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Todd Snyder - Collecting Champion With A Ralph Lauren & J.Crew Alumni
1.5k Plays2 years ago
When it comes to American Menswear, a few names stick out, like Ralph Lauren & J. Crew. But those two brands can’t be mentioned without naming Todd Snyder, who is truly at the helm of American Menswear as we know it today. An Alumni of both brands previously mentioned, Todd decided to start an eponymous menswear company at the age 40 and has taken everything he has learned from his previous endeavors, and combined it with his personal taste to create a brand that everyone should be aware of today. GQ did after all once describe him as the guy who guys trust to do what they themselves can’t: make them look and feel like better versions of themselves. But Todd’s not one to shy away from letting the brands he loves do what they’re best at, and he’s found a way to do collaborations with quite a few of them, like Champion. Todd has an ongoing collaboration with them which has become some of his best sellers, but what most might not know about Todd is that his love for Champion came early on in his career. He’s got a collection of Champion that exceeds the number 2000 and is ever growing. From hunting basements in Japan to getting a separate warehouse to store them all, its safe to say he’s a collector at heart. He actually called our chat a “therapy session” so I think we hit some heartstrings. Visit one of his many stores and you’ll see he’s a collector of many things, from Champion, to furniture, watches, you name it. Until then, please enjoy, Todd Snyder, for Collectors Gene Radio.
Todd Snyder - https://www.toddsnyder.com/
Hidden Pond Main - https://www.hiddenpondmaine.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to Collecting and Todd Snyder
00:00:00
Speaker
You know for me it's always been there's a thrill of collection and you know these things are one of a kind pieces. You know you're not going to find them anywhere and once you get rid of them they're gone. So I covet them, I have them stored in a very nice warehouse and it all started when I worked it around. What's going on everybody and welcome to Collectors Gene Radio.
00:00:25
Speaker
This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call the collector's gene. If you have the time, please subscribe and leave a review. It truly helps. Thanks a bunch for listening and please enjoy today's guest on collector's gene radio.
Todd Snyder's Career Journey
00:00:45
Speaker
When it comes to American men's wear, a few names stick out like Ralph Lauren and J. Crew.
00:00:51
Speaker
But those two brands really can't be mentioned without naming Todd Snyder, who's truly at the helm of American menswear as we know it today. An alumni of both previously mentioned brands, Todd decided to start an eponymous menswear brand at the age 40 and has really taken everything he'd learned from his previous endeavors and combined it with his personal taste to create a brand that really each and every one of you should be aware of today.
00:01:14
Speaker
I mean, GQ did after all once describe him as the guy who other guys trust to do what they themselves can't, which is make them look and feel like better versions of themselves. But Todd's not one to shy away from letting the brands that he loves do what they're best at. I mean, he's even found a way to do collaborations with quite a few of them, like Champion. Todd has an ongoing collaboration with them, which has become some of his best sellers. But what most might not know about him is that his love for Champion came early on in his career.
00:01:42
Speaker
He's got a collection of champion goods that exceeds the number 2000 and is truly ever growing. From hunting basements in Japan to getting a separate warehouse to store them all, it's safe to say he's a collector at heart. He actually called our chat a therapy session, so I think we had some heartstrings. Just visit one of his many stores and you'll see he's a collector of many items from champion to furniture, watches, you name it. But until then, please enjoy Todd Snyder for Collector's Gene Radio.
00:02:12
Speaker
Todd Snyder, so excited to catch up with you today on collector's gene radio. That's great to be here. Thanks for having me. My pleasure. So for those that don't know you, which I would be shocked if they're listening to this podcast, but you are
00:02:30
Speaker
really at the helm of American menswear. Would you say that that's, I mean, you'd probably don't want to get to compliment yourself too much, but I'm sure you can take that for sure, right? Yeah. I mean, I feel really fortunate to be where I am. I wouldn't say I'm at the helm. I mean, there's so many between Ralph and, you know, I think there's so many menswear gurus out there. It'd be tough for me to say I'm at the helm, but it's
00:03:00
Speaker
I know we're having quite a moment right now, I would say that, and just really starting to expand on what we built five or six years ago. For sure. You're based out in New York now, and you're starting to open up stores all over the place, but your roots actually really start in Iowa. Is that correct? Yeah, correct. I started working in Iowa.
00:03:27
Speaker
worked in a men's store there called Badaoers. It's like very traditional menswear, haberdashery in Des Moines, Iowa. And that's really where I kind of fell in love with just menswear in general. And Ralph Lauren for me was always my
00:03:46
Speaker
ultimate brand and still is that just kind of taught me to love menswear and to really just got into dressing up. I don't know what it was more so than just I know girls liked it. So getting the attention of girls was always my motivation. But yeah, that's where I started. And then I moved to New York like 30 years ago.
00:04:09
Speaker
And so you moved to New York in 92. And for someone that grew up loving Ralph so much, most people would be, I guess, intimidated, you know, to try and find their way into working for him. But that's kind of exactly what you did, right? You moved to New York and you went right to Ralph. Yeah, I mean, that was my goal. I read Ralph's book.
00:04:32
Speaker
back in the late 80s, early 90s. And I didn't know you could do this for a living, to be honest with you. And really kind of set my sights on learning everything I could about
00:04:48
Speaker
menswear. So I worked at
Influences on Todd's Design Philosophy
00:04:50
Speaker
a men's store and learned how to stow. I learned how to do alterations and just kind of immerse myself in the business. I was studying originally. I switched majors probably four or five times.
00:05:06
Speaker
But I started off in freshman engineering and then I went to architecture and then ended up going to business. And right about a year before I was going to graduate, I switched majors again and was realizing I didn't want to be a banker. And I was, like I said, I was working at the menswear store and that really just kind of became my focus. And I realized Iowa State actually had a program in fashion design and textiles and clothing.
