For over a decade, Rufskin Denim has become more of a lifestyle for its wearers, rather than being just another pair of jeans for them to put on. The Southern California-based brand, which also includes underwear, swimwear, sportswear and accessories, was created to enhance the individuality of the male form, while at the same time, it has redefined the concept of what sexy can look like.Rufskin was built on the foundation of „vintage, sexy, masculine, athletic and futuristic,“ when its owner and head designer Hubert Pouches along with his partner and company president, Douglas Coats, pooled together their fashion-based resources to create the company in early 2000.
The duo met during the early ’90s in Paris, France when Pouches, who had cut his fashion teeth during stints working for Parisian labels Bernard Perris and Courreges, owned a men’s modeling agency and Coats was one of his fashion models. Pouches represented a slew of the biggest male models of the era, such as Marcus Schenkenberg, Adnan Taletovic and Brazilian models, Paulo Zulu and Gelati.In fact, Pouches was one of the first agents to scout for modeling talents in the South American locale and brought them back to the City of Lights, and Brazil continues to influence and charm the designer today.
„I started when I was 19 in France,“ Pouches said of his initial origins in the fashion industry. „And I went to Esmod, which is a fashion design school, and I graduated in two years, instead of three, and then moved to Bahia, Brazil. I started working right away in Brazil, and then came back to France and stayed there until ’93, when we moved here to The States.““I met Hubert when I was a model and he was my agent,“ Coats recanted. „I was doing that for a little bit, and then slowly got out of it. But not before I got to go on a modeling assignment of a lifetime. I did a fashion editorial for Japanese Magazine in the early ’90s, where I spent an entire month on the just free from communism country of Mongolia and the Gobi Desert. Traveling was definitely in my blood when we decided to move to The States. I started working at a family owned metal furniture design company called Deform and sold their designs around the US for a few years then.“
Coats then utilized his own experiences as a model when he ran a men’s department at a Southern California Model and Talent agency. He took a page from Pouches book, when he scouted models and introduced them to agencies all over the world. Even today, the two like to „discover“ models which they use in their Rufskin campaigns, but their combined vision was still a few years off.
„And Hubert was designing for various companies; mainly women’s clothes at that time, especially women’s lingerie and swimwear for such labels as Victoria’s Secret, GirlStar and private labels for Macys and Target. And then we decided to start Rufskin.“The newly minted San Diego residents then went about turning their shared passion for fashion into a unique venture, which would fill a fashion void.
„We knew that there was a niche that was missing in men’s low-waist, sexy tight jeans,“ Coats explained. „And we started doing that at the same time we were working on our other company. Eventually, it took over. So, we quit our other jobs and started working for Rufskin full-time.“The two began making their mark by hand stitching their denim wares with the help of friends, in a „small, tight little space“ in their house, according to Coats. But, that was before the supply and demand aspect of what they were going about achieving led them to larger work spaces.
They eventually settled in at their flagship boutique, located at 3944 30th St. in North Park. The décor and style of the Rufskin boutique was built upon a foundation of their shared reverence for interior design, and is influenced by European Old World charm, mixed with a mid-century aesthetic. The store also afforded them the opportunity to combine their design influences for their brand, along with current interior trends.“We found this location, which we love,“ Coats said. „It also accommodated for us shipping our wholesale orders and our retail online orders out of the back. We use the store as part showroom, and as a retail outlet.“People think we should be in L.A., or in New York, we’ve actually been doing it quite fine being out of San Diego,“ Coats explained. „But, because of the Internet and new advances in technology, you don’t really have to be in the most fashion-centered areas.“With a place to call Rufskin home, there was an arena to literally show off their concept and a venue for clients looking to purchase „sexy, masculine styling.“
A few years ago Amsterdam store owners Jeanpaul Rappoldt en Eward Koning discovered RUFSKIN on the internet and ordered RUFSKIN clothes and accessoiries online or asked friends to bring it from the USA. They are big fans eversince.
In 2011 Jeanpaul and Eward wondered if there would be a market for RUFSKIN in the Netherlands and started writing a businessplan. They did their marketing research and the results were encouraging. At one point they decided to invite the fouders and brand-owners to Amsterdam to show them their beautiful store location and tell them about their future plans.
After a very fruitfull weekend a partnership was born and Jeanpaul and Eward were invited to come to San Diego a few months later for orientation, in company training and of course to buy the initial collection.
Reconstruction of the store began in January 2012 and on the 31st of March Alderman Carolien Gehrels opened the store assisted by the brand- and owners of both RUFSKIN New York and Amsterdam. Corporate model Alejandro Sanguiero was flown in from Argentina and Miss Nickie Nicole, back from the States, hosted the opening-event.
RUFSKIN-AMSTERDAM is based on a so called cross channel retail concept in which the fysical store is connected to a website and –store and all social media. It’s main target audience is the gay urban sportive community but also straight guys know how to find their way to Reguliersdwarsstraat 54.
“Feeling great and looking awesome is not an exclusive right for only the gays, we don’t want to exclude anyone!”according to store owners Jeanpaul en Eward “It’s our mission to bring colour into the lives of the men of today. Our main goal is that they discover our super comfortable jeans and other ubercool RUFSKIN gear. “
On 31 March 2013 RUFSKIN-AMSTERDAM celebrated it’s one year anniversary, during the last year a big European fanbase was build up. People keep coming back to the store in Amsterdam and the www.rufskin-amsterdam.nl webstore. The always updated collection, the California made quality apparel and accessoiries and the high level of service as known keypoints for the current success.
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