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The Ralph Lauren Mafia with Sean Crowley
243 Plays1 year ago
Walking Before We Could Crowley: A Charming and Funny Conversation with Sean Crowley, founder of Crowley Vintage. We cover much ground this week, but, ironically, we were having so much fun, we never talked about the shop! Sean regales us with stories of Ralph, Star Wars, his many teachers and mentors, and much more
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Transcript
Remote Recording Challenges
00:01:13
Speaker
Good evening. I'm Connor Fowler. And I'm Matt Smith. Welcome to Apocalypse Duds.
00:01:23
Speaker
I wanted to talk a little bit, you know, we like to sort of under the hood. We really, we really struggle with the remote recording. It is not, it doesn't ever really go according to plan. And it's always in a different way. You know, it's like we discover a new error every time. And a lot of the time it's not our fault. Yeah, yeah.
00:01:51
Speaker
Like every single one of these platforms has a hiccup or a bug here and there. A significant, a significant flaw. And we have, we have tried a non-significant number or insignificant number of these things.
00:02:09
Speaker
Not insignificant number of them. Yes. Yes. This this is what our fourth or fifth like Different recording platform. Yeah, I think that this is our fourth one. Yeah, they all kind of course The common denominator is
00:02:29
Speaker
is me and Matt, right? So maybe it is us, but maybe it's not us. We just wanted to thank you.
Introduction to Sean Crowley
00:02:39
Speaker
We just wanted to show, I guess, that, I don't know, that a lot goes into the show. It's a very fraught process. We have the guest at their time and it's like, oh my God, is it gonna work this time? So anyway, we did record a show just now that
00:02:59
Speaker
went extremely well. So I think you will be really, really pleased with what follows Matt. Yeah. We talked to Sean Crowley of Crowley Vintage. If you are a vintage aficionado, he probably is known to you, does what he does very well
00:03:23
Speaker
which is create, as we talk about, stories and vignettes of vintage styles in his shop. And yeah, it was a really fun conversation. Like dude's got a long history with clothing and we explore a lot of that. So we hope you enjoy it.
Discussion on Labor Unions
00:03:49
Speaker
kind of what's going on in my world and what I'm paying attention to is, as we've talked about many times, the strikes of labor unions in this country. And UAW went on strike last week. I'm terrible with dates, but yeah, like working class people- There's at some point last week
00:04:15
Speaker
Yeah, like working class people are standing up and they're like, yo, you're making two hundred million dollars a year. I'm making like thirty five thousand. Something's fucking wrong. And so, yeah, just solidarity to crucially, they want a raise, a raise that is identical to the CEO. Right. Exactly. And like they want to make exactly what he makes.
00:04:44
Speaker
he or less likely she makes.
00:04:46
Speaker
percentage-wise. Yes. Yes. Like they want something that keeps up with the profits of their labor. And like, that's not a fucking hard thing to think about. Like SAG-AFTRA has been on strike. The Rogers Guild has been on strike. Like these companies are making so much fucking money and not paying the people that make their content or their product or whatever.
00:05:16
Speaker
like any engines, the engines of their profit, right? The engines of their profit. Like the, I can't remember who the dumb fuck CEO was that went on CNN. It was either Ford or Chevy, one of the two.
00:05:32
Speaker
But I was just like, yo, you're making $200 million a year. And these people are asking for a fraction of a fraction of that and paid overtime and all of these things. Go fuck yourself if you think that your productivity is anywhere close to theirs. But we digress.
00:05:58
Speaker
Anyway, I mean, it has nothing to do even with like, uh, like something to do with them personally. It is provably false. Oh, totally. They don't do as much work. They do not, not even remotely close. And like, you know, the, the Hollywood CEO is like, dude, replace them with chat GBT and they're fucking going to do that's going to do the same job because they, they literally do nothing.
00:06:28
Speaker
Uh, and they depend on someone they don't care. Yeah. They don't give a fuck. They're getting, they're getting like an exorbitant salary. And when they quit, eventually they're going to get a golden parachute and fuck these people.
00:06:42
Speaker
Anyway, we have a good show coming up for you with Sean Crowley. If you like what we do, we would appreciate a donation maybe. We don't care, but hey, why not? Connor's Venmo is Connor-Faller. His PayPal is ConnorFaller at gmail.com. And yeah, thank you for listening.
00:07:09
Speaker
Or like, if you want to donate to some other cause, that's fine. That's also fine. Please do. Please do. But if you want to...
00:07:21
Speaker
If you like what we do, fucking donate to the, to the unions that are on strike right now. Like we don't care. We don't do this to make money. We just, you know, we just throw it out there just in case. But anyway, just in case, but thank you for listening and see you soon.
00:07:50
Speaker
Today, dear listeners, you're in for a treat.
Sean Crowley's Background and Style
00:07:54
Speaker
We have pinned down our most elusive guest yet, a man whose taste is so refined that even Ralph Lauren looks to him for inspiration. With an eye so keen, it would make a sniper flee and hide. The powers of discernment so vast, they must be experienced to be believed.
00:08:14
Speaker
Ladies, gentlemen, friends, and folks, here's a man whose connection to fabric goes beyond the ordinary. A man who, with the mere touch of any cloth, can unravel its origin in history. A man who can distinguish Harris from lesser tweeds by scent alone. The one, the only, Sean Crowley of Crowley Vintage. Greetings, Sean. Welcome to the show. Thanks for being here. Wow. Well, that was something. Yeah. Truly. Truly.
00:08:42
Speaker
I had to give him credit. That was all Connor. And I pitched a man of the cloth. Don't know if you're Catholic or not, but that was how I read something when he sent it to me at first and that did not make the cut. But yeah, dude, welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Love it.
00:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, we try to build everyone up to prepare them for the letting down that we're going to do in every interview. That's only partially kidding.
00:09:19
Speaker
But yeah, I think you'll be I think you'll be tickled showing I think yeah tickle. That's what I think. Let's hope let's great But uh, yeah, Sean Our usual opening question is where are you from? Where do you live now? And if you would like to tell us How old are you?
00:09:40
Speaker
Say again, where I'm from, where am I now? Yeah, where are you from, where you live now? Yeah, and if you like to tell us, like, how old are you? Yeah, so I'm from Massachusetts, just north of Boston. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and I am 42 years old. Nice! Nice! What neighborhood in Brooklyn are you in?
00:10:07
Speaker
I live in Bed-Stuy, but my shop is in Dumbo. Awesome, awesome. Don't look it. I would not have thought 42. You've aged well, my friend. Thank you very much. I have to ask for my edification. Are you a redhead? I don't know where you got that.
00:10:36
Speaker
I have a kind of a reddish beard, but I'm a dirty blonde. Strawberry blonde. Well, so I would say that it's on the spectrum, in the spectrum, even. I mean, maybe ish. There's probably some reddish highlights, but it's... Well, I was just thinking, for me, my fair complexion and hair
00:11:01
Speaker
kind of affects my dressing, you know? It's like there are certain things that would be inadvisable, I guess. So I was wondering if you do think about it in that way, if you do think about your hair and your skin in that way, like does that affect the way that you dress?
