Hunting Texture: Joshua Tree, Spring ’26 Campaign (Behind the Scenes)

In anticipation of our Spring ’26 campaign launch, we wanted to share a look behind the scenes - not just at the clothes, but the process. The places and small observations that shape the images you’ll see in the coming weeks.

This time, the road led west to Joshua Tree.

Katie and I flew out alongside our photographer Glen Allsop and Katie’s sister Kristina (another menswear industry vet) who styles on the side. We kept the team tight, small enough to move quickly, light enough to pivot when the landscape (or the light) threw a curveball.

Heading into the trip, I had one concern.

We were planning to shoot around a dozen looks, all inside the park. Joshua Tree, as beautiful as it is, presents a bit of a creative trap. There are only so many ways to frame a Joshua tree. Only so many rock formations. I worried the campaign might start to feel, as we say - same, same. Too repetitive. Could it even border on a little tourist-y?

Glen and I kept circling the same idea in early conversations: Texture.

Joshua Tree isn’t just a place of vistas, it’s really a place of surfaces.

There's the hard, sun-cracked boulders, prickly Joshua tree limbs, splintered bark and dried wood.
But there's also white sandy washes and dry riverbeds, red clay dirt roads and black ribbons of asphalt.

Cholla Cactus, looks fluffy but pricks with a vengeance

Ribbons of asphalt

When we stopped thinking about “locations” and started thinking about textures, it was a creative unlock.

We shot on boulders and in shadowed rock corridors. Next to cholla cactus and ocotillo. Against bleached sand and iron-red earth. Each look found its own environment, not because the scenery changed dramatically, but because the ground beneath it did.

In a way, it felt especially right for Rivay.

Texture is always where we begin. In the fabrics and the hand feel. Seeing the pieces framed against equally tactile surroundings created a natural alignment between the clothes and landscape.

The Concept: Observation, Not Adventure

From the outset, I wanted the theme to feel restrained.

The desert’s beauty comes from its quiet, its sparseness. It didn’t call for overlanding trucks, camping gear or survivalist narratives. We had no interest in staging adventure.

Instead, we wandered into something simpler: Observation.

A snapshot of our concept in Miro

One man in the desert. No props beyond a few period Joshua Tree cactus guides (captions in comic sans, of course) and a pair of Leica binoculars I found at a flea market a few years back.

It was about slowing down. Studying the land. Letting dust collect on your shoes. Picking up cactus barbs whether you meant to or not.

Stripped down. Present. A little sun-beaten.

When you see the campaign imagery, I think a restraint comes through. Nothing feels forced. Just a figure moving quietly through terrain.

Team Rivay: Glen behind the lens, Jon in front, Katie on the Right, Spencer in back center and Kristina on the left

A Small Crew, Moving Light

We’ve always preferred to work this way. With a small footprint, minimal equipment and maximum flexibility.

We do a tremendous amount of research before arriving at our locations. Hours spent dropping the Google Street View little guy into the middle of nowhere, clicking forward one frame at a time, scouting dirt roads and dry lakebeds digitally.

But the beauty of traveling light is that you can still freestyle. If the light shifts, we pivot. If a location feels "meh," we move on. If we stumble onto something better, we abandon the plan entirely.

Preparation gives you confidence, but a tight team that gives you freedom.

LAX travel unlock: Skip the Hertz shuttle, get an Uber to Hertz. Saved an hour and a lot of headache.

The First 24 Hours

Getting there is rarely glamorous.

Up at 2:30 AM New York time to make an early JFK departure - first flights out always mean fewer delays. We landed at LAX, grabbed the rental, hit the In N Out Drive thru and drove straight east.

The In-N-Out Lap Mat for in car dining. An absolute essential.

Two and a half hours later, running on no sleep, we rolled into the Joshua Tree area mid-afternoon.

We checked into our modern desert rental, dropped bags, and headed straight back out, confirming that the locations we’d scouted digitally actually worked in real life.

Naturally, espresso became essential.

(L) 15 or so looks requires some checked bags. We pack hangers (never enough in hotels or homes), steamers, shoes, etc). (R) Glen and I crushing 'spressi

We kept returning to The Dez, a small café in town that had everything we needed. The owner’s Australian, Glen is too, and we kept laughing about how consistently good Aussies are at coffee culture. Cortados, Tim Tams and toasties are so strong and the perfect scouting & call-time fuel.

That first afternoon was all about soaking it in; the openness, the dry heat, the sun-faded signage, the oxidized paint on parked cars. A welcome contrast to the gray snowbanks we’d left behind in New York.

We drove through 29 Palms, confirming roadside locations - including a concrete art installation just off the highway that immediately made the shot list.

All of it on zero sleep. Just a tenth wind as I call it

Not glamorous, but worth it.

Absolutely creeping with the Super 8

Behind the Scenes

Over the next day and a half, Spencer, Glen and the team covered serious ground.

Long shooting days. Constant movement. Sand in shoes, dust on hems, cactus spines where you didn’t want them.

(L) Cholla Cactus souvenir in my boot. (R) Spencer getting styled by Kris.

(L) Katie and I reviewing pics. (R) My profile pic for the next 30 years.

Spencer being a legend.

But those in-between moments are always the ones that stick: Scouting drives at golden hour, a quick roadside lunches, dinners after losing light and coffee runs before call time.

Those are the images that will live in this post. It's those behind-the-scenes frames that show the campaign before it became a campaign.

Nothing cooler than and old Pilot lounge. Mezcal Old Fashioneds were flowing. Background photo and Illustration courtesy of The Copper Room.

We closed the trip with a wrap dinner at The Copper Room — an old airport lounge rich with its own patina and history. Mezcal on the table, cameras down. One last setting defined by texture before heading home.

Looking Ahead

The official Spring ’26 imagery will be rolling out soon. A body of work shaped by texture, restraint and the quiet of the desert.

We’re incredibly proud of how it came together.

We also spent time out there shooting me in the Rivay Airways Mechanic Suit, a separate story that we’ll share soon in its own dedicated post.

For now, we’ll leave you with the moments between the moments.