Corridor’s knits aren’t cheap, but they represent one of the brand’s best-selling categories. It helps that their crochet construction spotlights the hours of handiwork involved, which makes spending $500 on a sweater feel slightly less absurd. All of the brand’s cardigans are handmade in Lima, Peru, Snyder says, citing his relationship with Innovative Knitwear, a women’s collective in the region he works with. And where other labels often pull from existing yards of fabric, Corridor’s entire concept “is custom from the start.” The small-batch approach yields clothes you’re far less likely to see anywhere else—a valuable currency in a market drowning in anodyne fast fashion.
Unless, of course, you happen to see Corridor’s clothes on a talk show couch, while a famous guy regales the crowd with a relatable anecdote about the perils of stardom. Which is happening more and more frequently these days: beyond casual Mr Porter shoppers, Corridor’s knits are also a huge hit among a specific cohort of quietly swervy celebs. In November of last year, Niall Horan inadvertently spotlighted a duo of the brand’s funky checkerboard cardigans on a TikTok tour of his closet. Later that month, Seth Rogen hit the premiere of The Fablemans in a similar mustard-hued diddy. And just two weeks ago, Andy Samberg stopped by Late Night with Seth Meyers decked out in a groovy flower-power number from the brand’s most recent spring collection.
For Michael Fisher, a stylist who’s dressed Bowen Yang, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Nick Kroll in Corridor knits, the brand’s cardigans feel perfect for guys who want to stand out in a sea of anonymous navy blazers without veering too far from their comfort zones. The Corridor cardigan isn’t “your typical grandfather cardigan…[and] it's not your typical Kurt Cobain wannabe cardigan,” he says. Several of his clients have become fans in their own right, paying for the brand out of pocket, and expecting to see it in Fisher’s picks. “It's definitely a must-have on my racks,” Fisher says. “I pretty much always request it.”
Compared to the $5,000 suits and $100,000 watches that typically light up the red carpet, Corridor’s knits feel decidedly more approachable—which, to hear Snyder tell it, is kind of the point. Fans of Corridor’s sweaters don’t let them “consume who they are,” says Snyder, meaning you can pull one off without becoming the de facto cardigan guy of your friend group. Fisher also touts their versatility, which makes the cost-per-wear a little easier to justify. “You can dress it up, and you can dress it down,” he says. “It can go over a T-shirt, with jeans, or with a nice trouser.” (Their lightweight construction, he adds, also means you can get away with wearing them up until the hottest months of the year.)
To Fisher, though, the primary selling point of Corridor’s cardigans might be their usefulness as a conversation-starter—even if that conversation kicks off with nothing more than an “ID on the sweater?”. Small talk is painful no matter how famous you are, and a statement knit that doubles as an icebreaker is easy to appreciate, whether you’re steeling yourself to hit the press junket or just grabbing an early-afternoon latte.
