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Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter

By Aida Toro

With winter being only nine days away, the majority of folks want to stay at home and curl up under the covers with their four-legged friends, loved ones, or simply by themselves. Some, however, don’t mind that 20 degrees and below weather because they want to take the city streets in style with their winter gear. Two major fashion essentials for the winter would have to be a pair of boots and a stylish coat. With this being stated, Downtown Magazine has rounded up ten boots and coats that’ll give your outfit a pop this winter…not to mention, keep you warm!

Boots:

Gabriela Hearst’s Bocca Leather Knee Boots:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Gabriel Hearst Bocca Leather Knee Boots

These Bocca Leather Knee Boots are everything! First of all, you can’t go wrong with black leather boots. Leather is known for keeping you warm in the winter–and of course, black always makes you look sleek. These boots also have an almond-shaped tip, which is amazing because your feet won’t feel tight if you decide to wear thick socks. Most importantly, you will feel comfortable when walking in these boots because they have a stacked block heel!

Mango’s Faux Shearling Trimmed and Lined Leather Wedge Boots:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Mango Faux Shearling Trimmed and Lined Leather Wedge Boots

These Faux Shearling Trimmed and Lined Leather Boots have a rubber sole and wedge heel, which is optimal for the winter slush out on the streets. Not to mention that the faux shearling trim will give your outfit that chic yet casual look without even trying!

Tory Burch’s Miller Lug Sole Bootie:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Tory Burch Miller Lug Sole Bootie

These Tory Burch Miller Lug Sole Booties should be on your feet ASAP. These guys have a tracked rubber lug sole and high block heel that will have you looking like a million bucks as well as covered for the upcoming winter, especially for the sidewalks that’ll be covered with rock salt.

Sorel’s Joan of Arctic Next Faux Fur Waterproof Snow Boot:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Sorel Joan of Arctic Next Faux Fur Waterproof Snow Boot

Dreading snow boots? Well, the thought of actually dreading to put on a pair will be over because Sorel took their signature Joan of Arctic winter boot to another level. These boots are lightweight and contain a minor platform lift. The boot is also insulated and features a new sole which was created to increase the traction on specific areas of the foot where it’ll receive more contact with the ground.

Tretorn’s Chelsea Rain Boot:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Tretorn Chelsea Rain Boot

These may be rain boots, however, they will certainly work for the sleet and snow. What’s so amazing about Tretorn’s Chelsea Rain Boots is that they don’t even look like rain boots at all, which means you’ll look like a rockstar. The most amazing benefit these boots offer is the softly lined faux fur which provides comfort and warmth for your feet.

Moncler’s Blanche Shearling-Lined Glittered Suede Ankle Boots:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Moncler Blanche Shearling-Lined Glittered Suede Ankle Boots

These babies are not just for winter hiking activities but can be utilized to walk the icy cobblestones of Downtown New York. These stylish-looking boots are made in Italy from glittered beige suede and are lined with a shearling that’ll have your feet feeling cozier than ever.

Ross & Snow’s Waterproof Genuine Shearling Lined Boot:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Ross & Snow’s Waterproof Genuine Shearling Lined Boot

These chic pairs of boots are waterproof, which means you won’t have to change into another pair of shoes once you walk into work or the event you’re attending. These boots are made with SuPreen weatherproofing technology for protection from moisture, mud, snow, and slush.

Timberland Jayne Waterproof Hiking Boot:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Timberland Jayne Waterproof Hiking Boot

Timbs are so New York City, which you can’t go wrong with every winter. The Jayne Waterproof Hiking Boot was inspired by Timberland’s OG hiking boot. The difference is that this model was made in a slimmer and sleek silhouette with a lug-sole that features an OrthoLite comfort footbed that makes it easier for one to walk in the cold weather.

The North Face Back to Berkeley Redux Waterproof Bootie:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
The North Face Back to Berkeley Redux Waterproof Bootie

If you’re into that classy streetwear look, then these booties are the ones for you. These boots will have your feet feeling warm and dry even when trekking through the snow, black ice, and slush. They are also insulated, which means you don’t have to wear thick socks!