00:05:34
Speaker
and talked to a friend of mine and he was in the program. We both worked in retails and I remember asking him like, aren't you in some design program or fashion program? So I ended up switching. I graduated like a year and a half, two years later. So I was in school for about six years, no doctorate, but moved to New York city and Ralph was kind of my dream job. So I cold called them.
00:06:01
Speaker
And I had probably about a dozen interviews when I came out to visit. I did a portfolio. I was still in school and, you know, tried to get into all the menswear places, you know, Calvin Klein to Ralph to
00:06:19
Speaker
There was a bunch of menswear brands at the time that were in business, Joseph Abboud, Andrew Fezza. These are kind of like the old guard of American menswear. And ended up getting the callback from Ralph. So I took the job and worked the summer there. And then I ended up getting a job when I graduated. It was more, again, kind of a continuation of the internship. And then my first real paying job was actually J. Crew.
00:06:49
Speaker
And that was in 93. And never looked back after that. It was really kind of a dream come true for me to be in menswear, but also to be here in your city. And at J Crew, you meet somebody who's going to be really influential and important in your life, probably to even this day. And that would be Mickey Drexler. Is that correct? Yeah, I met Mickey. I mean, I worked for
00:07:16
Speaker
the gap on and off for about 10 years in total. And that's where I met Mickey. And I remember Mickey left the gap and bought part of J. Crew and ended up running J. Crew for a long time. And he called me up to do menswear there. And it was like a dream come true because I knew it was a job I really wanted to do. Obviously, I'd been there
00:07:42
Speaker
in the early 90s, actually Jenna Lyons was still there and her and I were good friends. So it was almost like a homecoming in a way. I worked at J Crew in 92 to like 94 and ended up coming back, I want to say, you know, 2004, 2005. I don't, can't remember the dates as well as I used to, but yeah, I headed up men's there for five years before I went out on my own. And Mickey was,
00:08:12
Speaker
Just amazing for me to learn the whole business side of things.
00:08:16
Speaker
And then you go on to launch your own brand, which, in my opinion, is really a culmination of everything that is great about Ralph and everything that's great about J. Crew, really meshed into one. And you're kind of the only person doing it. I mean, was that your goal when you launched the brand under your own name, Todd Snyder, to be a mix of your style and your taste, but also J. Crew and Ralph kind of all in one?
00:08:44
Speaker
Well, not necessarily. I mean, it was really, you know, as a designer, you try to come up with your own point of view. I think being an American designer is important just because I feel
00:09:00
Speaker
You know, in menswear, you think about the whole lineage of menswear, and Ralph, for me, he's always been kind of the best and is the best. And there's been many designers before me, you know, between Tom Ford, Tom Brown of today. Perry Ellis, for me, was always a good, when he was alive and running, his business was something I always looked up to.
00:09:26
Speaker
And there's many other designers that a lot of people don't know about, whether it was Andrew Fezza, which I mentioned before, Bill Robinson was another really awesome menswear designer. And being an American menswear designer, it's rare because most of the brands that are out there are
00:09:47
Speaker
mostly European or their brands that really, they don't really have a designer per se, like Hugo Boss. There's not a Hugo Boss designer. It's really just a brand name. Peter Millar is the same way. There's no Peter Millar behind Peter Millar. So I really wanted something that was personal for me and kind of growing up
00:10:09
Speaker
in America and really understanding kind of that history and understanding Brooks Brothers to kind of beginnings of menswear to Jay Press and kind of how menswear kind of
00:10:24
Speaker
was built around kind of this tailored, haberdashery sensibility and then kind of evolved into a bit more of a casual sensibility like denim and infusing denim. And being a menswear designer, it's really important to kind of have, it's almost like a melting pot in a way.
00:10:42
Speaker
You'll have a prep influence. You'll have influence from military, influence from vintage, from Western. A lot of people don't realize military, for example, influences all of us in how we dress. Everything from a Chino came from the military to a T-shirt came from the Navy. A desert boot came from troops in the desert in Northern Africa. A lot of the things we kind of hold
00:11:11
Speaker
near and dear to us all kind of started with this very utilitarian purpose. But for the most part, you know, men's wear hasn't really changed in the last hundred years. Guys are still wearing ties. Guys are still wearing suits. Guys are still wearing, you know, maybe the only thing that's really been kind of new in the last
00:11:29
Speaker
20 or 30 years is kind of the injection of the streetwear influence, whether it's sneakers or whether it's, you know, track suits and how that kind of gets blended into the mix. It's really kind of an amalgamation of all those things put together that really makes up what I think is American. So I try to put my own spin on it. I kind of always use the analogy, you know, it's like a great chef. All the ingredients are known. It's how you put it together that makes it new.
00:11:58
Speaker
I mean, GQ did once describe you as the guy who other guys trust to do what they themselves can't, which is make them look and feel like better versions of themselves. So I would say you're doing a pretty darn good job.
Founding Todd Snyder Brand
00:12:10
Speaker
I appreciate that. I appreciate that. So back to when you were at J Crew with Mickey, you guys launched something called the liquor store, which you're running now. But I can imagine working for a big corporate brand like J Crew that was not an easy to do.
00:12:28
Speaker
No, it wasn't. So when I was a J Crew, this was from 2004 to 2009, essentially. Men's wear was always kind of the stepchild. And we were always in the basement of a store. We're always in the back of the catalog. And Mickey really wanted men to shine. So
00:12:51
Speaker
He enlisted Andy Spade, who's brilliant. He's a genius. He sure is. Just a thought starter and just he's so great at it kind of.
00:13:03
Speaker
just thinking beyond. He thinks he's a marketer in a way, but he thinks he's an ad guy originally. Is he a Ralph alum too? No, he wasn't. He was always in advertising and then he and Kate Spade started, Kate Spade, but he was really the one that made it very quirky.
00:13:25
Speaker
And really came up with the labeling to the way it was presented he was always just he's just very good at pinpointing ideas and executing and when i say pinpointing making things that are really witty and relevant.
