REBECCA & DREW MANUFACTURING is the brainchild of Rebecca Matchett and Drew Paluba, fashion entrepreneurs with a history in cutting-edge design and trend-setting innovation. Ms. Matchett is a co-founder of clever fashion label alice + olivia, sold in retail stores and specialty boutiques around the world. Mr. Paluba has an extensive design background that includes various esteemed apparel companies, including Darryl K and Express. He also has designed his own line of clothing called ASP, which was sold in his New York City store by the same name. The two found that a taste for well-cut trousers and luxury cashmeres weren’t the only things they had in common. Both also had an interest in improving a modern woman’s most basic wardrobe item: the dress shirt.
Ms. Matchett and Mr. Paluba were of one mind on one particular fashion dilemma, while the button-front shirt is a mainstay of a modern working woman’s wardrobe, it also can be one of the most ill-fitting and least-considered staples. “By and large, the industry does little to take into account the broad range of body types among women,” said Matchett of the dilemma. “For most women, their dress shirts either pull at the chest or are baggy and boxy in the sides and back.”
Ms. Matchett and Mr. Paluba began to explore why men can purchase their dress shirts to suit neck measurements and arm length, while women choose from small, medium and large. If anything, women have more specific fit concerns, as it is necessary to consider varying bust sizes. Could a system be developed that would offer women convenient sizing to suit their unique body shapes, similar to that which has been available for decades to men?
Indeed, it could. Ms. Matchett and Mr. Paluba spent nearly an entire year measuring different real-life body types (not fit models) and configuring pattern possibilities until they came up with a system that could work in a ready-to-wear retail environment. They developed an exclusive pattern-making/sizing formula called TrioFit. Simply stated, TrioFit is a sizing system based on three basic measurements of a woman’s body: The chest circumference, bra cup size and torso height. Determining how these measurements ought to combine in shirt making gave them the ability to create a standardized sizing system that allows for the manufacture of properly fitting ready-to-wear shirts that suit women with different heights and bra sizes, ranging from 32A to 38DD. Ms. Matchett and Mr. Paluba were thrilled to create a system that would enable them to bring to market a convenient personalized fit for women that can be purchased off-the-rack.
Having completed the exhaustive process of developing a sizing system to suit so many different body types, Ms. Matchett and Mr. Paluba were ready for the next step: executing a gorgeous line of shirts for women in luxurious European fabrics with fashionable details using the TrioFit system. “Once the system was developed, we had a chance to execute our vision creatively,” said Paluba. “We re-invented the basic dress shirt in color choices and textiles that reflect our carefully honed fashion sensibilities.”
Bearing such a strong stamp of their own distinctive styles, Ms. Matchett and Mr. Paluba couldn’t help but name the new venture after their own first names. And thus, Rebecca & Drew Manufacturing began, the perfect combination of personalized TrioFit shirt-making in high-style and luxurious fabrics for today’s modern woman.
Rebecca & Drew shirts, dresses and jackets are available today online and at their boutique in New York City’s uber-trendy meat-packing district at 342 West 13th Street.