00:11:19
Speaker
Yeah, I don't. It's funny. I was just having this conversation with someone in the shop on Saturday and I was because they were they were basically saying, oh, you know, because I have such and such skin tone or hair color, I actually forget what they looked like. But they said, you know, I can't I can't really wear
00:11:38
Speaker
blah, blah, blah. And I was like, fuck that. I'm like, you know, you can I always think that that's kind of BS. I mean, there are definitely certain colors that suit, you know, certain people better. But I don't I don't really think that anything should really be off limits. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah. It's a question of how you do it. It's like if you have a very pale complexion and you wear a pale suit with a pale shirt and a pale tie, that's not going to be good. But you can still wear that suit. I would just say you wear it with a shirt that has some contrast or the tie
00:12:27
Speaker
is a different color, you know what I'm saying? Of course. It's an accent. It's a complementary thing. Yeah. But I don't think that just because you're white, you're black, you're Asian, you're redhead, whatever, you can't wear X, Y, or Z. Yeah. I just think green works for me because I have red hair and my skin is the way that it is. Oh, yeah, totally. I'm sure it does work.
00:12:58
Speaker
Yeah, so it just is a weird. I don't know. I just we have had some other other redheads on the show. So I asked them as well. Not that you're a redhead. Well, I would never suggest that you're a redhead, but I'm not a not a redhead, but you know.
00:13:15
Speaker
not in the red hill league can we still do the interview or is that uh is that uh it's not a prerequisite not a prerequisite at all okay all right that's that's good to know so on the on the back of uh connor is a very pointed question uh sean what did you wear today
00:13:36
Speaker
I'm wearing absolutely nothing special or fancy. I'm wearing a nice Oxford shirt from Drake's. I'm wearing some HBT pants from Buck Mason, a pair of boots from
00:13:57
Speaker
my friend's new footwear brand that actually hasn't launched yet. I'm wear testing them. Oh, fuck yes. What kind of shoes are they? If you don't mind me asking. What's that?
00:14:09
Speaker
What kind of shoes are they, if you don't mind me asking? So the brand is called August Special. It hasn't launched yet, but it's an ex Ralph Lauren guy, very good friend of mine, who's probably one of the most talented menswear designers on the planet, truly.
00:14:30
Speaker
And his name's Joe Pollard. And English guy, he basically is doing a line of footwear, and the ones that I'm wearing are based on a World War II US Navy pilot's deck shoe. Nice. Yeah. So they're kind of at a glance. You would think they were like a desert boot or something in that vein. It's that kind of a vibe, like a very low boot.
00:14:57
Speaker
But they're great. They're absolutely incredible. I can't say enough good about them. That's fucking awesome. We look forward to seeing them. Yeah, same. We'll definitely mention this yet to be launched brand as much as we can. It's going to be really, really good. Stoked to see it. Hell yes. Those alone are so comfortable. They're like, what's that?
00:15:25
Speaker
I said those alone in whatever you're wearing today are notable because they sound magnificent.
00:15:31
Speaker
Yeah, that's a cool thing. You're helping your friend out. Yeah, that's awesome. I love it. They're really good. And I'm wearing a, I guess just to complete the outfit, I'm wearing a double RL indigo blazer and a really cool 80s Ralph crocodile belt. So nothing remarkable whatsoever. Right, right, right. Just the same thing.
00:15:57
Speaker
I mean, it's just, it's kind of like the most basic, like I was running behind this morning, you know, it's been a fucking insane day. And I was just like, you know, there, there are days where you're on autopilot and then there are days where you're like, I'm going to look really like step out. I'm going to like really, you know, put something together and let me see, let me try this. And then, you know, where you're like, kind of like working at it. And then there are days where you're just like.
00:16:21
Speaker
Yeah, like just pull that boom boom boom easy, you know, yeah, you still address almost everybody, but it's not your most effort. Yeah. Yeah. Understood. Something like that. Thank you.
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess it's different in New York. I mean, in Baltimore, it's like, I'm the only person wearing a tie and a jacket for miles. You know what I mean? Yeah, you know, it's funny. I've thought a lot about that. And, like, God, New Yorkers really dress, you know? And, like, that's not to say that
00:16:56
Speaker
That's not to say that everyone is dressed to the nines, but I love that New Yorkers have a point of view. They think about what they're wearing, regardless of demographic, regardless of
00:17:12
Speaker
You know, neighborhood, like people, people dress for other people. They dress for the street, you know? They're intentional about it. Yeah, intentional. That's a great word. And I really don't. I don't know of another American city where like in L.A., people don't dress like that because everyone's in their car.
00:17:35
Speaker
Um, you know, Boston, where I'm from as a shithole, no one. Absolutely. I'll go on record though. I love Boston, but not from a stylistic standpoint. I've spent, I've spent plenty of time there. Uh, I think it's a great city. One of, one of the best, uh, love New England. I think I've said that many, many times and not, not a sartorial destination by any stretch.
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's a shame too because, you know, Boston used to have the reputation as being like a very sober town. You know, it was like a puritan town, right? So like people dressed immaculately, but very conservatively, like not taking any risks, right? That was kind of the reputation of Boston, you know, 50 years ago. But now it's just horrible.
00:18:30
Speaker
People just don't even attempt. It's just really grim. And it's so funny if you're on, let's say you fly from New York to Boston, it's a 45-minute flight, and the difference is so stark. As soon as you get off the plane, you're like, oh my god.
00:18:50
Speaker
Wow, I like I'm in a different world, you know, um, it's yeah, I I think what I what I the way I think of it is like new yorkers have they have a point of view and that's not to say that everyone is Is perfectly on point and stylish and everything's immaculate but they're thinking about it and to me that's the most important thing, you know, it's not whether
00:19:14
Speaker
It's not whether you look good or you're on trend or all the colors work or whatever. You could be really badly dressed in New York, but it feels like the New Yorkers are at least making a choice. They're thinking about it. They're like, no matter whether it's great or bad, it's intentional. And I think that's what I love about, one of the things I love about New York.
00:19:39
Speaker
Totally totally. I like I I spent a few years there and yeah Like you can see someone on the train that like like you said, they're not going they're not going all out They're not like oh I'm going out this weekend and this is what I'm wearing right now But it like it's just everyday shit that looks put together totally absolutely
Journey from Film School to Fashion
00:20:01
Speaker
So speaking of Boston, on Jeremy Kirkland's Blammo podcast, you talked a lot about your grandfather, John Burbage, who was a dress designer for Priscilla of Boston, the legendary dressmaker. So one, what kind of things did you remember him wearing? And two, from personally, we know he did a dress, I think a wedding dress for Tricia Nixon, Richard Nixon's daughter. Did he know Nixon?