00:13:40
Speaker
There's nobody that I know that is as good as him. Mickey, obviously being a smart guy, enlisted him to really help unlock the menswear piece because menswear up until 2008, 2009 was always there. It was always kind of an afterthought. Then after liquor store, Andy concept of that whole thing. Andy came in and brought his partner
00:14:08
Speaker
Anthony's spruity who both did jack spade together and just really both were at guys, but just understood the whole You know style and narrative that was missing for us and really kind of added that to What we were already doing in menswear. So Mickey wanted this You know moment from menswear to shine because we do these big presentations and we would show them almost like store concepts
00:14:37
Speaker
And andy came and said you need to do a store and andy had this idea for jack spade that is at that point it sold jack spade and kate spade to liz claybourne and they were out of it so they kind of he kind of dusted that off right you know idea but then took to the next level for us and had the space. It was an old bar and it was called liquor store and they lost their liquor license.
00:15:04
Speaker
And it was open. It was empty. And we ended up jumping on that deal. And then it was very fast and how quickly we grew that business. I was there for about a year, a year or so, a year and a half after Andy had kind of come on consulting. And that just changed everything. All of a sudden, Men's Wear was on the map for J. Crew. We opened up our 484 Broadway store. Our first Men's Wear real store.
00:15:33
Speaker
Meaning like liquor stores, small and tiny, it was about 800 square feet. And we opened up 44 was about 3000 square feet. And it really became
00:15:45
Speaker
the proof of concept for a menswear and after that it just was off to the races. I ended up leaving to do my own thing after that because I had kind of seen my proof of concept and had turned 40 earlier that year and just decided to go off on my own and really build my own version of it.
00:16:07
Speaker
What a time in your life to leave an amazing corporate position to go out on your own that's definitely remarkable. Thank you. Thank you.
00:16:20
Speaker
You know, it was probably a little crazy and a little naive at the time. And I remember I resigned to Mickey on a Friday, and then this was probably in September. And then on Monday, Lehman Brothers had folded. So the world was collapsing around me. And I remember Mickey like two months after I resigned, he's like, are you sure you want to leave? And I'm like, yep, I'm sure it made my mind up.
00:16:45
Speaker
I had saved up enough money and it was something I knew I had to do or, or kind of never do.
Champion Collection and Collaborations
00:16:52
Speaker
I was getting to an age where I knew I needed to do this or just kind of bury that idea. So I went for it.
00:17:01
Speaker
Well, hats off to you. One of the things that I think that you've implemented in the best way that a lot of, I feel, brands need to take note on is something that you adopted from Ralph, which is the rig room. When I worked at Ralph in college, that was my favorite part of being there was going into the rig rooms and walking into a story, right?
00:17:25
Speaker
That's something that you've really adopted and put into your stores and your catalogs and everything. I feel like it's really what helps people when they're trying to pick out an outfit or pick out a shirt. How is it going to look on them? Well, at least they can see a full ensemble in the proper setting of what it's supposed to be. Yeah.
00:17:49
Speaker
You were like, you love Ralph and you always had this idea in the back of your head that that really stuck with you to do that. Yeah, I mean, it definitely became a part of my process. I think the one thing that Ralph invented, not only just I feel he kind of created
00:18:09
Speaker
popularity around things that were truly iconic menswear pieces, whether it's the Chino, whether it's an Oxford shirt, whether it's a navy blazer, or a knit polo. All of these things really did exist before him, but he made them so cool and relevant at the time, and still are. They've tested the time, they've
00:18:37
Speaker
still are what people go to. And he really kind of set the standard. But he also did it from a place of authenticity, meaning he was always about history, always about vintage. And the thing I learned very quickly is how much he would look at the history books to kind of go forward. And I learned a lot about how to shop for vintage.
00:19:04
Speaker
Because obviously there's good vintage, there's a lot of bad vintage out there. And just because you're finding something that is like, oh, I found this from the 1980s doesn't make it good. You know, trying to find something that's really rare and really beautiful and has kind of endured time and you look at it today with the same
00:19:23
Speaker
you know, kind of appreciation that someone would have had back in the 60s is really special. And I learned how to find those gems and, you know, whether it's, you know, working with vintage dealers, whether it's traveling in the world and looking through different markets, whether it's even now, you know, shopping on eBay to First Dibs to Etsy. I'm always looking for
00:19:52
Speaker
You know, there's so much that's been done out there that kind of re-looking at the past and seeing how to reinterpret it is important because
00:20:02
Speaker
Like I had said earlier, everything's been done for the most part, but finding a great old vintage leather jacket for me is the thrill. There's a hunt for finding these things that are gems. Part of the reason why I ended up doing Collaboration with Champion really was derived from that early on experience with Ralph.
00:20:22
Speaker
and coveting and finding these one-of-a-kind pieces that may have been in somebody's basement or may have been someone's garage and find their way into a thrift store. To find a real gem of a piece, Champion being that from the 50s is hard to find and quite honestly, it's really expensive. You'll find a really beautiful piece
00:20:49
Speaker
from the 50s that's in good condition that will cost you sometimes $2,000. And whether it's like an old varsity jacket or an old sweatshirt that has great stitching and the labels in good condition, a lot of what I do now is I'm always kind of looking into the past and working at Ralph.
00:21:12
Speaker
It was my first experience into... And Ralph's team, I'd say, doesn't just go to markets and just deal with the sales person there. They want to get to know them and then they want to get to know where their source is. And they try to get into where the food chain is. I would say where it starts, where it originated from, where did they find it from? A lot of these dealers actually have a warehouse.
