It’s not easy to follow Rihanna, but Maxwell Coombs-Esmail and Adam Thomison are up for the challenge.
On Feb. 6, the two designers behind local streetwear label Control Sector will launch their first women’s line at Six:02, Foot Locker’s more upscale Herald Square boutique, a space previously occupied by Bad Girl RiRi’s Fenty Puma wares.
“They’re having us do an entire store takeover,” says Thomison, a 38-year-old native Californian, about Control Sector’s collection of leather crop tops, silky gold “joggers” and a Rihanna-worthy “hoodie dress” with slits up the leg. “We’re superexcited.”
The pair met about five years ago, when they — along with Thomison’s younger brother, Luke — were studying fashion design and merchandising at the Fashion Institute of Technology in the Garment District. Coombs-Esmail, a 27-year-old former competitive snowboarder, had several design classes with Luke, a West Coast skater, and they clicked immediately. “We did all our homework together, hung out together . . . and that’s how I met this guy,” he says, pointing to Thomison.
The three started Control Sector shortly after graduating in 2013, just as the fashion world began to go crazy over the skater-inspired look.
“We wanted to create clothing you can just throw on, run out the door and look awesome [in],” Coombs-Esmail says. But it wasn’t easy for three novices to put together a collection on a shoestring budget; two weeks before one of their first Fashion Week presentations, they realized they had never gotten samples back from the factory.
“Luke and I essentially handmade the entire collection in two weeks, just sewing day to night,” says Coombs-Esmail. “Some of my final projects from FIT ended up in there, because we just needed to show something! But people actually ended up really liking it.” (Luke had to later leave the label due to health issues.)
A sales associate for Foot Locker, who had been at one of Control Sector’s early shows, actually approached the designers at a trade fair in August, asking if they were ever going to release clothing for women. “Then she said, ‘How would you feel about releasing it exclusively with Six:02?’ ” says Coombs-Esmail. “I was like, ‘I would feel pretty good about that.’ ”
The resulting collection — which will also be available on Six:02’s Web site — contains some 20 pieces, ranging from $45 for a cotton tank dress to $595 for an embroidered leather bomber.
It’s just the first of a series of big launches for the duo. In February, Control Sector will debut its Spring 2017 collection at New York Fashion Week. And in March, the designers will unveil a new collaboration with Fetty Wap called By Order Of . . . , filled with camo puffer jackets and screen-printed hoodies.
“It’s been a long road, but this year is already really starting to feel like there’s a big shift in energy behind the brand,” says Thomison. “Maybe soon we can hire someone to answer e-mails.”