Edo Popken brings colorful custom menswear to Dallas Design District

The addition of so many designer boutiques to the Dallas shopping landscape has certainly secured our status in the fashion world. The latest piece of evidence: the new Edo Popken menswear shop in Dallas Design District, which soft opened June 6. It is the first U.S. store for the luxury Swiss designer known for color and impeccable construction.

Edo Popken's clothing has been in the U.S. market since 2006. Because Texas has the highest average spending power (customers spend more per order), it made sense for the brand to set up shop in the Lone Star State.

The deal was sealed when designer Edo Popken was introduced to Stanley Korshak's Ken Atterholt on one of Popken's first trips to Dallas. Atterholt confirmed that Dallas was the perfect market, and now he is the Edo Popken store manager.

"We’re not just selling clothes," Popken says. "It's a lifestyle. It's a look."

"We’re not just selling clothes. It's a lifestyle. It's a look," says Popken, who describes his typical customer as cosmopolitan. "He's interested in fashion, he likes quality and he gets around the world quite a bit."

Yep, sounds about right for Dallas.

Popken designs 111 pieces of every shirt; a woven label includes a signature and edition number in the collar. He constructs his own fabric with breathable and luxurious materials and even creates his own colors twice a year.

"The only place where I use synthetic fibers is with functional outerwear," he says. "All the rest is 100 percent natural. It's natural wool, natural cotton or natural silk, or it's a blend."

Other fine details include colored stitching, piping, a logo with a silver E and the lion of Zurich, and special engineered buttons that don't break during dry cleaning.

For the Smoking Haute DIFFA fundraiser in 2012, Popken created an all-black tuxedo with satin piping and a satin stripe on the jacket sewn from the arm darts to the back vents.

"It was reminiscent of Yves Saint Laurent, who, out of all the designers in the world, is my absolute favorite," Popken says. "I truly admire him — his capacity, his vision, his style and his class."

For this year's House of DIFFA, Popken designed a yellow blazer and donated a special experience for the live auction that included two custom jackets created by the designer himself and a stay at Popken's private chateau.

But if you want a custom Popken piece, you don't have to bid at a society auction to get it. Button-down shirts start at $198, and suits start at $2,200 (including tailoring). To complement the custom garments, Popken also makes ties, leather bags, outerwear, jeans, belts and polo shirts. Every piece has a custom feel, however, thanks to special details such as unique linings.

Popken also stresses the importance of educating his clients. "We want to tell the customers about why we do things the way we do them so that they can truly feel comfortable wearing what we put together," he says.

To make shoppers even more comfortable, the Edo Popken shop soon will have coffee available at the built-in bar, similar to the setup at his Zurich flagship store. Popken promises to bring in womenswear eventually, but, for now, ladies can shop online.