Haute Upcycling and California Cool: STAN Is Everything To Love About Luxe Surf Style
By: Janet Mercel
Not everyone in San Diego is a surfer, says Tristan Detwiler of his hometown, but they live like they are. “People’s style revolves around the coast, it’s more than just everyone being in flip flops at breakfast every day. It extends beyond the water.” Detwiler is one of those people who ditched class in high school if there were good waves, who still clears his mind by dropping everything for the water, and then afterward throws a luxe sweater or jacket over his sand-dusted jeans to go out at night.
Anyone who spends as much time as a surfer does with their face pressed against Mother Earth generally gains an affinity for her wellbeing, and halfway through Detwiler’s senior year at the University of Southern California, he started cooking up a way to merge his two loves, highbrow beach style and sustainability. “I’ve always been into vintage fabrics and all the history, the story, that comes along with it. I like upcycling something existing, putting myself into it and rebirthing it as this entirely new thing.” Hence STAN, a line of beautifully tailored, exhaustively detailed pieces handmade from antique and reclaimed textiles.
“I’m the only one working on them, and from mending to wearable is something like 20 hours per piece.”
Each garment is a changeling of painstakingly sourced remnants; feed sack fabric from the 1930s stitched with Hawaiian seersucker, richly pigmented 1920’s Dresden Plate quilt patterns, pastel mudcloth from the 90’s reworked with applique; all pieced together with any number of historic quilting and sewing techniques Detwiler has picked up along the way. It’s a laborious process patching existing materials back to a usable state before construction even begins.
Detwiler, based out of San Diego and Los Angeles, was studying engineering and design when he first took apart his old denim jacket and restructured it by hand. “I was working with humble Levi’s; I wasn’t planning on making an operation out of it.” In an ultimate SoCal culture moment, an improvised pop up, (a couple of racks out of his room at his frat house), had USC undergrads clamoring for his creations, and he started investing significant time and resources. “I screwed up a lot of my old clothes practicing new sewing skills, painting on jackets and embroidering. I cut up my mom’s old Hawaiian quilts. At first, she was sad I ruined them, but then got all excited when she saw what I was doing.”
That was 2019, and the line has evolved quickly into a mark of serious craftsmanship. STAN’s initial drop at Jack Carlson’s subversive-prep mecca, Rowing Blazers, sold out, and the new collection is slated to feature next week at Spring 2021 NYFW through CFDA’s digital lineup, Runway360. “It’s only been about a year, and until STAN moves into a different phase, for me it’s still an art practice.” Currently, Detwiler keeps an inventory of about 60 individual pieces, a mélange of patchwork chenille beach shirts, an anorak made entirely out of old board shorts, or tailored silk moiré day pajamas. Each comes with its own provenance, like an archive-worthy wedding suite from the mid nineteenth century.
“I go to a lot of estate sales, antique shops. I’ve built so many connections hanging out at quilting groups with lots of older ladies. At first it raised some eyebrows, a 23-year-old surfer dude walking into their circle with an interest in quilting. But now when I go, and there’s an 85-year-old woman talking about the skills she learned when she was a little girl, they can tell how much I care. I met this lady who curated quilts for the Smithsonian. They’re a never-ending supply of resources, and they love to know what I’m working on.”
On a rare occasion, Detwiler will meet someone who’d rather not see vintage workmanship pulled apart for the sake of repurposing, but he is the first to recognize the value of history. “To take something that’s lived out a full life of travel and ownership for decades or more, that can no longer serve its original purpose, and find a way to perceive it as new? To me, it’s an act of love.”
Being the real-deal, native California boy he is, and a model, artist and surfer, Detwiler himself is perhaps the best representation of the STAN life. “You can really turn it up, wear it out at night and it’s a statement. But when I roll out of bed or off the beach, in my favorite jeans and one of my jackets, people can always see how special it is. They’re warm, they’re crazy soft. There’s luxury there, but it’s utility, too. That’s the investment.”
