MAX Clothing

About

MAX Clothing Stores Denver · Boulder · Aspen
Harper's Bazaar 'Style Leader'
Est. 1985 | maxclothing.com
Owners: Max Martinez & Scott Seale

Story

When Max Martinez was 13-years-old, he loved playing with Barbie dolls, spending countless hours dressing them up. Although not clear at the time, his passion for dressing dolls would one day in 1985, transcend to opening a store in downtown Denver's Larimer Square shopping district. When Max wasn't cultivating relationships on the sales floor with Colorado's fashion forward, he was traveling to New York and Paris editing and buying runway collections.

In 1995, MAX Clothing Store relocated to Cherry Creek North and added a second location in Boulder.

In 2000, Max partnered with businessman Scott Seale to take the company to the next level, combining Max's keen eye for editing the world's most sought-after collections with Scott's ability to establish business relationships and land exclusive distribution agreements with Dries Van Noten, Céline, Bottega Veneta, Prada, Yves St. Laurent and Calvin Klein. Together, Max and Scott expanded and renovated their Cherry Creek North and Boulder locations, opened an outlet store and in 2003, ventured to open a store in Aspen while expanding the elevated contemporary designer category for Denver and Boulder.

In 2005, Scott launched his jewelry brand, Rask Fine Jewelry for wholesale, retail and private label markets. Rask would go on to become a celebrity favorite and the top-selling collection at MAX for over a decade.

During the recession in 2009 after lease renegotiations fell through for the 3rd & St Paul location, Scott purchased a vacant standalone building in the heart of Cherry Creek North and in August 2010, relocated the St Paul location to the new flagship building on Detroit Street.

In 2011 after an 18-month-long courtship, Diane Von Furstenberg agreed for the first time ever to take her her spring/summer fashion show on the road to celebrate the 20th anniversary of MAX Clothing Stores to raise funds for Children's Hospital Colorado Foundation. Max and Scott hosted the event and Ms. von Furstenburg was the keynote speaker.

Designer Maria Cornejo made her first public appearance in Denver to show her 2012 spring/summer Zero + Maria Cornejo collection and support Children's Hospital Colorado Foundation.

In 2015, Rask Jewelry brought manufacturing "in-house" with the help of two partners to focus on design and manufacturing fine jewelry components for the boutique jewelry trade.

Today, Max can still be found on the sales floor, fulfilling his lifelong dream of playing dress-up while Scott continues his work behind the scenes managing the business side and forging new relationships as they empower an esteemed team in fashion while giving back and supporting the community.