Dr. Martens Leonore Burnished Wyoming Leather Fashion Boot:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Dr. Martens Leonore Burnished Wyoming Leather Fashion Boot

Doc Martens always provide the elegant grunge look, no matter the weather. The Leonore Burnished Wyoming Leather Fashion boots are one of a kind as they are completely lined with shearling to keep the toes warm. They’re extremely sturdy and toughened on the outside as most Doc’s are, however, are very soft on the inside.

Coats:

Marc Jacobs Sofia Loves The Peacoat:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Marc Jacobs Sofia Loves The Peacoat

This Classic A-line faux fur peacoat will give you the preppy look you’ve always envisioned, especially throughout the coldest temperatures. This coat has a double-breasted button front and two side pockets where you can toss your gloves in one and phone in the other.

Canada Goose Ellesmere Parka:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Canada Goose Ellesmere Parka

Canada Goose is where it’s at when it comes to winter coats. Whether this jacket is an “it” piece or not, it features a soft down fill, a fur ruff, and a volatile shell and is constructed to tackle the challenges winter is bound to bring. Of course, the glossy fabric at the collar is a bonus and presents the coat with a state of the art touch to its silhouette.

Orolay Women’s Thickened Down Jacket:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Orolay Women’s Thickened Down Jacket

This down coat is so functional: windproof, waterproof, and fashionable.
It has six big pockets for keeping items of importance and a special side zipper that’ll allow you to feel more comfortable when it comes to unzipping. Not to mention, the jacket is light and will keep you warmer than ever.

Patagonia Dusty Mesa High Pile Fleece Parka:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Patagonia Dusty Mesa High Pile Fleece Parka

Not looking forward to wearing an oversized coat or typical peacoat this winter? Patagonia is here to save the day! This sherpa style coat has a three-panel hood and ribbed cuffs as well as pockets that’ll make your hands feel at home since they are so warm.

Ralph Lauren Fringe Wool Blend Wrap Coat:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Lauren Ralph Lauren Fringe Wool Blend Wrap Coat

If you’ve ever wanted to throw on a jacket that looked comforting and classy at the same time, then this coat is the one for you. This blanket-like coat has a shoulder-spanning shawl collar flowing in a noteworthy fringe that complements it in every way.

Stand Studio Maria Cocoon oversized faux shearling coat:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Stand Studio Maria Cocoon oversized faux shearling coat

This coat is the absolute piece to boost up your self-esteem on an extremely cold day since it comes in a soft lilac color. This piece is cut in an oversized shape and is made from a fuzzy faux shearling with satin lining. It’ll provide you with an “under the covers” type of feel as its oversizeness and coziness resemble that of a duvet cover.

The North Face Metropolis Parka:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
The North Face Metropolis Parka

This long-length quilted puffer coat was created to cover you from your neck to your knees. Even though it appears to be puffy, the coat’s silhouette will provide you with a polished and presentable look. The coat is also designed to combat temperatures below 20 degrees and the material is water-resistant, which makes it the perfect piece of outerwear for the upcoming snow days!

L.L. Bean Classic Lambswool Polo Coat:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
L.L. Bean Classic Lambswool Polo Coat

This wool polo coat will give you the charming and sophisticated look you are craving for this winter. Most importantly, you will feel warm enough to resist cold temperatures this upcoming winter when wearing this coat.

The Arrivals Moya IV LMTD, Oversized Shearling Moto Jacket:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
The Arrivals Moya IV LMTD, Oversized Shearling Moto Jacket

This is not your ordinary moto jacket as this one was designed to be worn for almost every occasion you can think of, such as hiking trips and a night out in the town with the crew. The jacket has a suede and smooth leather exterior along with a straight and curly wool interior, which are designed to keep you warmer than ever out in the cold temperatures!

Mango Quilted Reversible Anorak:

Downtown’s Top Ten Coats and Boots for 2019-2020 Winter
Mango Quilted Reversible Anorak

This coat looks oversized and puffy, but what makes it a “must-have” is its reversibility. No one will notice that you are wearing the same coat! Most importantly, this piece goes down to your knees and has full neck coverage as it contains a turtle neck. Therefore, you won’t even have to wear a scarf!

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Categories
Bars Dining Featured

Willie’s Superbrew is Our Drink of the Summer

The spiked seltzer trend is in full swing, but so many varieties taste like your grandfather’s pocket hard candy or even cough medicine. Enter Willie’s Superbrew. Willie’s believes you should drink real ingredients like fruits and spices instead of “flavors.” Their cans list their ingredients and nutrition facts right on the side, so you actually know what you’re drinking. We chatted with Nico Enriquez, founder and CEO of Willie’s Superbrew, about how the drink came to be, the company’s environmental mission, and what’s next in the world of superbrew.