00:21:40
Speaker
that they will let you go through. There's a whole ecosystem around vintage that I never knew existed. It's pretty interesting. There's some legends out there that
00:21:55
Speaker
you know, are somewhat famous, um, that Ralph really kind of put on the map, whether it's, you know, guys like John Gallagher, who used to work at Ralph Lauren and started his own, you know, vintage, uh, resource to, um, Larry Heller, who did Heller's kitchen in Seattle to Bob Millett, who used to work at Ralph as well, who just, you know, was an amazing, uh, just had an amazing eye for,
00:22:23
Speaker
vintage apparel. And there's dozens of them. I mean, another one was who I love is Christophe. He owns Mr. Freedom and has started his own collection, but he has a store in Los Angeles. All of these resources you kind of got to know from Ralph and all of that helped inform and really became
00:22:42
Speaker
You know a great resource for me and again, this was all before the internet and all before all of these markets that are happening virtually But these guys acted as a filter for you. So you were able to work with them and find these great one-of-a-kind pieces that you would end up putting
00:23:00
Speaker
in what you were saying, a rig room. And a rig room is essentially a room where it's almost like a virtual mood board, as you said. It's a room that looks like you're walking into a movie set.
00:23:13
Speaker
And it has everything from the, you know, what watch the guy's going to wear to, you know, maybe what a chair looks like, maybe what, you know, wall covering to, you know, outfit that he would wear. And Ralph covets, you know, vintage to a level that no one else does. And he still gets so excited by these one of a kind pieces and really wants to
00:23:40
Speaker
replicate that as authentically as he can. And for me, that's where it really kind of changed my whole process after working there. The first time I worked there, I wasn't allowed to go in the rig rooms. I definitely snuck my way in too. Yeah. Just because everything in there is one of a kind and you can't touch anything. You can't
00:24:05
Speaker
I remember you go up and you feel a jacket and you almost get yelled at by the designers. But definitely that's become part of my process as well. I want to go back to Champion because that's mainly what we're here to talk about today.
00:24:21
Speaker
If anyone goes into your stores or goes on your website, they're going to see that Champion has a big presence for your brand. But what they probably don't know about you is that you yourself actually have probably a collection of over 2000 or around 2000 Champion sweatshirts. Is that bad out there? Yeah, I stopped counting at some point. My brother, all this stuff is actually kept. We have a warehouse in Iowa.
00:24:51
Speaker
And he works with me and he's always like keeping track of everything and sometimes he reminds me of how we have these like do we want to get rid of these and i'm always like no not yet and um you know for me it's always been there's a thrill of collection and you know these things are one of the kind pieces you know you're not gonna find them anywhere and once you get rid of them they're gone.
00:25:14
Speaker
So I covet them, I have them stored in a very nice warehouse. And it all started when I worked at Ralph. I remember, and I didn't know this whole ecosystem existed, meaning like literally people will buy bales of clothing, meaning like clothes that are in bales, like these big giant bales. And when clothes go to thrift stores or they go to the Salvation Army or they go to whatever reciprocal there is,
00:25:44
Speaker
they go through a process where they get, you know, cleaned, um, and then they get graded and, um, graded means like, okay, this is really good vintage. This is rare. This is not so good. There are, this is, you know, throw away. It's got holes in it. It's, it's not worth keeping. Or this goes to another resell venue. They kind of grade the entire assortment. So, you know, things,
00:26:10
Speaker
as it progresses will bubble the top you might have something you know ralph warren is it has a really good resale value so you'll start to see ralph warren product in that ecosystem which is really interesting and i realize early on that i was like champion has.
00:26:28
Speaker
Such a devoted following and I realized very quickly and a lot of this came from a Japanese to be honest with you Japanese covet Americana and my trips my trips to Japan just opened my eyes to this whole new world of of Americana and and I know it sounds kind of weird that I have to go to Japan to find
00:26:50
Speaker
you know, somebody's appreciation for Americana, but they really do. Everything from Levi's to Red Wing to Alden to Champion. Hey, people are now going to Japan for pizza, so.
00:27:02
Speaker
Yeah. True. You're exactly right. But they... Baseball. You think about that as well. They really admire just the American culture and coveted. And so, to be honest with you, that's where I got a lot of my ideas to Jim Crew for Collapse was my travels abroad. I'd go to London.
00:27:26
Speaker
And i go to Tokyo and Osaka and that's really where i can i got the idea that maybe i should be doing collabs with all that or maybe i should be doing collabs with red wing and sure enough when i was a crew those are some of my first collaborations. And i tried down the path of champion but it takes a long time to do these to do these collabs cuz you're i got.
00:27:55
Speaker
probably told no a hundred times by Red Wing. And same thing with LOB and I just recently did that a couple of years ago. And I'm always trying to figure out, you know, how, cause you can't just call the CEO and say, Hey, I want to do a colab. You got to figure out how to work your way through the system and get to the right person. And, um, you know, I was very good about
00:28:21
Speaker
you know, keeping, you know, on, you know, champion, but it took until I went out on my own to, to really get to do that, that collab. So it was definitely something I wanted to do when I was working at J Crew, but.
00:28:34
Speaker
For me, there's probably nothing better brand-wise than Champion, and that's really become a big part of my business as well. Right. Your collecting of Champion product has predated you launching your own brand, but you were already manifesting it when we were at J-Crew hoping to do it there. Obviously, when you left, you had your sights set on trying to make that work for yourself, which is pretty neat to see that come to fruition, I'm sure.
00:29:04
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I started collecting Champion back in, I would say, 98. I was at Ralph in 98. I started collecting it then. And I had this other brand, I still have this other brand called Tellgate Clothing Company, which is built around collegiate sweatshirts. And a lot of that came from Champion.
00:29:25
Speaker
Um, and I had, I had done that on the side and, um, my brother was actually doing it full time and another, my business partner, Steve King, uh, who I worked with at Ralph Lauren ended up doing it full time. So I always kind of had this dream of doing a kind of collegiate sweatshirt thing and, and Telgate kind of became that.
