Parke & Ronen

Parke & Ronen was founded in New York in 1997 by Parke Lutter and Ronen Jehezkel. The designers built their partnership around men’s swimwear, approaching the swimsuit as a fashion garment with its own demands of proportion and fit. That starting point gave the label a specific place within American menswear.

Its swim collections made the beach wardrobe a subject for design in its own right. Shorter cuts and an interest in print offered an alternative to treating swimwear as a purely practical purchase. The relationship between the body and the garment remained central, with the amount of fabric becoming as important as its pattern or color.

Ready-to-wear expanded the idea beyond the water. The label developed clothing to accompany its swimwear, bringing the same attention to shape into a broader casual wardrobe. An underwear line followed in fall 2015, extending its work with close-fitting garments into another category.

Parke & Ronen was a founding participant in New York Fashion Week: Men’s in 2015, placing a swimwear-led business within the city’s menswear conversation. Its identity remains tied to the founders’ collaboration and to the belief that the clothes worn on holiday deserve the same design attention as those worn at home.