15 Best Men’s French Clothing Brands
No one epitomizes class and style as well as the French (except maybe the Italians, but that’s another article). While you might think it’s all berets, scarfs, and horrible pencil-thin moes, French men actually have a refined and contemporary sense of dress these days.
They also love name brands, mixing it up with clothing from classic, well-known fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton and Lacoste along with newer labels including AMI, The Kooples, and Arpenteur.
From their own version of streetwear to labels making classic polos, below are some of our favorite French fashion brands.
1. Lacoste
Ironically, the 1920s tennis player Rene Lacoste was nicknamed “The Alligator,” yet the brand is instantly recognizable for its iconic green crocodile. Lacoste was founded on the tennis courts in America and France. A century later, the Lacoste company continues to be known for making artistic and performance gear of impeccable quality.
The one-piece that epitomizes the label’s popularity is their polo shirt. Remaining virtually unchanged since its inception, this is a shirt that crosses generations. A classic piqué construction gives way to a spread collar, the only embellishment being the tiny croc embroidered on the chest. Invest in these and you will see why you should purchase quality over quantity.
2. Maison Kitsune
Maison is the French word for house, and Kitsuné is the Japanese word for fox, a symbol of versatility. Season after season, Maison Kitsuné showcases its contemporary vision of fashion influenced by Paris and Tokyo. The wearer of the Maison Kitsuné brand resonates with this balance between comfort, simplicity, and laid-back cool. Constantly reinventing the classics gives the collections a sense of timelessness, while experimenting with a daring and playful mix of colors, prints, and fabrics.
3. AMI
Created in and inspired by Paris, AMI offers stylish and comprehensive wardrobes for men and women, playing with the boundaries between casual and chic. AMI captures a particular type of the French capital’s nonchalance: relaxed, authentic, and friendly. The name AMI, the French word for friend, plays with the initials of the designer and founder Alexandre Mattiussi.
4. Saint Laurent
From grunge to glam rock, music subcultures are a constant in YSL designs regardless of which designer is at the helm. From skinny jeans and plaid button-down shirts to Chelsea boots, the Parisian label’s core pieces operated as stylish essentials in the real world. If you are looking for designer street cred, this is your brand.
5. Husbands
For founder Nicolas Gabard there is no such thing as weekend wear. He created Husbands because he wasn’t able to find the clothing for the man he wanted to be. He became a lawyer to please his father but spent his free time hunting through flea markets for vintage clothing.
Most of the time, he couldn’t find what he was looking for, even when he started using a tailor. Husbands fills the gap between mass-produced and bespoke suits. His catalog changes little from season to season and contains the basic components of an elegant man’s wardrobe, including double-breasted suits, tweed jackets, blazers, trench coats, Chelsea boots, silk ties, and scarves.
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6. Armor Lux
Armor Lux was founded in 1938 with a commitment to producing the highest quality knits. Taking inspiration from the French maritime tradition, Armor Lux produces authentic pieces such as the mariniere, the Breton sweater, and the wool peacoat. Rooted in Breton heritage with a modern sensibility, Armor Lux embodies the independent spirit of the sea. With its bold and unmissable stripes, the Breton shirt has become a signifier for a nonchalant, cool, and effortless lifestyle.
7. Maison Labiche
The theme of each season’s collection is based on a new trip from Paris, a city meaningful to Maison Labiche. The result is a fusion between Parisian heritage and fantastic inspiration to a more or less distant destination. A Maison Labiche wardrobe consists of timeless basics enhanced with classic sophistication.
The brand also embraces exclusive collaborations with high-end concept stores and brands every season. The Maison Labiche t-shirt is a blank canvas on which anyone can customize on all their iconic products such as sailor shirts or sweatshirts. The pioneering personalization of Maison Labiche embroiderers is available for each t-shirt, sailor shirt, or sweatshirt.