00:20:31
Speaker
Uh, no, no, that was strictly business. Um, and he, he actually, it was cool because when he designed that dress, he actually spent, um, he went to Washington for the, not, not to attend the wedding, but to kind of accompany the dress. And he actually slept in the Lincoln bedroom.
00:20:52
Speaker
Wow wow and and you know spent spent like a week in the White House basically on the lead up to the the wedding kind of putting the finishing touches on it and you know making sure everything fit properly and all that so that was kind of cool but but yeah in terms of you know for him it was just a job you know he I don't think he was a fan of Nixon anymore than I am but
00:21:13
Speaker
But no, no, I didn't expect he was. Yeah, I was just I don't know. I didn't know if Nixon was like really in the shit about the dress design. Who knows? He was in most things. It seems like. Yeah, I don't I don't think I don't think he probably was involved at all if I had to guess but.
00:21:31
Speaker
You know, I, I would ask him, but unfortunately he's since passed. So, um, but, but yeah, that was, uh, that was that. Um, but my grandfather was an incredibly. Elegant dresser and, um, was 1 of those people kind of infuriatingly who.
00:21:50
Speaker
seemingly didn't really spend much time talking about clothing, surprisingly. It's like he didn't wax philosophical about my favorite shirt has this kind of collar and it's like this and it fits like that. He just kind of was like, I wear what I wear and that's that. He didn't go nuts about it.
00:22:19
Speaker
He was also one of those people who could wear kind of anything and look great. He could wear a Savile Rose suit and look like a million bucks. He could wear a JC Penney suit and look like a million bucks. He had such a great frame and he just had such an elegant presence.
00:22:41
Speaker
Um, and I know it sounds corny, but I would say like a savoir faire. I mean, he really was just such an incredible person that, um, he just looked great in everything. So yeah.
00:22:51
Speaker
Yeah, I saw images. Yeah, the images are fucking incredible and like, you know, that attitude about not really like putting a lot of effort into it seems like kind of prevalent if you work in a certain type of clothing. Like there's
00:23:11
Speaker
There's, you know, you put in enough effort to, like, look good, but if you kind of know how to do it, you can throw a bunch of shit together, like, on the fly and be like, all right, yeah. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. I mean, I, you know, I also think that in his case, he was, he actually kind of thought menswear was boring, you know, for him.
00:23:36
Speaker
He was a women's designer and all of his interest was in the designing of women's clothing. I'm pretty sure he even said as much to me at some point, but he felt like men's wear was kind of like, all right, there's like a jacket, a tie, a shirt.
00:24:00
Speaker
For him, it was boring. And so he, I don't think it was something that he, I mean he loved dressing, but I don't think it was really what turned him on. I think he really, he put that enthusiasm and creativity into
00:24:16
Speaker
uh, women's because in addition to designing, um, you know, contemporary clothing for his job in his part-time, his spare time rather, he designed, um, effectively original Edwardian and Victorian gowns. You know, he basically like put on the hat of like, uh, a designer of the 19th century and created these
00:24:42
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, so that was in that respect, it was vintage, you know. Right, right. Yeah. I mean, like that. Yeah. That is a good point.
00:24:52
Speaker
To be around this as a child too, and obviously there's some sort of, and we'll get into it, there's some sort of innate thing in appreciating vintage or old design and stuff. I feel like if you're at a certain point like you, you've got that.
00:25:15
Speaker
like you've got this innate ability to to like kind of like your grandpa and like see the beauty in things that maybe everyone doesn't um but you know i mean like yeah how did how did that affect you like
00:25:32
Speaker
Like how they're being around this person that is doing this cool stuff that probably wasn't like super, you know, super widespread at that point. Like, what did that do? Yeah, I mean, I was honestly very, very lucky.
00:25:51
Speaker
you know, I've always said that I have, I grew up with, you know, not only grew up with, but my whole life I've had great teachers and mentors and certainly my grandfather was one of those and, you know, my whole family
00:26:08
Speaker
is some kind of creative. And so no one ever sat me down and said, this is how this should be, and this is good, and this isn't, and these colors go together. It was just sort of there. It was just in the air. And it was incredible. And it's something I think growing up, it was just normal. But now, as an adult, I'm able to look back and realize how special it was.
00:26:38
Speaker
Um, and yeah, it was just, you know, it might. And also my, my grandparents, because my grandmother was also, um, uh, creative as well. She was actually a kind of in a world before, like, you know, baking shows and all that. She was a,
00:26:56
Speaker
world famous cake decorator, wedding, specifically wedding cakes. Wow. So that's kind of kind of crazy. But so they lived right next door to me. And it was just part of my, you know, it was like I had four parents. So I had my my parents and I had my grandparents there right next door. And, you know, I would just kind of float back and forth between the two houses and
00:27:22
Speaker
And yeah, it was a really magical kind of upbringing, and it exposed me to a lot of beautiful things. And again, no one ever said, this is the thing, and this is what you should do, and this is how it should be. But I just kind of absorbed it all, and then I went down my own path. So they didn't want you to follow the family business, like become a dressmaker.
00:27:48
Speaker
No, I mean, there was never any expectation. It was just do what you want to do. I mean, I went, I studied film and then ended up in fashion and no one ever batted an eye.
00:28:05
Speaker
maybe why you are successful because you did not have a horrifying overbearing parents who wanted you to do what they wanted to do or something like that. I don't know. Yeah, no, no, totally. Again, these are, as you get older, these are things that you look back to and you realize in hindsight, you realize things about your life that you weren't aware of at the time, right? Because you're living it, you're doing it. And when you look back and like for me, I think, oh my God,
00:28:35
Speaker
My parents put me through four years of film school and then I promptly graduated and said, this isn't what I wanna do. And they never once ever, never questioned it, never said, oh my God, I can't believe it. We just, oh my God, you just went to film school and now you wanna go work at a retail store. Never, never ever. So yeah. What's respect to your parents?
00:29:03
Speaker
Yeah, totally. And, you know, it's not like they're millionaires and, you know, it wasn't, you know, money was no object because that certainly wasn't the case. But but it was just I guess everyone just kind of trusted my my course. I think that's unusual, to be honest with you. Like my at least anecdotal experience, many people's parents want them to do very specific things.
00:29:29
Speaker
um sure so like i don't know just a general approval is like it's sort of refreshing uh so i'm i'm happy to hear that
00:29:38
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean, I realized, again, in hindsight, that it was probably a somewhat unconventional, you know, upbringing. But here I am. Well, so I wanted to ask about the film school, if you want to talk about it. She's not at length or anything. But I was just curious, like, were there films that made you want to go to film school? And then does it feel weird to be
00:30:07
Speaker
sort of working with that industry at Crowley Vintage? Yeah, I mean, I grew up like most of us, you know, loving the films of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You know, all the kind of like blockbusters and then, you know, later in life kind of finding the more
00:30:33
Speaker
kind of esoteric things, but I was so obsessed with, specifically, Star Wars as a kid, that I really, I was obsessed. I couldn't think of anything that I wanted to do more than make movies, and I didn't know what that meant.