00:29:47
Speaker
Is Tailgate still around? Tailgate's still around. It's kind of on pause right now. It's under American Eagle and American Eagle owns 100% of my brand as well as Tailgate. During the pandemic, it had to kind of take a break just because of obvious reasons. People weren't going to school and it just became like we need to focus on
00:30:10
Speaker
the business at hand and so tailgate kind of became a back burner project so it's very back burner now I would say. But yeah, it's still going and I still have dreams to kind of bring that back. But yeah, we were doing all the universities, we're doing Major League Baseball, doing NBA. And now you're starting to see a little bit of that kind of creeping its way into Todd Snyder so it's good. But yeah, I started collecting in like late 90s and
00:30:39
Speaker
I just kept collecting and when I ever go on a trip, my favorite pastime is to go into vintage stores and just dig and try to find these gems. What is it about vintage champion though that gets you in that collector mode for when you are hunting for these things? I think what really gets me going, it's almost like a drug to me now, but it's like trying to find
00:31:07
Speaker
unique things or whether it's a cool graphic or whether it's a kind of an antiquing of a great graphic that you see like a weathering on the graphic where it's maybe not perfect or a silhouette or a stitch or just a rare garment that is hard to find. And with Champion, Champion has been around since 1919.
00:31:33
Speaker
And before Nike, before Adidas, before any of these brands, they started. And it's hard to find brands that stand the test of time, that are around a century later. And Champion is definitely one of those. And it really comes about the hunt to try to find these pieces that nobody else has. In fact, when I started doing the collaboration with Champion, I actually had a better archive than they did.
00:32:02
Speaker
I would say at 2,000 pieces, that'd be pretty obvious, but that's pretty hilarious to think about. Yeah, well, if you think about these brands, they start off, Champion was based in Rochester, New York, and it changed hands a few times. In fact, Sara Lee, who is kind of the Sara Lee Cakes, very successful company, had bought Champion.
00:32:30
Speaker
I want to say back in the 80s, I think. Do you know what the motivation was there?
00:32:35
Speaker
I think they also owned Hanes at the time. I can't remember to be honest with you. I should know these things. Um, but they, you know, they were, I think they were kind of seeing themselves very much like a G at the time GE would kind of diversify its portfolio by buying different companies and applying their philosophy, philosophy, those other businesses. So I think it was very similar for Sarah Lee. They owned coach as well at the time.
00:33:05
Speaker
So that obviously doesn't make sense with cakes. But I think because they were successful, they owned quite a few other companies. They now have kind of sold those off and focused on their business. But they had owned Coach, they had owned Champion. And then Champion I think sold the Hanes. I think that's how it is. Hanes bought them. Which makes more sense because Hanes t-shirts and whatnot makes more sense. Sure.
00:33:33
Speaker
So anyway, because of all that change in ownership, nobody was really kind of coveting the archives. It was just something that was out there. So I have a digital file of all their catalogs from not all of them, but a lot of their catalogs from back in the day when they used to do college bookstores. So that was a good one to get actually. But yeah, it was always the more I dug, the more I dug, the more I'd find it. It was just the type of thing that
00:34:01
Speaker
you're always looking to find something you haven't seen before. And I always find something. I always think I have everything, and then I'm like, oh, I don't have that one. I need to have it. And it is probably a bit of a problem, I would say, if I think about it from the outside. How do you archive a collection that large? I mean, I know you said you have a warehouse, but are you organizing them by color or by style?
00:34:31
Speaker
We have a catalog down. My brother manages that. We have a catalog of them. We have digital images. You know, very like, you know, pulled away and then we have like zoomed in kind of look at the stitching and then we have images of the graphics. Um, you know, God forbid anything happens to her, but they're all very nicely folded into to Ben.
00:34:52
Speaker
It's pretty impressive when you see it. I know for me, whenever I go home, I'm always like pulling down a bin and just kind of going through it. Or even though I have digital images, it's still, there's nothing like kind of seeing something. And it's almost like, cause I can't remember everything. So it is a lot of like revisiting things for the first time again. Do you ever look back at your
00:35:16
Speaker
Collection when you're kind of coming out with new products for champion collabs that you guys do and and maybe a new color way or I mean I look at It's neat to do Google searches On just you know vintage champion because a lot of our stuff comes up first, which is nice But yeah, I'm always kind of looking back at what we do and looking back and whenever I started a new season that's how can I start the process is I'll kind of
00:35:45
Speaker
look through what we have but then also do a trip. I haven't traveled in probably two, three years in a big way where I used to literally fly around the world. I would go to Japan, I'd go to London, or I'd go to LA, or I'd go to Seattle, and I would search for stuff. I haven't done the big deep dive like that in a while, which I kind of miss. But that's how I generally would start a season is
00:36:09
Speaker
I create a move board. I'm not doing quite the rigs that they used to do at Ralph, but I'm doing my digital version of it, which actually is for me really good. I use Pinterest a lot. I don't know if anybody is a Pinterest nerd like me, but I
00:36:29
Speaker
I used to have so much swipe for magazine and books that I would use as inspiration. But now I've digitized all that. It's all on my Pinterest boards. A lot of them are hidden, but I do do a lot of research. I'm always constantly looking at books and magazines and travel and movies and art and just, that's kind of how I start my mood boards.
00:36:56
Speaker
It's a virtual rig room, I would say, just because I don't have the space to do that as much. And to be honest with you, it's really hard to do. Those guys at Ralph are amazing. It's just unbelievable. One of my favorite, we opened up a store in East Hampton, and we're probably about four doors down from the Double RL store and the Ralph store.
00:37:18
Speaker
And I remember we were opening up the stores about two years ago and it's, you know, we're a small team. Like it's maybe like 30 of us on the team and we're growing, but we're still pretty small. All hands on deck. It is. So we're opening up the store. I'm there. I have my individual merchandising who's there.
00:37:36
Speaker
And we're like, you know, cobbling together trying to like, Oh, we need a bench or we need this. And Ralph is redoing their windows. They have two giant moving vans and about 10 guys and girls like it looks like a movie set and they're really doing their stores for the next season. And it looks like
00:37:59
Speaker
Like they're moving stuff out, they're moving stuff in and it looks like a movie set. It really does. It's unbelievable what they do. I can't do that. I don't have that talent and I also just don't have that budget either but it is very impressive what they do.
