David Chu of Nautica

The Designer

In 1983 Chu opened Nautica for business with six designs for men's outerwear. He chose the name Nautica for his company as it's a Latin word for ship. Chu says "the image of a boat in full sail is an image of bold adventure around the world".

David Chu spoke to me about his design philosophy.

The Fashion Page: Where were you born?

David Chu: I was born in Taiwan, and I came to America in 1968 as a teenager.

TFP: Is there anyone or anything that influences your designs?

DC: Not particularly. Personally I've always liked to draw. Originally I wanted to study to be an architect and somehow I got into this business. Anything that relates to functional ideas and good styling is something I appreciate.

TFP: I have your bio in front of me; it mentions you took a drawing course in New York...

DC: I always liked life drawings and I always liked to draw when I was growing up. I couldn't figure out if I wanted to be an architect or in architect communications. I took the summer course in drawing because I always enjoyed doing that. I did it for my own enjoyment, not for anything to do with my career.

While he was taking his drawing class at New York's Fashion Institute, his skill was immediately recognised and he was pointed in a new career direction - fashion designing.

TFP: Have you designed for anyone else?

DC: Before Nautica I used to do some designing for Catalina Sportswear.

TFP: Where do you show your collections?

DC: We will do two runway shows here in New York at the Menswear Collections - one in Janaury and one in July. We'll also do a show in our own showrooms.

TFP: Besides yourself, who is your favourite fashion designer?

DC: There are a lot of good fashion designers out there. People like Armani... Polo are very good at what they do. As artists I think everybody stands on their own merits. They have their own niche and their own styles. There are many people who I think are interesting. There are certain styles that they do that I always like, it's like different paintings, everyone has their own special appeal. One artist can have fifty paintings but out of those you only like three. There are a lot of designers out there that are very talented and I like things from here and there from different designers all the time.

TFP: Is there a magazine for men's fashions that you like?

DC: GQ is always good for information for young guys to find out what is going on in the fashion industry. Also Details. And Esquire is always a good magazine but it depends what type of thing you are looking for.

TFP: I think your designs are very American, especially your Spring Collection. Is that intentional?

DC: My Spring Collection is about retro fifties/sixties America. Sportswear is always classic American sportswear, and that's always where the focus has been for Nautica. The Spring collection is a mixture of functional and classic sportswear, so this Spring we combined the two.

TFP: What age group do your styles appeal to?

DC: We don't target a particular group, we have customers who like to live outdoor, casual lifestyles and who appreciate good quality clothing. Those are people who we gear our clothes after. Our customer base has a wide age range from teenagers up to fifty five. It's really a state of mind, this person can be anybody they want to be. Our designs can be worn by anybody really.

David's designs are clean cut, non-fussy styles. There's every chance he'll come up with clothes in his women's and men's range that will become classics.