00:30:55
Speaker
You know, make movies is a pretty broad term. Does that mean you're doing the makeup? Does that mean you're behind the camera? Does that mean you're building the sets? What does that mean? And I didn't really have a direction, but I just thought this is what I want to do. I want to create these worlds. And I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do. You know, I never really had another
00:31:21
Speaker
I mean, again, growing up in those days, undiagnosed ADHD and being a real just sort of magpie, just finding so many different things interesting, but not really pursuing a single thing.
00:31:38
Speaker
Sure. I just thought, my God, this world, creating these fantastic worlds, it's so enticing. That compelled me to go to film school. I studied film, I studied television, and I never ever worked in the industry.
00:32:04
Speaker
But I would not trade that experience for anything. I mean, I had such incredible teachers, and I made such incredible friends and connections. And I learned a lot that I could apply to fashion, you know? Sure. And so it was great. It wasn't like someone who says, oh, I struggled through four years of law school or whatever. But really, what I wanted to do was cook.
00:32:31
Speaker
you know, like, it wasn't right. You know, I really, I really did. I loved it. But then slowly throughout my time at school, I was like, my interest started to shift. And by the end, I realized, you know, I really, this isn't for me, I hate LA, I didn't want to live in LA, which was kind of it felt like
00:32:53
Speaker
at that time was where all my friends were moving to. That was where you have to start, you know? It's the latter seems so arduous. I like can't imagine. Totally. So I would have just like.
00:33:09
Speaker
Well, go on. Yeah, I'm sorry. No, no, no. I mean, I pretty much finished that, but I was just saying I didn't know what exactly I wanted to do, but I knew that that world was not turning me on. I really didn't like L.A. and I didn't have a specific path.
00:33:26
Speaker
Like most of the kids I went to school with, they were like, okay, I want to be a cinematographer. And they dedicated themselves to that, or I want to be a producer or whatever it was, but they went for that. And I didn't have, again, because I was such a magpie that I just, I found it all interesting and I didn't have a specialty. And that was frustrating.
00:33:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wanted to ask quickly, if you have it, what did you learn at Emerson that you're applying to fashion now?
Lessons from Film and Fashion
00:34:06
Speaker
I mean, you said that in your previous answer and I'm curious about it. Yeah, I mean, it taught me how to be part of a team, how to work on something with a group. The creative process is the creative process.
00:34:22
Speaker
whether you were making a movie or you're designing a collection. And it was also a certain amount of kind of a discipline to the creative process that I think I learned at Emerson.
00:34:41
Speaker
And yes, but that's that's very real. Yeah. And I think it was that it was that kind of rigor, that kind of approach of, you know, yeah, this is a creative endeavor, but there's a process, you know, it's not just like the follow steps.
00:34:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly. You can't just have a fucking idea and be like, God, because that's I don't know. I mean, like, I have done that before, like, when I was young, I just figured I want to make these shirts. What do you mean you want to make these shirts? How are you going to make the shirts? Exactly.
00:35:16
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah, totally. And so, you know, when I eventually ended up in fashion, I felt like some of those same values could apply, you know?
00:35:31
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I wasn't like looking for a huge thing. I mean, I just thought that that was a good point. I mean, it is useful and the creative process requires discipline and that I think often goes unsaid.
00:35:51
Speaker
Oh, I was gonna kind of like, I had a similar thought to Connor and I wanted to piggyback onto what he just asked. But do you kind of like feel now that you're doing what you are, which is like making a vintage brand and store that kind of like sets a tone. Do you feel like that has some like,
00:36:17
Speaker
similarities to wanting to create these worlds in the films, the George Lucas, the Star Wars, the stuff that you grew up on. Is there some synonymous parts of that? That's why they pay you the big bucks, Matt. Amazing. Amazing question. Really a great question. Off the brain.
00:36:41
Speaker
Uh, yeah. I mean, you're, you're basically saying, does that, that kind of notion of like world building sort of apply to what I do now? Yeah, essentially. Like, cause it seems synonymous to me. Yeah. I mean, I, I would say yes in the sense that I, you know, I ended up designing for Ralph Lauren and that was, uh, you know, obviously very much a place where it is about, um,
00:37:11
Speaker
It's about the story and there's a certain cohesion and a certain consistency and that is definitely something that in my day-to-day I think about constantly. How does this piece fit into
00:37:35
Speaker
everything else, you know, everything has to make sense. And so I'm very, I'm very, very calculating and very specific about the pieces that I buy and sell, because to me, they have to, they have to be justified.
00:37:55
Speaker
they have to make sense. I know plenty of people who are dealers, whether it's of clothing or anything, they'll just buy and sell anything. And frankly, there's nothing wrong with that because it's probably a much better business model than what I do.
00:38:18
Speaker
But for me, I can only be excited about the things that I believe in. I'm a bad liar. I respect the fuck out of that. That's awesome.
00:38:40
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a great bullshitter, but I'm a bad liar. And I find that when I started out working in the store at Ralph Lauren, and when I did, and I only drank the Kool-Aid so much, I'm not going to lie and tell you that every single piece in that store was incredible.
00:39:04
Speaker
But I could be really a good salesman selling the things that I really love, the things that resonated with me. But if it was something that I thought was kind of a dud, I couldn't pretend.
00:39:21
Speaker
Yeah, you're speaking to me directly with this shit, Sean. God damn. Yeah, I am the exact same way. And like, I understand, you know, like you said, neither neither of the angles are bad. You can do whatever you want to do. But I can't I fucking can't like get behind something that I don't personally think is right.
00:39:45
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, when I worked at Ralph, there were guys who were career salesmen and they were real professionals and they made big, big money and they could sell ice to Eskimos. I mean, they could sell anything.
00:40:04
Speaker
Yeah. And I kind of admired that. You know, I was kind of like, wow, you guys are like, you guys are real pro. You've seen, you've seen Glenn, Gary Glenn Ross. I have. Yeah. A million years ago, but yeah. Oh man. Right. But that's like not the best of that.
00:40:21
Speaker
You know, like Baldwin is in that movie, but he is not the best in that movie. The point is it's the sales people thing. I just think it's like that's what I think of whenever I think about. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and there is a there is a kind of person that has that skill and it is a skill.
00:40:41
Speaker
to be able to just sell anything to anyone. It's like, okay, today we're selling vinyl siding. All right, let me tell you about this vinyl siding. Tomorrow- This is the best vinyl siding I ever seen in my life. Tomorrow, we're selling frozen peas. I'll tell you about these frozen peas.