Downtown: Were you at all interested in being an entrepreneur or joining the alcohol industry before you discovered the superbrew?

Nico Enriquez: Before starting Willie’s Superbrew, my plan was actually to be a Neuroscientist. I was working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, had recently published a paper with a Nobel Prize winner, and was working with an amazing professor who had just approved a research study that I proposed. But… when he said yes, and the next step was to move forward with it, I had a moment of clarity. I saw my whole life laid out before me and realized that it wasn’t what I wanted to do. You could say that I had a bit of an early life crisis! All I wanted to do was go back to the beach on Cape Cod where I had my fondest memories. So I did. And that’s when I realized that Willie’s could actually become something. Willie (a very good friend of mine) had been homebrewing this recipe (our Sparkling Ginger & Lemon), and I had been bugging him for years about doing something more with it, but it wasn’t until that moment that I saw the true opportunity.

Downtown: What was R&D like transforming a home brew to a consumer project?

NE: We had some really great support along the way from industry folks, both through our early brewing partners and just people that were excited about the concept. But the key to our production has always been what we call our “fruit not ‘flavors'” philosophy. It’s about using the best possible ingredients, and letting them create the flavor, instead of trying to imitate it in other ways.

When we started, we were blending ginger in food processors for hours and hours just to get enough for a batch. Now, we’re steeping thousands of pounds of it in 300-barrel brew tanks at Isle Brewers Guild in Rhode Island. It’s pretty incredible to think about how much we’ve grown. That said, we still make our test batches one gallon at a time until we love the flavor, and then we figure out how to make more of it.

Downtown: How did you come up with the flavors?

NE: The Sparkling Ginger & Lemon was Willie’s original brew. It was the one that got me and everyone else hooked on the concept. From there, we thought about other flavors that paired well together that we could create using real fruits and spices. We want to make options for everyone to enjoy, and pomegranate, which was our second flavor, was the perfect foil to our flagship ginger. It’s tart and light, and the acai gives it a great tannin-y mouthfeel that’s reminiscent of a Rosé. For our newest flavor, Sparkling Mango & Passionfruit, we wanted to really get summer going with something tropical, and we were pretty disappointed with what we saw that was currently on the market. When we tried the early mango batches, we couldn’t believe how much mango flavor and body came through with such little sugar, so it was a no brainer. The passionfruit and lime complement the mango and give the drink a lot of depth and character. 

Downtown: The labels are gorgeous! How did you come up with the artistic concept?

NE: We knew we wanted to create something really different and were pushed by some of the beautiful packaging we saw coming out from non-alcohol brands. We wanted to celebrate our ingredients and emphasize that this was something truly different from the other hard seltzers you can find on the shelf.

It was also important for us to find a blend of light, fun ingredients, and the necessary maturity of an alcoholic beverage. Keeping that in mind, we partnered with an agency that really pushed us creatively, and as a result, the illustrations came out beautifully. 

Downtown: What makes Willie’s so different from other trendy sparkling seltzers?

NE: The main thing that makes Willie’s Superbrew stand out from traditional hard seltzers is that we use real fruit, and that means we have so much more flavor. And color! You can tell there’s something different as soon as you pour it in a glass. Then, it’s confirmed by your taste buds. We aren’t using “natural flavors” that give an “essence” of fruit – we’re using thousands of pounds of fruit and spices each batch. Because we’re using real fruit, we don’t need to cover it up with lots of sugar – with allows the real fruit flavor to shine.

We think that there’s something more to what people are looking for as they’re trying out a new drink. It’s not just low calorie – they want low calorie and flavor and quality ingredients. They want a drink they can feel good about. And that’s what Willie’s Superbrew is.

Downtown: How did the 3% pledge come to be?

NE: The 3% pledge really came from our team wanting to do more than just make drinks. It’s why we use quality ingredients, why we hire great people, help them grow, and why we bring the team out to meet Willie and the goats – which started it all! We want to be more than just another alcohol brand, and we think that that’s what people want from their favorite brands, too.

