Chicago Events. The Frye Company Celebrates 150th Anniversary & Chicago Flagship Opening

IMG_1158-HiRes Chicago is always to welcome a new brand into our local shopping scene. So you can imagine how thrilled we were to fete The Frye Company’s Chicago Flagship opening last week, in tandem with the highly coveted footwear brand’s 150th anniversary. Located at 1007 North Rush Street between Oak and Bellevue Streets, the party lured guests in with the killer musical stylings of local DJ Matt Roan. Once inside the sleek, loft-like space, the rich smell of leather served as a perfect sensory counterpoint to the towering shelves of soft, supple boots that rose up around us.
As America’s oldest operating footwear company, The Frye Company, wanted to include all aspects of it’s signature style and craftsmanship into the Chicago flagship collection. The store featured a wide range of footwear and accessories, including the company’s anniversary capsule collection of classic styles with details like stars and stripes and stone-washed finishes. Along with celebrating The Frye Company’s new Chicago flagship, the brand also used the occasion to commemorate its 150th anniversary of heritage, craftsmanship and quality. IMG_1469-HiRes On March 10, 1863, John A. Frye opened the doors of a small shop on Elm Street in Marlboro, Massachusetts. This is where generations of Frye men would dedicate themselves to the art and craft of shoemaking, creating new patters, discovering new materials and even inventing shoe-making machinery. Elements of the new store resonate with that age old sense of industrialism, such as exposed brick walls and stainless steel displays. Our personal favorite part of the decor was a huge collection of dangling metal hoops that held sentry over the crowd from the front room ceiling.
The brand’s Creative Director Michael Petry was in attendance to mix and mingle with more than 300 fans of The Frye Company. Guests, including local bloggers, press, and other city tastemakers surveyed and shopped the store while sipping custom cocktails by Koval and beer from Revolution Brewery. The playlist for the evening, in addition to DJ Matt Roan, also featured a live set by up-and-coming band Blondfire, all decked in Frye footwear. Now that the store has been officially welcomed to Chicago, head on over to the new The Frye Company flagship at 1007 North Rush Street and check out all the current collections online at thefryecompany.com.
Guests enjoying special seasonal cocktails by Koval and beer from Revolution Brewery
Guests enjoying special seasonal cocktails by Koval and beer from Revolution Brewery
DJ Matt Roan
DJ Matt Roan
Guests shopping the new collections from The Frye Company!
Guests shopping the new collections from The Frye Company!
  -Alia Rajput Photo Source: Francis Son

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.