00:38:15
Speaker
You know, I do my things my way, but I think it's influenced so many people. I know so many different brands have, you know, cause all of us kind of went through, a lot of us went through the Ralph doors and you'd be shocked at how many people now do kind of the rig concept rooms and you know, between, you know, people from Ralph went to Abercrombie, went to J. Crew, went to,
00:38:42
Speaker
American Eagle went to Gap, and now that's kind of become a common practice on how people design a collection. But there's nobody, I can tell you, bar none. There's nobody as good as Ralph's team as, you know, John Veragie, who's on their, leads up their design team is just incredible. He's probably the best at what he does. Well, you're doing a pretty good job too, so don't cut yourself too short.
00:39:09
Speaker
Yeah. I learned a lot. I tell you, one thing I do is I learn and I'm a sponge and I try to surround myself with people that I admire as well. And this guy on my team, Kenny Thomas, he used to be my boss at Ralph. He was in charge of double RL.
00:39:29
Speaker
And he did Blue Label as well when I was there. And he and I both, we worked for John Rovatos when he was there. So I learned a lot. And Kenny is on my team now and he's amazing. He always felt like he had the best taste and just the best eye for what's relevant but also kind of new and different. Are there holy grails for you when it comes to champion collecting?
00:39:57
Speaker
Um, you mean like items or like where to find it? Yeah. Specific items or, or known pieces that maybe you're looking for that you, you haven't been able to stumble upon yet. I mean, there's so much that I haven't found. And it's interesting because every year, I should say every year, every so often a book will come out and it'll be kind of a history of champion and a magazine, a Japanese magazine, of course.
00:40:26
Speaker
documented all these amazing pieces and what they do is they go around to all these collectors. I have a few pieces in there and they'll go around to all these collectors and ask to borrow them and shoot them and put them in the magazine. Free and Easy used to be an amazing magazine. I don't think it's around anymore, but they were very good. It was a Free and Easy magazine. It was Japanese produced magazine. They were so good at kind of documenting menswear and kind of
00:40:51
Speaker
all the great stuff, whether it's Brooks Brothers or whether it's Ralph Lauren or whether it's Champion or Alden or even Nike. They would come out with a book every year kind of paying homage to Champion, but there's a magazine company I think called Lightning that did one a few years ago, maybe like five years ago.
00:41:12
Speaker
So I always like looking through that. And it is almost like a wish book of things I wish I could find. And it tortures me. But it's really awesome that they actually document these things because you kind of feel at home with them. But there are definitely things, like I said, the list is too far to even say it. And this is the other thing I think people don't realize. Champion used to make
00:41:40
Speaker
most of the uniforms out there, whether it was NFL, they used to make NFL uniforms, they used to make NBA uniforms. They were the kings of making not only uniforms, but also
00:41:55
Speaker
they would make all the gear for collegiate athletic supply, whether it's Michigan or whatever. They were the ones that would make all of the equipment for athletic departments and for the football team for them to practice in. And they did all that before Nike, before Adidas, before any of that. They were the ones doing it day in and day out and they made most of the collegiate uniforms back in the day.
00:42:24
Speaker
It's one of these things that once you realize that you're like there's all this stuff out there that you're trying to find and some of that stuff probably got destroyed. But if you look through old yearbooks, if you look through and that's what I do a lot is I look through these old yearbooks and find these one of the kind items and a lot of times like the athletic departments for example, a lot of the graphics you would see on it were custom by the guy who runs the athletic department.
00:42:50
Speaker
So he would be making sweatshirts and he would stencil on, you know, athletic department, property of, and that's where all that stuff came from is he was issuing it to the players or the gym class and it would have the person's name in there.
00:43:07
Speaker
So when you hear about that, most people don't know this and they're like, Oh, that makes sense now. And that's the reason why I'm so obsessed with finding pieces because I'm trying to find kind of a part of history of, you know, from the sixties, seventies, you name it, of back when things were a little more simple, you know, Nike is now involved with a lot of this. So they kind of put a lot of money in marketing behind this. So it's not quite as,
00:43:36
Speaker
authentic. It's been very commercialized where kids now, they play at a university and they are handed a bunch of shoes, are handed a bunch of gear, and they change uniforms. They really change their shirt. If you look at Oregon, I don't think they wear the same uniform. I love Nike, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't like the old days where you were issued a uniform and you had it the whole season.
00:44:01
Speaker
Um, you didn't have a new Jersey every, every game. And now it's kind of become one of these things that it's a little bit just because now there's a lot of money being made. Because obviously if whatever top athletes wearing Nike, of course, you know, the kids are going to wear and want to wear Nike sneakers or the sweatshirt or what have you. So things have changed quite a bit, but I still covet those kinds of the way things were done in the past.
Exploring Other Collections: Watches, Cars, Furniture
00:44:30
Speaker
Is there anything else you're collecting? I know you're a watch guy, but any other items that you kind of fawn over? Well, watches I love. I just can't afford to be as an avid collector, although I do have a pretty kick-ass Timex collection. And some kick-ass collabs too. Yeah, thanks.
00:44:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely, um, I collect a lot of yellow bean now. Um, I collect a lot of apparel, apparel for me is kind of, I get really excited by that. I do think, you know, apparel in general, just because that is kind of what I do obviously. And it does kind of fill a void, but I do really appreciate, um, vintage in general, there's a,
00:45:21
Speaker
I have to say, I think about if I had all the money in the world, I would probably be collecting more watches and cars for me would be really fun. Although I chuckle at people, these billionaires that have
00:45:36
Speaker
you know, hundreds of cars. I'm like, I can't drive it. You know what I mean? It's like, I, I, I bought, um, an old, uh, vintage Land Cruiser, a total Land Cruiser. And, um, I loved it, but to be, I ended up selling it. Um, and to be honest with you, the reason why I sold it, it's expensive. I was like, uh, I think I paid $120,000 to have it restored.
