Chris Echevarria is taking the next step in building his business.
The founder of footwear brand Blackstock & Weber took to social media on Monday to announce that he will be opening his first store in New York City.
According to the post, the store, located at 242 Mulberry St. in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, will sell products from Blackstock & Weber and his ready-to-wear line Academy by Chris Echevarria, alongside a host of books, accessories, magazines and vintage curated through his concept called the “General Store.” Further details and estimated opening date were not disclosed.
“I’ve always wanted to open my own store,” Echevarria wrote on Instagram on Monday. “On my 25th birthday I told myself I wanted my own by 35… I had no plan to get there and it’d be another 5 years before I’d see a glimmer of hope that this would happen… and for 5 years, project after project and brick by brick… I followed that glimmer.”
The designer added that days before his 35th birthday, he signed the lease on the space, which used to be a taco shop. “It wasn’t much to look at… but it was mine,” Echevarria added.
FN has reached out to Blackstock & Weber for comment.
This announcement comes as Echevarria’s influence on the fashion world continues to grow. In 2023 alone, the menswear designer launched an exclusive loafer capsule with Kith, teamed up with Pharrell Williams’ Billionaire Boys Club, and debuted a clothing line, just to name a few of his noteworthy accomplishments.
But, one of Echevarria’s biggest moments came in September when Sperry announced that it had hired the designer to reinvent some of its signature styles. The move saw him tapped as creative director for the Made in USA line Sperry by Chris Echevarria, with his first collection making its grand debut at Paris Fashion Week Men’s in January.
For Echevarria, that moment was one of his “biggest wins” over the past year. “A big win was launching my first collection with Sperry at Paris Fashion Week,” Echevarria told FN in February. “S–t, even announcing this collection was a huge moment for me.”
Echevarria is no stranger to fashion. With design training from the Fashion Institute of Technology and mentorship from retail giant Mickey Drexler, whom he worked under at J.Crew, Echevarria set out to launch Blackstock & Weber in 2018 with the mission to create what he now calls “The Best F–king Loafer In the World.”
