New York Men’s Day offered up a group of intriguing — and salable — emerging brands in an elevated new space.

Thanks to the return of Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan as a partner, Agentry PR, organizer of NYMD, hosted its presentations in the company’s new 300,000-square-foot showroom and exhibition space on 11th Avenue.

The bright, expansive location, which was sponsored by Project and Coterie, allowed the eight featured brands to spread their wings as they presented their spring lines in two separate showings on the opening day of New York Fashion Week.

Brands participating this season were Archie, Clara Son, Peak Lapel, Oxblood Zebra, Bryan Jimenez, Max Esmail, Joseph McRae and a group of students showing under the FIT MW25 Collective banner.

While a couple of the brands showed conceptual collections, most offered pieces with true commercial potential. Among them were beautifully crafted tailored clothing from Max Esmail, updated preppy pieces from Peak Lapel and modern workwear from Archie.

Here’s a closer look at the brands:

Archie

Named after designer Mark Smith Clarke’s grandfather, the brand started with three pieces: a button-down shirt, a pair of pants and a mock neck. In the seven years since, it was expanded into a broader collection of workwear-inspired pieces with a worn aesthetic in fabrics sourced from niche Japanese mills.

Peak Lapel

From the first time they saw each other in their distinctly preppy outfits at Parsons, Ben Stedman and Jack Milkes knew they were kindred spirits. So they teamed up to launch a brand centered around “vintage prep” — a collection with recognizable themes but modernized. “The clothing this season is meant to be worn, lived with and played in,” they said. Key pieces include a cropped double-breasted suit with pockets and inverted pleats; a rowing blazer, and a white popover shirt made in Massachusetts. 

Clara Son

For this season, titled “Reset,” the South Korean-born designer was inspired by repetitive thoughts, a theme that showed up in a conceptual collection sporting details such as stripes and pleats. As she explained: “This collection was born from a period of retreat, when I confined myself to my bedroom and faced the repetitive cycles of my own thoughts. I drew from the quiet details of that space — curtains, blinds, muted textures — to create designs that feel both intimate and restrained. Inspired by Victorian men’s nightwear, I reimagined its structure with a modern softness, exploring the tension between safety and stagnation.”

Oxblood Zebra

Reuben Shaw developed a fondness for zebras when he was a child after his mother sang him lullabies centered around the animal. So it was a foregone conclusion that when he decided to branch out beyond bespoke tailoring to create his own brand, he would name it in part after a zebra. Shaw’s experience in tailoring was unmistakable in the collection that offered up a range of pieces he lightened up with an array of amusing graphics that referenced other personal favorites such as “Top Gun” and James Bond.

Bryan Jimenez 

The FIT graduate embraced summer in New York City for his spring collection, specifically the music that wafts through the streets in the warmer months. The “street elegant” line of oversize denim and now plaid menswear was inspired by the rap stars he grew up listening to and then translated into a wardrobe his imagination envisions they would embrace.

FIT MW25 Collective

There’s nothing like having your professor embrace your work, and that’s just what happened to the menswear class at FIT studying under former Perry Ellis designer Michael Maccari. The compilation showcased a wide range of individual styles that — while wildly diverse — worked as a group. Among the pieces were a fur coat created from discarded animal skins and a horsehair leather jacket as well as a coat created from bonded textiles, a tie incorporated into a shirt and a cummerbund that doubled as a tie on a formal outfit.

Max Esmail

While the designer is quick to crack a joke, his collection is deadly serious. He said he knew creating a line would be extremely expensive so he had to figuratively rob a bank to pay for it. Post-caper, he dressed the thieves in his version of a “criminal syndicate.” What that translated into was an elegant collection with an edge of toughness, marked by his debut of finely crafted suits that complemented the Cupro overshirts, boxy jeans and other more-casual pieces in the collection.

Joseph McRae

The Project Runway contestant marked his 10-year anniversary with a collection inspired by the journey in “The Wizard of Oz,” offering up “reimagined silhouettes in a diaspora of color and print.”