00:46:02
Speaker
And I ended up selling it for a nice profit. And I was scared to death to drive the thing, to be honest with you, because what if someone hits me? What if someone keys my car? I would be heartbroken. I was so stressed out driving the thing. And honestly, I didn't really love the attention in the case. Everybody would be like, oh my God, I love your car. It's so beautiful.
00:46:24
Speaker
And then living in New York and having a car like that is just a little nerve wracking, to be honest with you. Yeah, watch out for the potholes. Exactly. Between the traffic and I don't know. Anyway, so I ended up selling that. So I definitely, there's things I want to collect, but if I had the money, I think I probably would have a few. But with watches, for example, I have like three or four really nice watches that are
00:46:50
Speaker
on the expensive side, but at the end of the day, I can only wear one a day and it seems a little foolish to have more, but I do live vicariously through others for sure. I would also argue that you collect different collaborations and whatnot for your brand. You've launched many, they're ever-growing. Is there a collab that you would say is something that
00:47:19
Speaker
you would, you know, would be, you know, end game collaboration for you that you just haven't done yet or something that maybe, you know, it's just want to put out into the ether. Well, um, there's definitely ones that I have on my bucket list. You know, Nike for forever has been a brand for me that I really admire. Um, I think, uh, collaboration on some kill shots.
00:47:48
Speaker
Yeah, I would love to do some kill shots. I was hoping we ended up doing a collaboration with Jack Purcell. I did one with two, two or three actually. And I love that. And they're owned by Nike. So I was hoping that that was going to turn into a Nike thing, but we'll see. I keep knocking at the door. I also would love to do, I just started doing interiors recently.
00:48:17
Speaker
I did a really cool project with a resort up in Maine and I just fell in love with Maine after doing my collaboration with Ella Bean and started traveling up there a lot and I now summer up there with my family just because I fell in love with Maine so much. So anyway, I was able to do a bunch of cabins and this is called Hidden Pond and they have
00:48:45
Speaker
probably 20 plus cabins up there that I remodeled and came up with a theme that was called seaside, mountainside, and countryside, all built around main inspiration. I just loved it because you talk about that rig room. This was like the ultimate rig room. It was everything from the bed to the rug to the paint to the wall coverings to
00:49:10
Speaker
the bed spreads, I was able to really create that moment, that feeling when you walk into it, you immediately get where you are. I do a lot of that in my stores, when I design stores, is really immerse the person into a mood, into a feeling through all the senses, whether it's through visual, through touch, smell, to the people that work there, is really making the customer feel
00:49:39
Speaker
at home but also inspiring them to think differently. And that's kind of what I ended up doing at the Hidden Pond. And, you know, it's just really kind of cool. It's one of my favorite things because it really kind of transforms you kind of when you get into the space and makes you feel relaxed and makes you feel, you know, feel like you're at home. I've seen the photos. It's incredible. I hope I get to visit it at some point. And I'll be sure to link it up so people can check that out.
00:50:07
Speaker
I know brands like Shinola have kind of gotten into the hospitality space and launched their own hotel and things like that. I mean, is that something that you could see yourself getting into? For sure. For sure. I think it's a natural extension of who I am. We're not just selling clothes. We actually do sell a lot of the products in our store. We used to sell furniture in our stores.
00:50:34
Speaker
But to be honest with you, it's actually another thing I started collecting was furniture, which is another expensive problem. Yes. Good furniture is not cheap. No, no. And First Dibs is one of my favorite places to go. So I worked with First Dibs in our first store. That's a dangerous site. Very dangerous. But I got really good at it, meaning you can find some really good deals. And again,
00:51:00
Speaker
Finding dealers, it's actually a lot easier to find vintage furniture than it is vintage clothes because there's so many dealers out there and people coveted furniture I think more than they do apparel. Most people kind of discard apparel after a while whereas furniture kind of gets passed on generation to generation.
00:51:20
Speaker
So for that reason, it's easier to find a bit. So yeah, when something's rare, it's a problem for me. But they ended up, I worked with them on our first store here in the city in Madison in 26.
00:51:36
Speaker
And all the furniture was for sale. And it takes forever to find furniture on the right piece to fit in the right place. So once I started selling a lot of my furniture, it got very stressful for me because I had to find a similar piece. And for that reason, I stopped selling the furniture because I didn't want to then have to find the replacement.
00:52:02
Speaker
All right, let's finish up here with the collectors gene rundown and you can answer this. Any of these questions based on any of the collections you have, whether it's watches or champion or furniture, whatever it may be, however you see fit. All
Q&A: Collecting Journey and Influences
00:52:15
Speaker
right. All right. What's the one that got away?
00:52:19
Speaker
The one that got away was a Rolex Explorer. I don't know the number on it. I want to say 1655. I'm not sure. But anyway, it was this beautiful watch I found when I was in Hawaii. It was like my
00:52:37
Speaker
Yeah. Wherever I go, I always have a tendency to go to see what is around. Um, so I went to the vintage watch dealer in Honolulu and he had one with papers and the box. And at the time he was asking 15,000 and I, I just met my second wife and we were dating and I didn't want to be the
00:53:03
Speaker
The douchebag to be like, I'm getting a watch. Um, but that's, I did not. She's like, I don't get it. And I didn't get it. It's the one I still kick myself. The watch now is probably worth with box and papers, probably 30 plus thousand. Well, I'm sure one day it'll find its way onto your wrist. We'll see if I can afford that one. How about the on deck circle? What's, what's next for you in your collecting?
00:53:30
Speaker
For collecting, I think furniture is really kind of the thing. Because we've been really fortunate and really fortunate with the business, it's been really strong for the last five years. Being backed by American Eagle has just been amazing. Business has been so solid, we've decided to open stores.
