We imagine there are quite a few perks associated with being mayor of New York City. For Eric Adams, it was alleged unsanctioned luxury trips to Turkey. For current top dog Zohran Mamdani, it appears to be an arsenal of very sick jackets. This came in handy over the weekend, when the northeast was hit by a massive snowstorm—the first weather emergency Mamdani has had to face since taking office on New Year’s Day (in a Kartik Research tie, by the way).
In the lead up to the storm, Mamdani was seen at various press conferences wearing conspicuously embroidered outerwear for various New York City agencies. There was the green techy “Department of Sanitation” jacket he wore when he announced the city’s preparations for the incoming onslaught of snow, wind, and freezing cold weather during a Saturday press conference at the Spring Street Salt Shed. Then there was the “Emergency Management” jacket he donned when he told New York City public-school students that a Monday snow day would simply mean they’d have to attend virtual classes—a tough decree he tempered by saying they were allowed to pelt him with a snowball if they saw him on the street. And on Sunday, during another press conference amid the downfall of snow, Mamdani advised New Yorkers to stay indoors (and to borrow the Heated Rivalry novel from their local library) while wearing an extremely GQ garment: a personalized Carhartt jacket.
Mamdani attends a press conference at the Spring Street Salt Shed on Saturday.
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Featuring a curlicued midcentury “The City of New York” logo on the chest and “Mayor” in bold across the left bicep, the jacket was custom-embellished by the Bushwick, Brooklyn-based company Arena Embroidery. Rocco Arena, who founded his brand in 2018 after a stint at Nike making one-off garments for special clients, tells GQ that he was approached at an industry trade show with an opportunity from Mamdani’s office to craft an embroidered jacket. The caveat? He only had a week.
Arena, who’s currently in California to finish setting up an outpost of his brand in Los Angeles, says it was a “team effort” for his crew in New York to pull off the embroidery job in time. The mayor’s office had full creative control over the jacket, including an ask to add a quote to the inside of its corduroy collar: “No problem too big. No task too small,” a riff on a line from his victory speech and a sentiment he has uttered in other public settings, including his appearance on The View. Later that day, Mamdani wore the jacket outside while he shoveled snow in various neighborhoods.