00:41:04
Speaker
you know, for better or worse, I didn't have that in me and I still don't. So that's why in my shop, every single piece is, you know, it's hand chosen and I can speak to it. I can talk about each piece and I can tell you, you know, why I love this thing and this is such a great quality and check this out. Look at this detail.
00:41:28
Speaker
And I'd like to see you in the store, because one of the things that really stood out to me from one of the interviews that I read with you was that you said you mostly get the stuff one at a time.
00:41:44
Speaker
Yeah, it depends. My sourcing has changed over the years. Now, I really, really try to do more bulk buying whenever possible. I work with a lot of private estates.
00:42:04
Speaker
And so I'm ideally buying not one thing at a time. But I am buying one thing at a time. It's anything and everything. I always tell people I'm getting new things every single day. And whether it's one thing a day or 1,000 things a day, it's a constant stream. Excellent. Yeah. Is Matt here? I'm here. I'm here.
00:42:30
Speaker
You know, in your interviews over the years, you've mentioned a lot about Bobby from Boston, which one of the greatest experiences of my life was going to that that store and the warehouse. Yeah. Yeah, totally. R.I.P. Bobby like legendary motherfucker. Right. Like.
00:42:49
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we were going to ask what your, you know, if this was your first real experience with vintage. But I think that that is passing at this point. You've covered that. But, you know, what did what did this experience of working with Bobby and like him teaching you his like well-earned wealth of knowledge? Like, what did that culminate in for you?
00:43:18
Speaker
I mean, I guess it culminated in me having my own shop or ending up in fashion.
Learning through Experience
00:43:25
Speaker
I mean, Bobby was, again, referring back to the great mentors and teachers that I've had, Bobby was certainly one of them and one of the best.
00:43:37
Speaker
And he, yeah, I mean, he was, again, you know, most of these mentors that I'm thinking of, like my grandfather, like Bobby, it was kind of through osmosis. It wasn't like a, okay, let's like sit down. And today I'm going to tell you, these are the things, you know, it was just through like that. Yeah, I mean, it can be. I mean, you know, when I worked at Ralph, my, you know, my, my, my first boss there who was a
00:44:06
Speaker
a serious old pro veteran of menswear. It would come sometimes like that in a literal sense. It would be like, let me tell you about how this thing is made. But more often- This thing is always dog shit. Sure. That binary wisdom only comes sometimes.
00:44:29
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So, um, so, yeah, it's, um, I just totally lost my train of thought. But, um, we're talking about Bobby and you learning stuff and not exactly learning a list of, uh, you know, items that doesn't come to you as a, as a, as a binder. I mean, I think that the, just like zooming out a little bit, I think that the, the,
00:44:58
Speaker
The thing that I am the most thankful for in terms of the way that all of this stuff came to me, the way that I learned things, was all very organic and it was all completely offline.
00:45:14
Speaker
And I really, you know, it was through face-to-face interactions. It was through whether that's face-to-face with another person or with a thing, with an object, you know, a garment or whatever. And that's really how I learned everything.
00:45:38
Speaker
you know, it wasn't, you know, sure when I worked at Ralph, you know, I had, I had people guiding me and, you know, saying, you know, this, this is the best shade of Navy or whatever, you know what I mean? Like, but in general, it was really a just a kind of an organic
00:45:58
Speaker
journey. That sounds really cheesy, but it was just moving through life and seeing what resonates with you. Which things are catching your eye? Which things are you gravitating towards? Which things aren't you? Which things don't you like? I think that, and this is my old man soapbox thing, but when I meet so many young guys through my shop,
00:46:28
Speaker
And by and large, they're really nice. But they're all kind of like clones. They're all kind of learning from the same sources, whether it's an Instagram, a TikTok, a blog, whatever. It's all online. And it really feels like these guys all have the identical inspiration and
00:46:55
Speaker
you know, like the identical kind of wish list. And I just- Well, it's the hashtag menswear, kind of capitalismization of this little corner of clothing. Yeah, totally. I mean, I don't think I've ever thought of it in terms of the capitalization of it, but I think that's pretty accurate. Which I guess just is the word, capitalization. Yeah.
00:47:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's that's totally this is the point of the show is to bring up this kind of stuff. Yeah. And it's it's something I think a lot about because it's something that I'm constantly trying to disabuse these guys of through the shop. And, you know, fucking boring, you know, it's so fucking boring and it's very boring. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's just like
00:47:50
Speaker
It's also just so foreign to me because it's not how I got into all this. And so I'm always kind of baffled. Now, obviously, I'm horribly online for work with Instagram and everything else. I spend way too much time on my phone, just like the rest of us. But that wasn't how I got started.
00:48:16
Speaker
You know, right. Right. Well, I mean, just say something about me for a second. Like, I wouldn't have been able to get into it without the Internet period in my like suburb of D.C. Bear. And it is tech. It's not like a Silver Spring suburb of D.C. You know, it's not that close. But I wouldn't have been able to figure it out at all without the Internet.
00:48:39
Speaker
So I just wanted to go on the record as saying the Internet is kind of positive if me being involved in this scene can be viewed as positive. The jury is to follow that one. Yeah, right. I totally, I mean, I fully, fully understand. I think that
00:48:59
Speaker
I also recognize that I just happened to be incredibly lucky because I had this string of incredible teachers that just kind of landed in my path.
00:49:14
Speaker
whether that was my grandfather, Bobby, my first boss Jerry at Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren himself who hired me. I've had really, really good teachers all along the way and they've just shown up. I realized that that's exceptional and that
00:49:43
Speaker
that you know that everyone can't do it that way and that um and that you know the internet i'm not like trying to make like an anti hashtag menswear anti internet statement but no no no no but i do think that it it creates a kind of samey um kind of persona you know um
00:50:05
Speaker
Well, it was a look, you know, that like hashtag menswear look, like everyone with their double monks with one of the straps undone or both of the straps undone, you know. But I mean, that's maybe that look is gone, but we're still living with the same shit, you know, like it's the same. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like all that kind of Sprezzatura horse shit, you know, like which, of course, the whole idea of Sprezzatura... Disgusting Italian influence.
00:50:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no comment, but yes, agreed. Some things that Connor and I talk about, and will surely be featured on later shows, is that a lot of mainstream shit now, it takes so much reference from that.
00:50:59
Speaker
And it's like, yo, 10 years on that you can go to Macy's and buy a suit that you would have seen on Tumblr in 2011. Like, yeah, but it's so slow. It's been so slow. Like that has been slow. Like, and it's just, I don't know. It's like, it's one of those things. Yeah, totally. Has like X.
00:51:21
Speaker
Expanding influence still to this day. So, yeah, very totally when Nick Luster got hired by JCPenney. Say that again. Do you remember when Nick Wooster got hired by JCPenney? Oh, that kind of rings a bell. Yeah.
00:51:37
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and that was kind of going to be that like JCPenney was going to bravely move forward into a new world. And the stuff was cool, but it was from JCPenney still. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I mean, it's very fraught.
