Founder's Blog

How to Restore Balance to the Galactic Fashion Empire
How to Restore Balance to the Galactic Fashion Empire
Most “new” fashion brands are making the same product in the same overseas factories, just repackaged. A fifth-generation New York maker explains how offshoring broke the American garment industry, and... Read more...
How New York Won the Fashion Crown. Now It's Slipping.
How New York Won the Fashion Crown. Now It's Slipping.
New York's garment industry wasn't planned. It was built by immigrants who brought their trades with them, mastered one craft at a time, and raised the Garment District with what... Read more...
The Pusher Man: How China Made Us Fast Fashion Addicts
The Pusher Man: How China Made Us Fast Fashion Addicts
When American manufacturing moved overseas, jobs weren't the only thing that left. It was a race to the bottom, and that race was no accident. It was calculated, and it... Read more...
King Louis XIV: The OG Venture Capitalist
King Louis XIV: The OG Venture Capitalist
If you ask anyone what country epitomizes luxury fashion, France is always number one. And Paris is the symbol of that luxury. But what most people don’t know is that... Read more...
How the Global Fashion Industry Lost it's Way
How the Global Fashion Industry Lost it's Way
For almost fifty years, I've watched what happened to the fashion industry. First as a kid in my father's New York factory, dismissing my family's warnings as nostalgia, and now,... Read more...
The Resurrection of Pierre Labiche
The Resurrection of Pierre Labiche
Why we brought Pierre Labiche back — and why complete control over every garment, made in New York's Garment District, was never optional. Read more...
There Can Be Only One
There Can Be Only One
When I was a child, I thought the prize at the end of Highlander was a letdown. Now I understand what it really meant — and what it has to... Read more...
A Time Capsule of American Craft
A Time Capsule of American Craft
I didn't know what to expect when I stepped off the plane in Dearborn, Michigan, for the opening of the Henry Ford Museum's "Fabric of America" exhibition. What I found... Read more...
My Father Was a Legend
My Father Was a Legend
Leon Kalajian spent seventy years mastering the pleat. This is the story of the man behind Pierre Labiche. Read more...
Mastery Is Not a Destination
Mastery Is Not a Destination
Most people think mastery is a destination — a black belt, a title, a finish line. My father taught me it's something else entirely: not a place you arrive, but... Read more...
The Conversation That Never Ends
The Conversation That Never Ends
I never planned to start a blog. I planned to walk my dog. But those long walks became a replacement for the mornings I once spent with my father —... Read more...
title image of blog with five beautiful sketches from the Pierre Labiche fashion brand.
What is The Pierre Labiche Brand?
Pierre Labiche was first established in New York City in the late 1970s by my father and mother. What began as a small family effort quickly took off during the... Read more...