After three years of quiet refinement in Los Angeles showrooms, NAHMIAS made a statement return to Paris Fashion Week Men’s on January 22nd with Wipeout, a collection that signals the brand’s evolution from cult-favorite streetwear label to serious menswear contender. Presented at Palais de Tokyo with Cash App as the show’s sponsor, the Fall/Winter 2026 offering represents the most ambitious and conceptually rich work from founder Doni Nahmias to date.
Concept: Embracing the Fall
The collection’s title, Wipeout, draws from the visceral vocabulary of California’s surf and skate culture, specifically, the moment of losing control. It’s a concept that resonates beyond the literal: the emotional intensity of impact, the vulnerability of failure, and the momentum required to get back up. For a brand that has built its identity on the effortless cool of West Coast living, this exploration of struggle and resilience adds unexpected depth to the NAHMIAS narrative.
This thematic framework manifests most powerfully in the collection’s material treatments. Printed suedes bear the visual language of abrasion; washed canvases carry the patina of repeated use; specialized wash techniques create surfaces that reference the physical marks left by skate decks grinding against concrete, or skin meeting reef. These aren’t distressed garments in the tired, manufactured sense, they’re clothes that tell stories of lived experience, of falling and getting back up.
Material Innovation as Storytelling
The technical execution throughout Wipeout demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how fabric can communicate narrative. Jacquards and knits expand the brand’s repertoire, while denim receives treatments that elevate it beyond casual staple to considered design statement. The printed suedes, developed through proprietary techniques, stand out as particularly compelling, soft to the touch yet visually aggressive, they embody the collection’s central tension between vulnerability and resilience.
What distinguishes this material work from mere surface treatment is its intentionality. Every abrasion, every grinding detail, every wash variation serves the collection’s conceptual framework. The garments don’t just look worn, they look earned.
Evolution of NAHMIAS Tailoring
Perhaps the most significant development in Wipeout is the introduction of tailoring and suiting elements. Structured coats and refined silhouettes represent new territory for a brand that built its reputation on relaxed California ease. Yet Nahmias navigates this expansion with characteristic confidence, grounding formal elements in the brand’s West Coast sensibility.
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The result is tailoring that breathes, jackets that maintain structure without rigidity, trousers that drape with intention. It’s an approach that acknowledges the contemporary man’s need for versatility: clothes that can move from boardroom to boardwalk without losing their identity. The balance between polish and ease feels natural rather than forced, suggesting that this evolution has been carefully considered rather than hastily executed.
Beyond apparel, the collection introduces loafers alongside the brand’s signature sneakers, plus new accessories and high-end jewelry pieces, further evidence of NAHMIAS’s ambition to become a full-spectrum luxury proposition.
The PUMA Collaboration: Legacy Through a West Coast Lens
Wipeout also marks the runway debut of PUMA x NAHMIAS, a collaboration that brings Nahmias’s design language into the sportswear giant’s universe. The partnership centers on reimagined versions of PUMA’s most iconic silhouettes, beginning with a refined reinterpretation of the PUMA Suede.
The Suede, offered in three colorways with the first release arriving next month, establishes the collaboration’s design direction: rooted in legacy, filtered through distinctly West Coast sensibilities. A second phase will expand the partnership with a reimagined PUMA Speedcat and focused apparel offerings. The collaboration reflects a shared approach to timeless silhouettes, cultural storytelling, and elevated execution, values that align naturally with NAHMIAS’s brand DNA.
Theatrical Elements: Sound and Story
The show’s production extended the collection’s conceptual framework through carefully considered theatrical elements. A live drum performance from David D’Amato channeled the energy of street drummers and performers along California beach boardwalks, creating an auditory landscape that transported the Palais de Tokyo audience to the sun-drenched concrete of Venice Beach or Santa Monica.
As a promotional extension, NAHMIAS partnered with artist John Massé on a series of hand-drawn cartoon reels, also titled Wipeout. Inspired by Nahmias’s 1990s childhood spent watching Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, the animated series follows three central characters: Ollie the skater, Hoops the basketball player, and Chadwick the stoned surfer, each representing facets of Nahmias himself and the kids he grew up alongside in Summerland, California.
The antagonist? A French fashion critic and his intern apprentice, trailing the trio in comedic pursuit of the “secret sauce” behind California style. It’s a playful, self-aware touch that demonstrates Nahmias’s understanding of his brand’s position in the fashion landscape, and his willingness to laugh at the industry’s obsession with decoding effortless cool.
Wipeout succeeds because it doesn’t abandon what made NAHMIAS compelling in the first place. The California DNA remains intact, the surf and skate references, the relaxed silhouettes, the sun-bleached palette. But layered atop this foundation is a new maturity, a willingness to explore vulnerability and failure as creative territory, and an expanded technical vocabulary that positions the brand for its next chapter.
The three-year hiatus clearly served its purpose. Rather than rushing to maintain runway presence, Nahmias used the time to build a stronger foundation, refine his vision, and prepare for this moment. The result is a collection that feels both inevitable and surprising, the logical evolution of NAHMIAS, executed with confidence and conviction.
Discover all the looks in our gallery:
Following the show, the runway transformed into a classic West Coast kickback, with guests gathering over pizzas and specialty cocktails crafted with Tequila Don Julio. It was a fitting conclusion: refined ease in the heart of Paris, California cool without pretension.