00:52:00
Speaker
All that stuff. Yeah, it really is. And it's like you want to be kind of authentic with the way that you dress. But what does that even mean? You're wearing clothes that are 50 years old. It's all it's all kind of a mind game. I wanted to ask you about this new and Lingwood interview and neckwear collaboration.
Fashion as Rebellion in the 2020s
00:52:23
Speaker
You said in the interview that the tie has gone from being a uniform to being a choice. And so I was wondering why
00:52:30
Speaker
Why is wearing a tie or getting dressed up in the 2020s? How is that rebellious? How is that breaking the mold? It's just that simple, really. All of this stuff, the hashtag men's work thing,
00:52:50
Speaker
It's about a generation of men who no longer have to wear a suit, a shirt, a tie, a suit, et cetera, and yet find themselves wanting to. So again, it's that thing people talk about in retail. It's not a need, it's a want. And that's where we are.
00:53:19
Speaker
And granted, forever and ever, men have had a mixed interest in clothing. Either it's just something I got to wear every day and I don't care. I just buy it, I wear it, and that's it. Or I actually really enjoy it. And I love to peruse the new delivery of ties or shirts or whatever. I think that relationship to clothing is
00:53:48
Speaker
is not entirely new, but now what is new is the fact that very few people still have to wear any kind of formal, let's say, tailored clothing. Whereas once upon a time, that was required. So it's that simple to me. And that's where all this stuff that we're talking about really comes from is guys that are guys that want to. So yeah. Yeah.
00:54:16
Speaker
Yeah, well, thank you. Totally. I'm writing that down. Yes. So Sean, you're pretty well documented in your story about working for Ralph, being hired by Ralph. Yeah. I would like to know, because we have to mention Ralph on every single episode, what was your first experience with Polo or Ralph Lauren as a brand?
00:54:45
Speaker
That's actually a great question because I meet a lot of guys who grew up with Ralph Lauren. They had the Ralph Lauren bedding and they had Ralph Lauren dishes and they wore Ralph clothes and they were obsessed with it from day one. I wasn't. I had a very kind of
00:55:13
Speaker
mixed kind of murky relationship with clothing early on. And it wasn't until I was in middle school that I say a murky relationship.
00:55:28
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I wasn't like a Ralph fanboy from the beginning. In fact, I think my exposure to Ralph was the kind of department store Ralph.
00:55:44
Speaker
I didn't go to a Ralph Lauren store until I was, gosh, probably, I don't know, in college. So for me, I started out with the whole Anglophile, tailored clothing obsession. And then that sort of bled into, that verged into Ralph Lauren.
00:56:11
Speaker
So I was not one of those guys who grew up with it. And then once I, basically kind of going back to Bobby briefly, when I worked at Bobby's and I was meeting designers from all over the world, because they would come to the store, they would come to Boston to shop for inspiration. And it ran the gamut from all the kind of traditional
00:56:38
Speaker
Brands that you would assume, you know, the J. Cruz, the Ralphs, the, you know, even gap and people like that to, to even more like capital F fashion people.
00:56:51
Speaker
And I didn't really have a strong feeling about fashion per se. But when I met all of these designers, I figured out very early on that the Ralph designers were the coolest. That they were the people that I really vibed with. They were the people who they looked cool. They dressed cool. That's what Derek said. Derek said, the coolest guys wear polo.
00:57:20
Speaker
Yeah, and that was, to me, that was what hooked me into Ralph was the designers, was working with them and seeing that these guys really knew their stuff and they were really into it.
00:57:36
Speaker
Sometimes you meet designers and they're just ticking stuff off of a line sheet. They're just like, okay, we need three stripes for spring. We need to look at some woven patterns. It's more formulaic, whereas the Ralph people, I was like, fuck, these guys are really cool.
00:57:58
Speaker
And I wanted to be friends with them. And I became friends with them. And that was, and maybe I've lost the train of this question, but that's what led me to back to Ralph, right? Was now I left Bobby's because it kind of felt like I'd gone as far as I could with that. And I really wanted to break into design. And so I started working in the Ralph shop.
00:58:26
Speaker
And then, you know, and then I ended up meeting Ralph. So, yeah, that was my, I guess that was my introduction to Ralph, to Ralph the brand, not the man, but which then led to Ralph the man.
00:58:40
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Something that will go down in the generations as a legendary.
Career Breakthrough with Ralph Lauren
00:58:45
Speaker
What's that? Just this trajectory of you like getting hired and meeting Ralph the Man. And that's not something that most people can say. As a Ralph head,
00:59:01
Speaker
That's beautiful. Yeah, totally. It was really wild and it was something that I don't even think at the time that I realized how crazy it was because I was working in the Boston store, the Ralph store on Newbury Street in Boston, and I got scouted. The guy who was the men's manager of the mansion in New York,
00:59:24
Speaker
He happened to be in the shop and he was doing a little secret shopper routine. He came up to me and was asking me some questions, but he didn't introduce himself. I thought he was just a customer. Then he said, well, you know what? I'm actually like, I think you would be a great fit in our flagship in New York. I was like, oh, cool. At that point, I had no path.
00:59:52
Speaker
I had already interviewed with someone at Ralph in New York and it kind of went nowhere. Wow. And then this happened. I mean, I interviewed with someone in design and then this happened and he was like, you know, you should come, you know, if you want, come work in New York. And I was like, all right, cool. Like I was like, you know, 20 something. And I was like, okay, yeah, sounds good. So kind of on the spur of the moment I moved to New York.
01:00:25
Speaker
And then very quickly, I was just insane luck. Actually, I don't think I've ever told anyone this, but I traded shifts with a friend of mine, a guy who I'm still very good friends with today. And so I was covering his shift and I happened to be there one morning. It was pretty early. We were just kind of getting up and running and Ralph came in.
01:00:45
Speaker
started working at the mansion.
01:00:53
Speaker
And he wasn't, you know, usually he's surrounded by his like, you know, his his coterie of followers and stuff. And so he was kind of on his own. And we he came over to me and I was kind of like quietly shitting my pants. I was like,
01:01:19
Speaker
And because I had never met him or seen him before. So he came right over to me. And I was actually shocked by how comfortable I felt talking to him. He was a very disarming manner. He's very chill. And we just had a very normal conversation. We just chatted about this and that.
01:01:46
Speaker
And he said, what do you want to do? And I said, well, I'd love to work in men's design. And he said, all right, let's talk about that.
01:01:59
Speaker
And then the conversation ended. He left. And then all of a sudden, the phone call started happening. Holy shit. And then it's like, yeah, and it was crazy. And then it just tons of phone calls and interviews and talking to everyone in the company, because now it's like you're Ralph's new guy. Right. Yeah.
