ATM
Tony Melillo is a menswear veteran with tours of duty at magazines and lines like Generra, as well as his own namesake menswear label. But ATM, the line of relaxed yet refined T-shirts launching at Barneys today, is the designer's most personal to date. "I live in T-shirts," he tells us. "It's my uniform, so I knew it would be something that I could obsess over to perfect the fit and feel." Here he walks us through the year long process of creating the perfect T-shirt, by the numbers.
T-shirts, from $68 at Barneys
Melillo was having lunch with Mark Lee, CEO of Barneys. "I mentioned that I was thinking about this line of reasonably-priced shirts, made from high-quality cotton. He was onboard, so I started by flying down to Peru to source the fabric."
There are three different weights to the pima and slub cottons used for the V-necks and crew neck shirts.
Early samples.
The length of time it took to develop the fabrics with the mill in Peru. "They develop the cotton from the yarn, so it was a lot of back and forth to perfect the feel and weight. It's woven loosely for a really comfortable feel. I wanted it to feel like a great vintage shirt, but not have that overly washed or worn-out look."
Colors, ranging from "the perfect, soothing shade of cobalt blue to a cool grey."
Fabric approvals.
"Branding became very important to me. I wanted it to feel a bit special, so there's a small fabric label, a stamped label and then a small monogram under the arm, where I actually have "ATM" tattooed on my arm."
The depth of the V-neck collar, which is not too shallow, but not aggressively deep either.
The length of that V-neck shirt's body. A tad longer than the industry standard, for a more modern feel. While the body is slim, it's not clingy. "This is where I really spent time perfecting things. I call it relaxed elegance. As a designer, we should be able to adjust the sleeves or consider other small changes so that it's easy for a guy to throw this on and feel great and look good. My job is to do all the work in the background, like a tailor, so the finished product seems effortless."
- Melillo once served as the style director for Esquire magazine.
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