Cary Heller never expected to be at a party full of influencers during New York Fashion Week last month.

“I’m 50 years old, and when I walked into that party, I felt like the grandpa in the room,” says the vice president/partner of Michigan-based supplier All USA Clothing (asi/30171), known for making rugged workwear and American-made branded merch for clients that include utility companies and union contractors.

Workwear brand Camber recently collaborated with Highsnobiety on a limited-edition apparel drop for the media brand’s 20th anniversary. (Photo courtesy of Cary Heller)

But thanks to his partnership with Norristown, PA-based cult workwear brand Camber and a connection to former GQ writer Noah Johnson, who once crowned Camber with the title of “World’s Greatest Sweatshirt,” Heller had an in at a pop-up event hosted by global fashion and lifestyle media brand Highsnobiety to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

All USA Clothing and Camber worked with Highsnobiety, where Johnson recently became editor-in-chief, on a clothing collaboration that debuted at the party. “It was the outfit of the night, which was really, really super cool,” Heller says.

In his new position at Highsnobiety, Johnson had reached out to Camber with an idea to put a fresh spin on the brand’s classic styles: He wanted to create a zip-up hoodie using Camber’s Max Weight 8-ounce cotton T-shirt material and combine it with a pair of shorts in the same fabric. “I thought this would be a clever way to flip these iconic garments into something original that maintained the integrity of Camber’s history and principles,” Johnson wrote.

Camber made zip-up hoodies and shorts in natural, navy and light pink for High Snobiety. (Photo courtesy of Cary Heller)

Years ago, the proposition would have been a tough sell. “The one thing I know about Camber is that Camber never changes – ever,” Heller says.

However, the brand is under new ownership, with Bernice Sabrina Schwartz taking over after her husband and company founder Barry Schwartz died in 2023 at the age of 72. And she had already made some – albeit small – changes to the company. For instance, she added two new colors – light pink and baby blue – to Camber’s lineup. The colors were meant to honor her late husband and raise funds for cancer and heart disease research.

Camber’s new owner was game to take on Highsnobiety’s request, bringing Heller, Johnson and a photo team onsite for a feature story and to work out the details of the collaboration.

Ultimately, Camber was able to deliver on what Johnson was seeking, creating zip-up hoodies and shorts in T-shirt material in three colorways: natural, navy and light pink. The branding on the custom apparel was minimal: a small woven label sewn right above the hem that stated simply “Highsnobiety Camber Made in U.S.A.” Keeping the branding so understated and plain is part of the cool factor of Camber, Heller says.

The process was not without its challenges, according to Heller, but staying nimble and responsive to the client’s requests helped the Camber team get everything done and delivered – just weeks before the planned celebration in New York City. The team worked through several snags, from trying to find color-matching zippers for the pink hoodies to having to replace the woven labels on every piece by hand at the last minute after getting a new logo from Highsnobiety.

“You have to remain super flexible on a project that’s really out of the box because you never know what curveballs are going to come,” Heller says.

But, he adds, there was something undeniably special about getting to see the finished garments being worn in public after the stress involved in making Johnson’s vision a reality.

“Like a piece of artwork, until it’s done and sitting in front of you, you don’t really know what it’s going to be,” Heller says. “Clothing doesn’t come out of a void. There are people who are sewing and cutting and dyeing. … You see the vision, but how it ends up might not be exactly where you thought it would. The question is: Do you stand behind it? Are you proud of it?”

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