01:02:23
Speaker
And so, you know, it's very much that kind of an organization where it's like, you know, if Ralph, if Ralph, whatever Ralph says goes. So if Ralph says he met this guy and he seems cool, then.
01:02:36
Speaker
you know, let's do it. So that was, yeah, that was how that started. And it wasn't immediate. I mean, I went through a million interviews and then it was probably, God, I don't know, probably at least three months later that I actually ended up getting the job.
01:02:58
Speaker
Which was crazy. And I had no idea what I was doing. And I just got thrown in. And I learned on the job. Hell yeah. What did you start doing as your first gig?
01:03:14
Speaker
So I, cause basically it was like Ralph, Ralph was like, okay, Ralph likes you, but we don't know what to do with you. Um, and so I ended up talking with a million different people in the company, but I ended up, my first job was doing a tie design. Okay. Yeah.
01:03:32
Speaker
Um, which turned out was actually the perfect spot for me. Um, you know, my, my boss was this guy named Jerry Myers. He had been in the menswear industry for, uh, I mean, since the, at least since the sixties. Um, and I mean, when I worked with him, he was in his late seventies. I mean, this guy was an absolute lunatic. He, he would commute every day.
01:03:58
Speaker
to Midtown Manhattan from the main line of Philadelphia. Oh, wow. Wow. That is not a fun fucking... Every single... Jesus. And here's the thing. How long does that take? Is that like four hours? He started working at Ralph at retirement age. He started at like 65 or something.
01:04:20
Speaker
And yeah, he had known Ralph forever, before Ralph was Ralph. He knew Ralph since the 60s. And so they basically, I think it was in the 90s, they brought him in as their neckwear designer because he had a lot of experience with that. He was the guy who started Rooster. Okay.
01:04:45
Speaker
You know, I'm sure you know, Rooster Todd. Yeah. So that was him. So he was my first boss and he was just this incredible wealth of knowledge. He also drove me insane and I drove him insane. We kind of had a very, we had a really interesting relationship because
01:05:08
Speaker
We had a lot in common. We both were insane about the product. We loved it. But we had very different work ethics. Again, I'll mention ADHD for the 10th time. I was always late. I was always distracted. I was always floating around the office, flirting with girls or chatting with my friends who worked in other departments or whatever.
01:05:34
Speaker
And so we were always at odds with one another. He was always busting my balls. And there were more nights than I can count that I left. And I was like, God, that fucking guy, he's driving me insane. I can't believe it. I want to punch him in the face.
01:05:53
Speaker
and and then um but then you know he he taught me so much and you know he he passed away when i was working with him and i you know i i miss him like crazy you know i mean he yeah damn we drove we drove each other insane um and you know we we'd fight about stuff but um but like
01:06:19
Speaker
you know, I think about it now. And, you know, I wish I wish she was still around. Totally. So, so yeah. Man, you've had such a great teacher. Yeah, you've had so many teachers and mentors and like, just sheer wealth of knowledge around who like, that's fucking incredible. Just like the two experiences and that it's led to on the path that you have gone on.
01:06:47
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. I just landed in the right place at the right time. Totally. Totally. And that's how it goes. Yeah, I mean it can. I think that also part of working at Ralph,
01:07:06
Speaker
It was about you really had to be focused on what you... How do I put this? You know, the taste level was such that you really had to
01:07:23
Speaker
believe in your choices. It was a very rigorous kind of situation. It's like if you wore the wrong thing to the office, you would know about it. I remember one day, this will forever live in my mind, I wore a
01:07:40
Speaker
a beautiful Savile Row tweed jacket, probably wore it with chinos or something, and I wore a grenadine tie, right? Which, you know, grenadine is like the hashtag men's wear, like, you know, wankfest, right?
01:07:58
Speaker
and i i did that i thought oh this you know this makes sense you know this is a sort of like textured tie and i'm wearing it with a tweed jacket and you know and the colors look great together and i walked into the office and jerry just looked at me he goes a grenadine tie with a tweed jacket all right think again yeah i've got to respect that
01:08:24
Speaker
I have to respect it because- Yeah, I mean, he was right. He was totally right. And to this day, I'll never do that again. But it was, I think that something, even though God knows all the internet is nothing but trolls, right? It's nothing but people saying, oh,
01:08:42
Speaker
That jacket looks stupid on you. You shouldn't wear that kind of shoe with that kind of jacket. I mean, that's the nature of internet culture. But there's something really valuable about having an old hand tell you face to face to say, you really should never wear that together. That's not a thing. Not getting it from the internet, but getting it from an actual person.
01:09:11
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I imagine he explained why also, right? Yeah, of course. He said, you know, he said grenadine is one of the most formal qualities of silk.
01:09:24
Speaker
It's effectively a lace and it's something you wear with an impeccable suit with a perfectly starched shirt. It's not a knit tie. If you had only chosen a knit that day, Sean, you would not have gotten ridicule.
01:09:46
Speaker
I know. But since you got reticuled, you learned something. But then you wouldn't be who you are today. Exactly. Exactly. It's that kind of abuse, maybe the man I am. Yeah, yeah. It's so funny, I think that...
Impact of Mentorship in Fashion
01:10:02
Speaker
Somehow, it coming from a source that was not the internet, that was in person, it was like, what the fuck are you doing? That had more impact.
01:10:14
Speaker
For sure. Yeah, absolutely. All those guys, Ralph, his brother, Jerry, my Jerry, who was Jerry Myers, I had two Jerrys. Their word was gospel. Yes. But it is really funny, I think, for me, in years since, I mean, I left Ralph in 2015.
01:10:38
Speaker
But when I talk to people or I listen to people talking about Ralph Lauren, it's so funny to hear all the misinformation that's out there. People have these ideas about the company, about the brand, about Ralph, about the origins and all this. It always cracks me up because I'm like, this is bullshit.
01:11:05
Speaker
Again, the internet breeds this misinformation, but I'm always astonished at some of the stuff that I hear and I'm like, no, that's not how it works. I think I heard Derek Guy on your podcast saying something about, and I can't now for the life of me, I can't remember what it was, but I was like, yeah, that's not true.
01:11:30
Speaker
shots fired dude yeah go back through the podcast and and let us know what it is because I'm sure Derek being who he is would want to go on the record and correct whatever information or misinformation he threw out there
01:11:46
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm not I'm not picking on him. I mean, it's it's it's all over the place. Of course, of course. Yeah. There's so much like there's a lot. I will just say, you know, like even even the idea that that Ralph invented the wide tie. Right. Right. Like that. Oh, not not even remotely close.
01:12:04
Speaker
Well, like the pronunciation of his last name, say that again, which is the pronunciation of his last name, which is deliberate, right? Like to sound more American.
01:12:18
Speaker
Um, well, yeah, for sure. I mean, Lauren, I mean, that's just the way you pronounce that name, right? I mean, the whole, no, no, no, but see people think Lauren, people think Lauren, like this is a brand not American. This is like a sophisticated European something, you know?
