ATM is moving onto its next phase, with founder and creative director Tony Melillo now looking to realize his elevated essentials dreams with the brand’s new owner, Steven Madden Ltd.
Melillo started ATM with Public Clothing Co. in 2012 and used his initials — his full name is Anthony Thomas Melillo — as its moniker.
The brand began as a line of high-fashion T-shirts for men’s and women’s at Barneys New York and parlayed that exposure into other products and other stores in what Melillo described as a “great period” that lasted right up until COVID-19 hit.
“I formed a very successful business by really hustling,” he said. “We had a position of power and wanted to make sure we were executed properly in all these points of distribution.”
But the brand, known for its luxury casual looks at relatively sharp price points, fell into a kind of limbo as the wholesale landscape shifted and the pandemic took hold.
“My vision never got completed,” Melillo said. “My goal for ATM is obviously to be around for as long as possible and to grow with the market. The market changed. Wholesale became, I won’t say a disaster, but pretty difficult. And there were many other channels that needed to be touched on and invested in.”
Melillo spent two-and-a-half years looking for a deal and landed with a friend and customer — Steve Madden, whose namesake company ended up buying the business from Melillo and Public just before Thanksgiving.
Seth aka “dudewithsign” in Steve Madden’s fall 2024 campaign.
Jaden Thompson/Courtesy of Steve Madden
“This person, Steve, rather than Steve Madden Ltd., has become the person that I’m going to bet my cards on,” he said. “It’s going to be a very big, big thing that really is able to create what my vision has always been.”
Madden, who is creative and design chief at the company that bears his name, said: “I’ve been a fan of ATM Ts for a while now and was introduced to Tony a few years back. We instantly hit it off, and once I got to know him more, I could tell there was great potential in us working together. I’m so excited.”
Melillo is signed on for five years-plus and said the brand is going to stick to its core concept of elevated essential looks, but will be reaching out to more people with more marketing and new stores. The brand plans to open an outpost at the intersection of Mercer Street and Spring Street in New York by May followed by a Sag Harbor door for summer.
De-Yan, the multidisciplinary design studio, will come in and help refresh the brand to position it for the future.
“I have all the energy and strength in the world to take this to so many different levels and make it global,” Melillo said. “And in our market we surely have had more people come aboard since 2012. What I want to do when I say bring technology into this business is bring experimental shops that actually explore many things other than just the clothes. You have to draw these customers in with a lot these days. It’s not just about selling clothes off of a mannequin.
“We are now in a position to grow X, Y and Z — Gen this one, Gen that one,” he said. “That can’t be done without the proper marketing, without the proper funding.”
Where the brand had been limited in terms of manufacturing, Melillo said it could now introduce new accessories, shoes, bags and other products.
“The biggest thing is the expansion,” he said. “The expansion of our customer. How are we reaching more people? What we’ve always had and never lost is a loyal customer. What we haven’t done is expanded that scope of people, that number of people. And that’s a marketing job.”
