Alex Angelchik is on a mission: to return the Robert Talbott brand to its former glory.

Angelchik is chief executive officer of Newtimes Brands, a privately owned Hong Kong-based supply chain management firm that quietly purchased the trademark and domain name for Robert Talbott in 2021.

The label was created 75 years ago by Robert and Audrey Talbott who left the East Coast with their son Robb in 1950 and moved to Carmel, Calif., where they started a business based on Audrey Talbott’s skill creating handcrafted silk neckwear. The company eventually expanded into shirts, men’s made-to-measure tailored clothing, knitwear, sportswear, leathers and womenswear. Robert Talbott died in 1986 and Audrey ran the business until her death in 2004, when it was passed to Robb. He ultimately sold the business to Relevant Brands Holdings, which then made the deal with Newtimes.

After acquiring the business, Angelchik spent the next two years drilling down into the brand’s history and beefing up the team to ready a relaunch. That includes bringing former Eton designer Sebastian Dollinger on board as creative director, and former Jack Victor creative director James Watson to head brand development. They joined a strong internal team that includes Nick Picchione, formerly of Ralph Lauren Purple Label and Giorgio Armani, who serves as senior vice president of merchandising and design.

Robert Talbott reemerged in the spring of 2023 with a collection rooted in the past but modernized to appeal to today’s customer.

Now the company has opened a dedicated showroom in New York’s Fashion District and is celebrating the brand’s 75th anniversary. To commemorate the milestone, Robert Talbott is creating a Made in America collection of blazers and Oxford shirts that will launch in September.

There’s also a special selection of ties that are exact replicas of some pieces from the archives with fabrics from a mill in the U.K. that has been around since 1720. The patterns include cocktail glasses, vintage cars and even a lion. That same mill, which was also used by Robert and Audrey Talbott, also created a special floral fabric — typically used for upholstery — that the brand used for an evening vest, tie and trousers as well as a classic baseball jacket. “Nobody wants another blue sweater,” Dollinger said.

The brand repurposed the cartoons that Playboy artist Eldon Dedini had created for the Talbotts and put the illustration on T-shirts as part of the anniversary celebration.

While some of the line will be familiar, the team has worked to update it. Robert Talbott was always known for color, and that hasn’t changed. “Our customer is an American guy who doesn’t live in shades of gray,” Angelchik said. “He wants a little bit of color and he doesn’t want superfine, tissue-weight cashmere. He likes slightly thicker cloths but he still wants quality. And I think we’ve achieved that.”

“It feels like modern-day Americana,” added Dollinger.

The designer stressed that Robert Talbott now offers a full menswear collection — everything from tailored clothing to knitwear and performance pants — not just the shirts and ties on which it built its reputation.

“We’ve reinterpreted the brand,” Angelchik said. “From the fabrics to the cuts, it’s not the old Robert Talbott.”

Even so, he admitted that the relaunch has been challenging. “It’s not easy restarting a line,” he said, particularly in the post-COVID-19 period and now faced with the Trump tariffs. “The environment for men’s specialty hasn’t been bad, but it’s been kind of complicated for them to bring on new brands. But this isn’t a new brand. Our argument is: you carried Robert Talbott for 40 years. Why don’t you have it in the store now? It’s always sold. Your customers know the brand.”

He pointed to the brand’s strong performance on the Nordstrom e-commerce site — as well as its own site — as proof that there is an appetite for the label. “From a DTC perspective, we’ve grown six- or seven-fold from last year,” he said.

He also pointed to its success at Harry Rosen in Canada as well as some international retailers such as NK in Stockholm. “Some stores we launched with zero brand recognition and now we’re the bestselling shirt brand,” Dollinger said.

So while business may not yet be where the company had hoped, Newtimes remains committed to the brand.

“We’re continuing to invest and fund the business,” Angelchik said. That includes a new warehouse and distribution center as well as an updated website. “We’re doing all the right things and it’s growing, just not as fast as I’d like.”

He hopes the introduction of the Made in America line, which is produced in a factory he declined to name in New York City, will help boost business. That collection, which will continue beyond the 75^th anniversary year, is priced about the same as the core collection with the Oxford shirts retailing for $265 and the blazers for $1,295 double and single, $1,195. “We do a rotated sleeve head and an easy-care finish that doesn’t use formaldehyde,” Dollinger said of the shirts.

Angelchik said that while Newtimes owns other brands, including Bike Athletic, Ashworth Golf, Soft Surroundings and Coldwater Creek, it’s Robert Talbott that is his “baby.”

“We’re a very big company with a big stable of brands, but this is a passion project,” he said. “We’re not walking away. We’re self-funded and we don’t have financial issues. We’ll continue to stick around until we get exactly what we want. We don’t need a $100 million business. It’s OK if it’s smaller.”