Two local labels among finalists in GQ’s search for the best new menswear designers

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GQ magazine just announced the following six finalists for its annual ‘Best New Menswear Designers in America’ competition:

Warriors of Radness (designer Rick Klotz)
Patrik Ervell
Riviera Club (designers Joe Sadler, Derek Buse and Greg Ullery)
Gant by Michael Bastian
Miller’s Oath (designer Kirk Miller)
T by Alexander Wang

Two of the finalists are based right here in Southern California (Warriors of Radness is headquartered in Los Angeles, and Riviera Club’s home base is Santa Monica) with the rest hailing from New York City.

All six finalists will be featured in the March issue of the men’s magazine, and selections from their Fall 2011 collections will be showcased at a New York City event on Feb. 10 (which happens to be the opening night of New York Fashion Week).

Although one winner will take home a $50,000 cash prize (and bragging rights), all six will have the opportunity to contribute looks to a limited-edition Dockers capsule collection that will be exclusive to Bloomingdale’s for a month this fall and featured in GQ’s September issue. This is a significant change from past years in which just the ultimate winner collaborated on a capsule collection -- with the Levi’s brand (the parent company of both brands is San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co.)

Now in its fourth year, past winners include Billy Reid (2010), Robert Geller (2009) and Engineered Garments designer Daiki Suzuki (2008).

-- Adam Tschorn