Universal Gear Brings Its Vintage Torpedo Cart to Hell's Kitchen

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Grid View

Expand

Universal Gear, which carries menswear from brands like Scotch & Soda, Penguin, and Ben Sherman, plans to open a boutique in Hell's Kitchen the weekend after next. Set in a former speakeasy, the shop will have an industrial feel and vintage fixtures. "Coke Is It" tees will sit on a 1960s-era beverage cart, for example, while G-Star's military-inspired looks will be housed in a torpedo cart used to arm ships in Pearl Harbor.

The DC-based chain already has a store in Chelsea, but the Hell's Kitchen shop will be its flagship. There's a reason the brand picked those two New York neighborhoods. "The gay community has been incredibly resilient throughout the economic crises of the past decade and has helped position our store for enormous growth," says co-founder David Franco in a press release. "But perhaps most surprisingly, the non-gay customer also makes up about 30% of our sales."
· Universal Gear [Official Site]