Umit Benan is coming back to the U.S. market.

A favorite of trendsetters such as Timothée Chalamet and Pedro Pascal, the brand is making its reentry into this country exclusively at the Bergdorf Goodman men’s store for fall. The retailer will toast Benan’s return at a cocktail party on the third floor of the store Wednesday evening.

It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster ride for the Turkish designer since he created his eponymous men’s label in 2009. He won Pitti Uomo’s Who Is On Next award with his second collection, and continued to gain fans worldwide with his conceptual label.

But while he found success, selling Saks Fifth Avenue, Maxfields and other top-notch retailers, he also became disillusioned with the fashion industry and overwhelmed at having to do everything himself. So he made the decision to shutter the brand and focus instead of special made-to-measure pieces under the name B+.

“Before, it was more fashion based and seasonal,” he said of his collection. “But I decided to shift to more high-end luxury in 2019.” He said he stopped wholesaling and sold only seven stores that he serviced from his atelier in Milan.

But that changed last year when Benan sold a 55 percent stake in his business to Davide De Giglio, the cofounder of New Guards Group who set up his own boutique investment firm, D Capital, after exiting New Guards in 2023.

“Now that I have a new partner, we’re thinking more of retail and wholesale,” Benan said. And he rebranded his label back to Umit Benan.

The company opened its first store in June in Milan and has plans to add a second unit in Los Angeles next year, Benan said, probably in the fall. He said he thought creating the Milan store would take five months, but it took 14, so he’s hoping to get the L.A. store open by next September, even though a lease has not yet officially been signed.

In addition to his own stores, Benan is now ready to return to more ambitious wholesaling, hence the deal with Bergdorf’s. He called the store “iconic,” and said it’s the number-one retailer for any luxury European brand seeking a foothold in the U.S.

The line is not exclusive to Bergdorf’s, Benan said, but it won’t be sold anywhere else in New York City. “We want to have partners, not just sell in stores,” he said, adding that he would seek out a limited number of other wholesale customers going forward.

But for now, the focus is on Bergdorf’s, and Benan believes the line’s more timeless, classic silhouettes in the highest-quality fabrics will connect with the store’s high-end customers. Ditto for the Bergdorf buying team.

“Umit Benan blends traditional Italian sartorial luxury craftsmanship with a modern American attitude,” said Young-Su Kim, vice president and divisional merchandise manager of men’s for Bergdorf Goodman. “Its garments are structured yet fluid, with a whiff of ‘80s boldness. Umit has infused a know-how attitude into the ready-to-wear collection, which celebrates his individual way of making clothes.”

Kim said the fall collection that will be offered at the store “consists of classic men’s wardrobe staples, including worsted wool suiting, double-face cashmere overshirts and chore jackets. It’s the fit that makes the pieces feel new and cool. Standouts include Umit’s signature slightly oversize overcoats as well as the most perfect pair of washed selvedge jeans that I’ve seen in a long while.”

Thanks to the new investment, Benan is invigorated once again. He held a presentation/store opening event during Milan Men’s Fashion Week in June and, while he’s not ready to return to the runway, he’s feeling more liberated.

Because of the infrastructure that D Capital has afforded him, he no longer has to worry about budgets, designing, creating a show and selling all by himself. “After six years of shows in Milan and Paris, I realized I just didn’t want to do shows anymore,” he said, adding that his role was more about “impressing press and selling. So I stopped shows in 2017.”

He said he had spent six months working on the collection and developing “movie-based” shows, but despite all that effort, he was “just the 3 [o’clock] show in Milan for press. So I pulled back to concentrate on what I wanted to do.”

And it’s working. He said sales in his Milan store are strong and he’s optimistic that his U.S. return will also be successful. But don’t expect him to suddenly take on other Italian luxury brands such as Brunello Cucinelli and Zegna. “We’re selling more attitude, less clothing,” he said.