00:53:51
Speaker
more stores. So we just opened up Boston last week and LA last month and San Francisco last month. So in doing that, I get to kind of have fun and collect furniture and put the right pieces. I love finding like old mid-century modern pieces. So I'm always on the hunt for that. And so that's kind of become my new pastime. Love it. And you also have a store opening up at the Americana mall in Manhasset. Is that correct?
00:54:20
Speaker
That's correct. We just opened up actually on Friday. It's doing really well. Congratulations. Every time I'm in New York, I'm over that way, so I'll have to check it out. It's a beauty. It's a smaller store, but it's a nice compliment to what we do in the city, and it's an amazing shopping center.
00:54:41
Speaker
It's probably pretty special to you to be in the same shopping centers as places like Ralph, where you kind of cut your cloth pun intended. Yeah, it's a dream come true. I mean, I have to pinch myself sometimes when
00:54:58
Speaker
You know, a lot of us are all just like, you know, head down, let's get through this. And it's a lot of work to open up stores, but you know, I'm definitely blessed to have the opportunity to open stores and continue to open stores. And your business has been really strong and I do feel blessed.
00:55:22
Speaker
What's the unobtainable? Maybe one that you can't have it's too expensive or in a museum or private collection. I think art for me is really dangerous.
Art's Influence on Todd's Work
00:55:34
Speaker
As you said before, art for me is probably the ultimate.
00:55:40
Speaker
I do have some really great pieces and there are some artists that I love. I'm always inspired by art. My mom was an art teacher when I was growing up and always encouraged me to paint and draw. So that's part of the reason why I think I'm doing what I'm doing, which I think is really important just because a lot of people don't push art as much. I felt very comfortable in it. So for me, it was really easy for me to get into fashion.
00:56:08
Speaker
I don't think most kids have that opportunity. Um, so art for me has always been the thing that kind of, I don't know, is the ultimate because I do think it just is so inspiring and to see what, you know, a fellow human being can do and how it surprises you and delights you is just, it's, it's hard to quantify it.
00:56:31
Speaker
couldn't agree more. And it's also very dangerous because, you know, there's just, I mean, it's just so awesome. One of my favorite artists is Corey Daniels, and he's from Maine, and he has a gallery up in Maine. We actually shot our last lookbook, which was in December drop in his gallery, and it's just
00:56:56
Speaker
He's just, not only what he does, but what he curates in his gallery is just incredible. So I'm always finding somebody new and different that I just, you know, I'm inspired by. So I'd probably say that's the most attainable art in general. The page one rewrite, so if you could collect anything besides, I guess, any of your current, and we'll take art out of that, is there anything else you would be interested in?
00:57:25
Speaker
Probably not. I mean, I've been really fortunate to kind of work in a field that I'm able to kind of do what I love, you know, so everything I kind of do, I just has kind of been part of my life. So, you know, whether it's been
00:57:44
Speaker
The car I actually did was actually for work. I paid for it myself. I think those are the things for me that I've always been able to weave in the things I love and do what I do for work. Love it. How about the goat? Who do you look up to in the collecting world? That's a good. I would probably say
00:58:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think my favorite person, and he is my hero, is Matt Jacobson. I don't know if you know Matt Jacobson, but he's talked about someone who has great taste. A, he's an amazing dresser. Talk about someone who has just great style. But then on top of it,
00:58:27
Speaker
you know, everything from his watch, to his homes, to his cars, to... Yeah, that house in Joshua Tree is pretty insane. Oh my God. Apparently he sold it, by the way. He sold it. Oh. Well, it wasn't me who bought it. Yeah, right? But that's a beautiful... We were trying to shoot there. We were trying to shoot our catalog there and I was on text with him and he ended up selling it. He said it was a
00:58:53
Speaker
Somebody drink covid who's gonna be only live once kind of gave him the right price for it and he ended up selling it so Which was I was kind of heartbroken cuz he that thing is ridiculous Well, it's on Airbnb. So if you uh, if you want to rent it out for your next shoot, I think you could do it. Really? I'm gonna look that up now I'm gonna tell my team but yeah, I know he
00:59:15
Speaker
He's kind of like the one I look up to. I mean, not only, I mean, he owns Birdwell as well. We've done collaborations with them and they were always on my bucket list of brands to work with. And, you know, when he bought it, he kind of made that happen, which was awesome. And just his people that he surrounds himself with. He's just a really, you know, he's very successful. I mean, he was like,
00:59:40
Speaker
number seven employee at Facebook, but he's a pretty amazing human being. Do you enjoy the chase or the sale? So the hunter, the ownership more? Definitely the chase. The sale is heartbreaking. When I sold my truck,
01:00:01
Speaker
It was heartbreaking and getting it built. When I did the truck, finding the right truck and finding the right year and finding the right engine and I had it rebuilt with red wing leather interior. So finding it and then building it was just so exciting and then selling it was just heartbreaking. Last but not least, do you feel that you were born with the collectors, Gene?
01:00:26
Speaker
I didn't think I was, but I definitely, yes, I would now admit I have. And I don't know if a collector's gene is a healthy thing or it's definitely, I think I have a problem to
Reflection and Conclusion
01:00:43
Speaker
be in. Now that you're kind of asking me all these questions, I'm like reflecting. I'm like, God, I might have a problem.
01:00:49
Speaker
I collect everything. I really now I think about it. It's like, geez, everything from furniture to watches. So, you know, art, it's a little OCD. Todd, thank you so much. I can't tell you how much fun that was for me. And congrats to you and everything that you have going on. Well, thank you. No, I appreciate this. And thanks for
01:01:11
Speaker
I feel like I was in therapy for a bit here, so now I gotta figure out how to calm myself down for a moment. I'm ready to go shopping again. You could call me anytime you're going to make a purchase, but just know I probably will talk you off the ledge. For sure. Cheers to you. Thanks. All right. Thanks again. All right. That does it for this episode. Thank you all for listening to Collector's Gene Radio.