We thought about what we could do to give back to the place that created Willie’s, and we tried a few different ideas, before we landed on letting our consumers decide. Our only rules are that it supports environmental causes, and that it’s a legitimate non-profit. After that – it’s up to our fans! It feels more authentic that way, and it lets people have a say in what the companies they support do with their money.

Downtown: What has the reception been like?

NE: The reception has been amazing! It’s been a wild ride, and we’ve had tons of great support from distributors, retailers, and consumers all over the world! We get emails from people that don’t even live in the Unites States telling us they wish we could ship it to them, and we have people that give up their weekends to do tastings, just because they like the brand. We raised our first $20,000 on Kickstarter solely from people that knew about the origin of Willie’s and what we were trying to do. 

Downtown: What’s next flavor or distribution wise?

NE: Well, we just launched in NYC, the Hudson Valley, New Hampshire, and Maine within a matter of weeks, which is crazy and exciting at the same time. Given that, it’ll be a little while before we make any other major moves. 

It’s easy to expand quickly and lose sight of what matters, which is making a great product and making great relationships, and we don’t want that. So, for the near future, we’re going to focus on cultivating new relationships in these markets and maintaining the awesome ones we have in our home markets of Massachusetts and Rhode Island – and then we’ll see what’s next. Thing is, our next move is all dependent on where people want us to go! That’s the exciting part. You try a few things, see what people think, see who likes what, and then give it a shot.

As for flavors, we have something really awesome coming this fall, but I can’t tell you what just yet, so stay tuned!

You can keep up with Willie’s Superbrew on Instagram at @drinksuperbrew.

Categories
Fashion

Top International Fashion News From TheTrendSpotter

TheTrendSpotter
TheTrendSpotter is one of the top authorities out there when it comes to fashion reporting. Earlier this week, the Australia-based site put out another round-up of international fashion news, which is absolutely worth your time.

Among this week’s headlines and highlights:

– A hijab-wearing model walks for Kanye West’s fashion line Yeezy

– IMG signs Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown

Mango unveils a new sustainable committed collection

– London Fashion Week and Pantone commemorate the late Richard Nicoll

– Samantha Cameron’s fashion label Cefinn launches

More details can be found at http://bit.ly/2lf1Qwc.

Categories
Fashion Industry News

#SomethinginCommon Mango Campaign Feat. Cara & Kate

Courtesy of shop.mango.com.
Courtesy of shop.mango.com.

 

Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss take over Mango‘s Autumn Winter 15 collection as a duo, and the results have gone viral! The pair are modeling the brands AW15 collection together under the hashtag #somethingincommon, to advertise how the models relate to one another despite how different they may be. Mango posted about Cara and Kate; “Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne, an explosive duo. Kate was born in the 70s and became a supermodel in the 90s, Cara was born in the 90s and rocks the 70s comeback as a top model.”

Courtesy of shop.mango.com.
Courtesy of shop.mango.com.

The campaign released an app where you can create your own #somethingincommon photo of you and someone else! It can be found here. The hashtag currently has almost 8,000 posts on Instagram and has countless posts on Twitter. Have you posted your #somethingincommon yet?

Courtesy of shop.mango.com.
Courtesy of shop.mango.com.

The Mango Autumn Winter 15 collection includes 70’s inspired designs; very boho chic- which portray a relaxed vibe to illustrate comfort and style. We knew the 70’s were back in style, but if you didn’t believe it before, this could bring it all home for you! Despite the go-with-the-flow look, most of the pieces in the collection are still very polished and sophisticated. Leave it to Mango to create a collection which encompasses both an easy going and elegant look. Mango is making opposites attract in this cohesive display of pieces for the modern woman.

It is so easy to play around with various looks and styles with this collection. You can go from casual to dressy, day to night, or a little bit of everything. These blondes do not disappoint as the new faces of Mango’s Autumn Winter campaign, and we cannot wait to see what they do next!

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Courtesy of shop.mango.com.

micro_somethingincommon_1
Courtesy of shop.mango.com

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Courtesy of shop.mango.com.

micro_somethingincommon_4
Courtesy of shop.mango.com.

Courtesy of shop.mango.com.
Courtesy of shop.mango.com.

micro_somethingincommon_5
Courtesy of shop.mango.com.

See a behind the scenes making of the campaign:

-by Arianna Levesque