NEW YORK â€" There is a growing movement among mass market retailers to open stores that provide a safe haven for male shoppers, many of whom claim to be hesitant to set foot in a boutique of any kind. The male-oriented shops, better known as concept stores, are small and filled with masculine artifacts to put gents at ease and erase any vestiges of the much derided metrosexual movement of the previous decade.
These concept stores also tend to place an emphasis on heritage clothing (another way of saying ultra-masculine attire). The issue is that many of these brands â€" it would be rude to name names â€" don’t necessarily have a heritage, unless opening the year that “Laverne & Shirley’’ debuted on TV counts as such.
Which is why Coach executive creative director Reed Krakoff is keen to emphasize, in his understated way, that his brand has a history that dates back to 1941. Coach’s recently opened concept store at Copley Place attempts to marry a modern perspective with the company’s World War II-era Manhattan loft beginnings.
“We really wanted to create a space that felt like the history of Coach,’’ says the meticulously casual Krakoff at Coach’s headquarters. “In the 1940s, our loft was mainly a backdrop for bag makers and shoe makers. It’s a very utilitarian, underrated space. The inspiration for these stores comes from that space.’’
To replicate that feeling in the new Copley store, the floor is made up of end cuts of two-by-fours, just like the original factory loft. Ductwork is exposed and merchandise is laid out on repurposed industrial tables, but the space feels refined (this is still Coach, after all). To fill those tables, the company has widely expanded its men’s line.
The brand name has not been strongly linked to men’s goods â€" though the company began with a focus on men’s wallets. Coach added a small number of ladies handbags in the 1960s and grew its women’s lines through the 1970s and 1980s. Since Krakoff was hired in 1996, the company has expanded into sunglasses, perfume, and scarves.
“We’ve really focused on women’s [wear] for the past several years. It was a big growth business for us. I think it’s a good time to go into men’s,’’ he says. “I can’t think of a time when there’s been more menswear designers coming into the market.’’
Krakoff, who says Boston was chosen because “it’s a good town for men’s shopping,’’ is not entirely unfamiliar with the area. He lived in Weston as a child before moving to Connecticut and came back to Boston for college. He attended a summer program at Berklee College of Music for jazz guitar, but decided that he was not talented enough to follow through.
“One of the best things that happened to me when I was there is that I realized I wasn’t good at a couple of things,’’ he says. “One of them is music.’’
He attended Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in a joint program, graduating with degrees in economics and art history. His mother and sister still live in the Boston area, and Krakoff frequently comes back despite a hectic schedule.
“There’s a lot that I love there,’’ he says. “I always go to Alan Bilzerian, I go to Louis. It’s funny, because a lot has changed, and a lot has stayed the same. I’ll go to Harvard Square, and there’s still punks there who dress the same as the kids did 30 years ago. I’m sure the first guys who had the mohawks and the anarchy symbols on their jackets are probably bald now.’’
Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
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