
Harrolds is located at Level 3, Shop 3042, Westfield Sydney, 188 Pitt Street
Le Labo’s City Exclusives are back in town
For fans of cult perfumer Le Labo, Christmas truly does come twice a year.
December, obviously, but also September, when Le Labo lets its City Exclusive fragrances leave the locations they call home, and this year the newest arrival travels from Beijing. Shiu 25 takes its name from an old pronunciation of the Chinese word for camphor tree, and camphor wood anchors the composition alongside pink pepper, white florals, frankincense and iris. It is a compact, contemplative fragrance, built around stillness.
The scent’s home base is Le Labo’s Beijing He Yuan Fragrance Lab, a restored Siheyuan courtyard inside House 19, a culturally protected site at Wang Fu Central. The historic Beizi Mansion has been reworked into a three-house space that blends the brand’s wabi-sabi sensibility with traditional Chinese architecture, and Shiu 25 was conceived as an extension of that setting, tied to rooms built for time spent in meditation or contemplation.
“Shiu 25 emerged from our time in Beijing, and is an expression of what the city holds for us in its traditional spaces built for quietude and inner return,” says Deborah Royer, Le Labo’s global brand president and creative director. “This fragrance carries that forward: an invitation to find centred calm and a moment of pause in a world that rarely grants one.”
For most of the year, Shiu 25 exists only in Beijing. As part of Le Labo’s annual City Exclusive event, though, it has now landed in Australia for a limited time, alongside a handful of other City Exclusives normally reserved for their home cities. Both discovery sizes and full-size bottles are available in stores and online until the end of September.
Moncler come down the mountain with their new CityTrek sneakers
Moncler’s mountain heritage has always had a curious strand of DNA within its runway ambitions – parkas built for altitude, but more often spotted along Avenue Montaigne. Founded in the French Alps in 1952, the house has spent decades moving between function and fashion, rarely settling on either.
The CityTrek, out now in stores and online, narrows that gap by taking a vintage trail sneaker and running it through the brand’s usual filter of premium materials and technical construction. Aka, they’re niiiiiiice.
The upper mixes nylon side panels with suede trim and a breathable Cordura front panel, while a smooth leather back tab wraps the ankle for a tailored fit. Underneath, a cushioned midsole sits on a natural gum Vibram outsole modelled on old waffle soles, proof that even Moncler’s idea of nostalgia arrives engineered.
The palette is chalky stone, the kind that photographs well against concrete and does little to disguise the shoe’s technical bones. A tricolor flag marks the heel, a stitched M runs along the side, and Monduck, the brand’s mascot, is tucked inside the elasticated tongue where he happens to be guarding the shoe size.
Tommy finds their Romeo
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Especially when it’s the Beckham family tree.
Tommy Hilfiger has installed Romeo Beckham at The Mark Hotel for the brand’s Fall 2026 Always Denim campaign, and by the look of it, nobody’s checking out. The hotel, a fixture of New York style long before Beckham took a suite in it, becomes the backdrop for rooftop sunsets and a thoroughly denim-clad guest list, with Dutch model Yasmin Wijnaldum joining him as the campaign’s other lead among a cast of emerging style names.
The collection favours range over a single silhouette, with Beckham shifting weight between the baggy, ’90s-cut Theo jean and the straighter Dover that embody the preppy, Americana style that has made Tommy Hilfiger such a timeless staple throughout the decades. David and Victoria would be proud.
For Hilfiger, denim underpins four decades of the label, from teenage customising jobs sold out of car trunks in Elmira through Aaliyah’s colour-blocked ’90s moment and the 2021 Rolling Stones collaboration. Always Denim, he says, is simply the newest chapter in that run.
The Fall 2026 collection lands on tommy.com and in stores worldwide this season.
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