Dutch designer Sander Lak is on a perpetual search for “home.” Lak was born in Brunei, but he grew up across Malaysia, Gabon, Scotland and the Netherlands before settling in New York City a decade ago. His nomadic upbringing serves as a source of inspiration for his namesake label Sanderlak, a colorful ready-to-wear brand that launched in 2025.
Before founding his eponymous brand, Lak stacked his resume with positions at Phillip Lim, Balmain and Dries Van Noten. The Central Saint Martins alum previously launched Sies Marjan, a luxury ready-to-wear label named for his parents, in 2016 and later closed the brand in 2020. Now, with Lak’s years of luxury design experience and his keen eye for color, Sanderlak is putting down (temporary) roots in NYC’s Chinatown with a long-term pop-up store located at 2 E Broadway.
Photo: Courtesy of Sanderlak
“The way that we built [Sanderlak] is by each year — and a year is a metaphorical year — we change the lens, we change the narrative from a nomadic point of view, which is also based on how I was raised,” Lak tells Fashionista. For “Year 01,” as the brand calls it, Sanderlak is exploring the essence of Los Angeles through two coordinating collections. However, don’t expect to see on-the-nose references to L.A. landmarks. Instead, Lak aims to capture the colors and “feelings” of the West Coast city.
“It’s not a reference to [L.A.]. It’s not about the history of it. Don’t ask me what the cool restaurant is, I don’t know,” Lak says. “It’s really more about this idea of, ‘how do you distill a place into a color card and into an experience through clothes?'”
Sanderlak Year 01: Collection II Photo: Kacper Kasprzyk/Courtesy of Sanderlak
Within “Year 01”, Collection I dives into L.A.’s signature sunshine and its dry, desert heat via sun-bleached gradient prints and various yellow colorways. Collection II, which debuted at the brand’s NYC pop-up on July 30, offers a darker interpretation of the City of Angels. Sanderlak investigates what L.A. looks like once its shining natural light source (the sun) disappears, leaving artificial lights to illuminate the city. Neon greens reflect the “harsh” nighttime lighting of Sunset Boulevard, while cracked leather jackets reference the textured sheen of L.A.’s pavements and hand-painted denim captures the glow of passing billboards. Sanderlak’s Collection II is available now at its pop-up and at sanderlak.com, with prices ranging from $240 to $3,900.
Photo: Courtesy of Sanderlak
With its emphasis on color and texture, Sanderlak takes a genderless approach to its collections. For example, Net-a-Porter stocks the brand as a women’s collection, while Ssense markets it as a men’s line, according to Lak. Sanderlak is also available at Moda Operandi, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. While stockists style Sanderlak’s pieces differently for their respective customers, the core of the brand’s ethos remains the same: “[The clothes are] easy to wear,” Lak says. “They’re spectacular in [their] use of color and texture, but not overcomplicated in design.”
Sanderlak’s pop-up, which opened in May and has surpassed its intended month-long run, is nestled in the heart of Chinatown, aligning the brand with the neighborhood’s uniquely high-low energy. “Everything is sort of mixing and clashing, and there’s something that is so New York about that as well that feels really appropriate for where we are,” Lak says of the location.
Photo: Courtesy of Sanderlak
With one year under Sanderlak’s belt, Lak’s goal is to continue designing “intellectual” yet “not threatening” clothing for the brand’s audience. The label recently unveiled its “Year 02” collection in honor of Holland (where Lak is “technically” from), adding yet another stamp to Sanderlak’s sartorial passport.
“We are a very open and very easy brand,” Lak says. “We are not ‘you have to be part of the cool kids.’ It’s not elitism in any kind of way. It really is more about this idea of, if this is your niche, I’m here for you. I can clothe you for the rest of your life.”
Visit Sanderlak’s pop-up store at 2 E Broadway, open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Above, watch our tour of Sanderlak’s Collection II.
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