Argent

The Argent store at 1250 Wisconsin Avenue NW opened in May 2024 as the brand’s first Washington location, arriving on upper Wisconsin Avenue in a 1,500-square-foot space designed for both retail and events. Founder and CEO Sali Christeson built Argent in New York from 2016 on the premise that women’s professional clothing had not kept pace with how women were actually working, presenting, and leading. The brand’s early product line focused on blazers and tailored separates in technical fabrics that could survive a full day without wrinkling, shifting, or requiring management in a way that interrupted work. Washington was a logical expansion market for a brand whose premise is professional clothing that functions under professional conditions.

Argent’s design approach produces pieces that look tailored but are constructed from stretch-incorporated fabrics with functional pockets, which are the two things that most workwear brands fail at simultaneously. The blazers, which are the brand’s anchor product, use a stretch blend that gives them the structure of a traditional blazer without the restriction that limits movement during a long presentation or a traveling workday. The trouser line addresses the same problem from the bottom half. The result is clothing that reads as professionally dressed in a Washington context while behaving more like activewear under the surface.

The Georgetown location hosts networking events and brand programming in addition to operating as a retail shop, which was part of the location’s design from the beginning. The 1,500 square feet allows the space to function as a gathering venue for professional women’s groups, brand collaborations, and community events that the Wisconsin Avenue address can support. This use of retail space as programming venue reflects a broader shift in how direct-to-consumer clothing brands are thinking about their physical presence: the store is not just a place to buy things but a platform for the community around the brand.

Washington’s particular professional culture, which includes government workers, lobbyists, attorneys, non-profit leaders, and a substantial diplomatic community, provides a customer base that is acutely attuned to professional presentation. The city’s year-round events calendar, which includes a spring social season, a fall political calendar, and a constant rotation of professional conferences and fundraising events, generates consistent demand for the category Argent serves.

Hours run Monday through Friday from 10am to 7pm, Saturday to 6pm, and Sunday noon to 5pm. The Wisconsin Avenue address is accessible from the Georgetown Circulator and has street parking on Wisconsin and the surrounding blocks. Online ordering at argentwork.com carries the full line for customers outside the Georgetown area or for those who prefer to browse the inventory before a store visit. Christeson has spoken publicly about the founding thesis: that women entering professional environments were being asked to compromise either comfort or credibility, and that the right technical solution could eliminate the tradeoff. The Georgetown store makes that argument physical and accessible in a city that has more professional women in positions of visible authority than almost any other American market. For a first visit, the blazer section is the right starting point. Trying on two or three fits while standing and moving in them reveals what the stretch construction actually delivers in practice.