Tse It Proud On Wooster Street

The opportunities for puns are endless with the brand Tse, so much that its contemporary division is called TseSay, a play on its Chinese name. There's no joking about its new boutique in SoHo which opened last week. It replaces the one on Madison Avenue that was devoured by the expanding Dolce & Gabbanna palace. Tse, as it turns out, is now better suited to SoHo's more casual atmosphere than Madison's ever increasing, diamond-studded opulence.
While still primarily seen by customers (and many retailers) as a cashmere sweater resource, Tse has been working hard over the years to break out of that category. While there are still plenty of knits, this new store makes a strong case for the label as a lifestyle brand, including TseSay as well as a full menswear collection and lots of accessories to round out the assortment of designer Tess Giberson's sportswear.
Tse just missed the publicity value of opening its doors during Fashion Week, but as Giberson left the company earlier this year to restart her own label, the label decided to scrap its Fall runway show. It's too bad they lost that publicity opportunity (though it would have been hard to stand out from the Gucci store opening PR blitz) because her architectural Spring collection looks even better in the new shop's sleek, minimalistic setting than it did on the runway. The label sits nicely in the category retailers call the "gold range", meaning that it's priced just below designer collections, but has a more grown-up look (and fit) than contemporary lines. Now that it has settled into its new home, we hope their design department stabilizes so they can take advantage of it.
Tse 120 Wooster Street, Soho