01:12:34
Speaker
Right. Which is kind of a lot of mystery. And that whole thing is another great kind of misconception, the idea that it wasn't even Ralph that changed the name. It was his brother. Right. And I heard that story a million times because I used to sit right next to Jerry Lauren. Yeah. Who I have heard from multiple sources is a wonderful human or was a wonderful human being.
01:13:03
Speaker
Like, I've never heard a shitty thing said about that dude. About Jerry, yeah. About Jerry Lawrence? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Jerry, Jerry, you know, Ralph and Jerry are kind of perfect opposites. You know, Jerry, like, you know, but in every way, I mean, like, Ralph is obviously a very slight person. He's very small. He's very, he's very soft spoken, you know, right?
01:13:28
Speaker
you know, he'd be like, well, you know, I think this is a really, this is a great collection. I think you guys should be very proud of yourselves. This is very, you know, and he's very soft-spoken and very subtle.
01:13:45
Speaker
Whereas Jerry was always very boisterous, very charming, outgoing, back-slapping, much louder, and bigger. Physically, he was probably around my height. I'm six, too. He has to be at least six feet tall, whereas Ralph is, God, I don't know, five feet tall.
01:14:10
Speaker
I don't know. I'm just making that up. But Jerry was always charming, always fun. He just loved to walk into a room and just see what people were working on. And he loved just being around people and being charming. Whereas Ralph was always like an indoor kid. Ralph was much more methodical.
01:14:39
Speaker
inward and but together they were a perfect team you know because you had the one guy who was kind of like quietly planning and the other guy who was like out there like slapping backs and shaking hands and you know hey how are you doing you look beautiful you're so gorgeous oh my god you know like that was kind of the dynamic you know that's so fucking good to hear because that that has always seemed to me personally like what the dynamic was so
01:15:08
Speaker
man. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it was, it was just so fun to have have all those people just around, you know, to be, you know, in a time before working remote was even a thing to have all those bodies and all those brains
01:15:27
Speaker
in the same building on the same essentially three floors. I mean the men's department was really all on one floor and you know just the kind of the cross-pollination of like moving throughout departments. I mean that was how I ended up getting a lot of information for whatever department I was working in at the time was just through
01:15:49
Speaker
chatting, you know, it was just like walking over to someone else's desk and saying, Hey, where are you guys working? Oh, cool. Oh, that's wow. That's cool. Look at that. Awesome. Like, and, and it was just, it was so much talent and just so many great people. And, you know, so many of those people are lifelong friends.
01:16:09
Speaker
and it's a real you know people joke about like the Ralph Lauren mafia and it's it's really a thing because you know I still have all those connections I've gone to all those people's weddings and I've you know we've all done favors for each other and you know it's it really I can't say enough good about about that experience I mean and I'm not gonna lie I mean there were
01:16:32
Speaker
You know, there were bad days too, but, um, but it was, it was by and large, it was great until it wasn't, you know, and that's what I always say. It was, I loved it. And then after I was there for 11 years and, you know, at the end of that, I was, I was kind of, I was kind of done. I was good.
01:16:53
Speaker
Well, Sean, thank you so much for joining us today. We covered a lot of ground. That was awesome. And hearing the exclusive about you switching shifts, that's an Apocalypse Us exclusive. So thank you for that. Sorry, the exclusive about what? About you covering the shift and the meeting Ralph on the covered shift. That's serendipity.
01:17:23
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah, totally. This heard nowhere else, ladies and gentlemen. Exactly. It's so funny that we didn't, I realized now in hindsight, we didn't even really talk about my shop. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is, it's been fun though. And like, I don't know, I feel like we got... Oh yeah, totally. I'm not complaining. Yeah.
01:17:45
Speaker
Yeah, we will shout you out and we always like to give our our guest a chance to shout out whenever they want to. So your shop will probably come up in this section.
01:17:56
Speaker
Okay. Love it. Were you asking me right there for my shout out? Yeah, shout out to me. Yes. Hell yeah. Actually, can I tell you, total non sequitur, but that reminds me of a moment from film school that I was just thinking about two days ago.
01:18:19
Speaker
Which which was I remembered being in a class and the teacher Going around the room I forget what that might have been like a film history class or something But the teacher going around the room and saying what are your favorite films? What are the films that have really?
01:18:38
Speaker
you know, made the most impact on you. And, you know, people are going around the room, it's like, oh, you know, it's Martin Scorsese, it's, you know, David Lean, it's Orson Welles, you know, it's all the kind of things you might expect. And there was one kid, and I wish I could remember who it was, one kid, they said, you know, what are the films that have really influenced you the most? And this kid said, my films.
01:19:07
Speaker
That's like the Kanye answer. And I was like, you piece of shit. Yeah. So yeah, that's tantamount to me giving a shout out to my own shop. Well, yeah, I don't know. God, there's so much. I've got so many good friends in the menswear world that I love and support. Obviously, I mentioned my friend Joe, who
01:19:33
Speaker
is just a complete polymath and genius. He's launching this incredible footwear brand called Argus Special. I love everyone at Drake's. It's not going to be any surprises. I love Kamakura. I've recently become friends with the guys at Beams Plus. They're amazing. I don't know if
01:19:57
Speaker
And if there's a limit on how many people I can shout out, but yeah, there's, there's some, just so much great, great talent out there, great product, great people. Um, yeah. And your, your shop, it is a good time to be a mentor. And your shop, Sean is.
01:20:18
Speaker
My shop is Crowley Vintage. Yes, Crowley Vintage. Give him a follow, great selection, and just all-around cool dude. Historical tidbits, I think. Historical tidbits? That's what stands out to me is the like, oh, this is like a little, this is like a little historical artifact.
01:20:42
Speaker
One of the biggest things that I have respect about you, and I know we have a lot of mutual friends, is the fact that you know your fucking shit. Thank you for coming on, Sean. Yeah, totally. It's a lot of fun. For better or worse, I was talking to my therapist earlier, and I was talking about how it's so difficult to extricate myself from my business. When you have your own business,
01:21:10
Speaker
Um, specifically when business is something that you, uh, are really passionate about. Um, you know, it's not like I have like a pool cleaning business or something, which, you know, maybe, maybe the guy who was the pool cleaning business is super passionate about that. I don't know, but like I, yeah, it's, it's, it all just kind of blurs into one big soup. Um, which, which I don't, I'm not mad about, but it means that I'm kind of working all the time.
01:21:40
Speaker
You know, yep, yep. I feel you 100%. And well, thanks. Thanks for spending this time with us. Cause I know your time. I'll let you guys go. It was great to chat and, uh, let's do it again. Yes. Yes. We definitely will. And, uh, everyone, thank you for listening. Uh, I am Matt Smith at rebels rogues. Always eager.
01:22:07
Speaker
at Connor Fowler. Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you guys. We'll talk soon. All right. Yes.