8. The Kooples
With a love for all things rock history, the brand finds its influence through the iconic couples of the vintage rock era. Known for military elegance, flight jackets, cardigans, British-styled “Crombie” coats, and their version of the three-piece suit, these are essential items that make up this fashion brand’s collection. With this in mind, they create androgynous items that are interchangeable between couples, thus allowing lovebirds to shop and dress together. The Kooples adverts feature real couples and real stories, captioned with the words, “We have been a couple for…”
9. Officine Generale
Surprisingly approachable clothing, especially for a French brand, Officine Generale embraces urban, utilitarian, retro, and sporty all at once. Their pieces are made for everyday life, and they should be approached and worn as such. Designer Pierre Mahéo creates styles he would wear himself including things he could wear skiing in the winter, sailing in the summer, and generally just existing on the streets of Paris at any time of the year.
The color palettes are often focused on earth tones that can easily be mixed and matched, taking the deliberation process out of choosing what to wear each day. If you are colorblind, this really takes the guesswork out of putting your look together.
10. Sandro
The Sandro brand depicts a man who is a non-conformist, but also always chic in impeccably cut and fitted suits, modernized vintage styles, slightly oversized long coats, and other striking pieces to make up his wardrobe. Sandro embraces high-low dressing and expects some of their higher-end pieces to be effortlessly mixed and matched with jeans, t-shirts, and a bit of cool, chic Parisian spirit.
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11. Vilebrequin
Vilebrequin is a French luxury brand specializing in swimwear and ready-to-wear for men and women. Vilebrequin has never forgotten its heritage and continues to embrace the joy and freedom of the spirit of St-Tropez in the 1970s. Season after season, Vilebrequin promises, and delivers, elegance on vacation.
Since 2016, Vilebrequin remains committed to helping Polynesian non-profit Te Mana O Te Moana save sea turtles, even making the turtle an icon of the brand. Every year, the organization rescues turtles, providing them with the care needed before releasing them back into the wild.
12. Arpenteur
Arpenteur products combine the utilitarian quality of outerwear, workwear, and sportswear with the sophistication of studied cuts and sleek finishes. The neutral color palette keeps in line with the brand’s aim of being effortless. If there is one thing the French do well, it’s giving the illusion of not trying too hard. In keeping with their aim to perpetuate the history of local menswear manufacturing, all Arpenteur products are entirely made in France.
13. Louis Vuitton
When it comes to luxury French fashion, it doesn’t get any bigger than Louis Vuttion. This season, Virgil Abloh embraced the meaning of dressing as the purest form of costumery, diving headfirst into the antinomy of subcultures and their archetypes, a theme that is right up Abloh’s alley on the intersection of streetwear and luxury.
He sent samurais, ravers, Run-D.M.C.-esque tracksuits, new Nikes, petticoats, Black Panther references, shredded skater-boy jeans, and luggage down the Spring/Summer ‘22 Paris Fashion Week runway.
14. A.P.C.
Standing for Atelier de Production et de Creation, A.P.C. was started in 1987 by Tunisian-French designer Jean Touitou in Paris. Originally, the brand had a focus on denim, gaining popularity for their use of Japanese selvedge denim. This raw denim is rigid and dry, designed to be broken in with wear, and made using no colors or dyes.
While the range now includes everything from dresses to bags, A.P.C denim products remain their best buys. Bringing basics into the realm of luxury fashion, A.P.C. shrugs off trends and symbolizes an absence of extravagance in favor of a return to the essentials featuring high-quality basics that will certainly be around for the long haul.
15. Vetra
Vetra was created as workwear by Edouard Beerens in Paris in 1927. Their simple, no-frills approach and quality materials made them a clothing provider for the French army, as well as numerous professional tradesmen. Vetra has a proud heritage of making functional and aesthetically pleasing clothing. Staying true to their roots, they remain a family-operated business that continues to make high-quality, resilient workwear in France. Despite Vetra being workwear, the company also manufactured five pockets jeans in raw denim.
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