S.K.U.

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Designer David Mullen launched this minimalist menswear label in 2006, focusing on super-soft, impeccably tailored basics. Both the original store and the Lower East Side location are small, pristine spaces, with worn wooden floorboards, antique wood cabinets and chairs, and spare white walls, save a few world maps and globes scattered about at the Lafayette store. (All of the clothing in the Broome Street store—Save Khaki United—is made entirely in the U.S.A.) A large mounted chalkboard lists the twelve-odd items available, from $20 cotton boxers to $200 cashmere sweaters, with a pair of the namesake khakis running $100. The underside of some of the ecoconscious clothing is printed with words like “care,” “save,” “love,” and “think”—many are designed and manufactured in the U.S. The 100 percent cotton tees are prewashed and preshrunk, stacked in garment-dyed shades of pale green, gray, blue, and rose on weathered tables. Hoodies, polo shirts, and cotton button-downs hang from metal hooks; the shirts are shipped “crinkled” for a purposely casual, worn-in look. Tall shelves of pants line the opposite wall, offering relaxed- and slim-fit khakis, corduroys, and frayed cargo shorts in a dozen muted hues. — Lauren Murrow

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Best of New York Awards

• Best Men’s Basics (2009)