Through the pandemic, Billy Reid has been working his world enterprise from a cabin in Florence, Ala.
Brett Warren
Textual content measurement
For one champion of American model, the epicenter of trend isn’t Manhattan or L.A. As a substitute, Billy
Reid
has been working his world enterprise from a cabin in
Florence,
Ala., the place he and his household put in themselves at the beginning of the pandemic.
From that bucolic setting, Reid oversees a crew of 120 that runs 15 shops, a worldwide wholesale operation, and a licensed eyewear line. “We’re extra organized than once we had been three toes aside from one another,” says the 56-year-old.
After 2020’s annus horribilis—Reid’s total household fell in poor health, and his outlets shuttered—“issues have been going fairly nicely,” says the designer, whose inventory in commerce is workwear-inspired items in lush materials with luxe touches. “We’re virtually again to pre-Covid ranges,” says Reid, who launched his assortment in 1998.
Tailor-made clothes has seen “an actual uptick” over the previous few months, he says—a response, maybe, to the sweatpants and athleisure gear that felt ubiquitous by means of the pandemic. “Individuals are beginning to have these events and occasions, and wish to purchase issues. It’s nice to see.”
Reid’s backside line additionally bought a lift from a high-profile fan, actor Daniel
Craig,
who purchased Reid’s smooth melton-wool peacoat from the designer’s London store a decade in the past. When a scene in 2012’s Skyfall referred to as for a peacoat, Craig insisted on sporting Reid’s mannequin. “The piece has been in our assortment since 2001,” Reid says. “Daniel wore it in a 15-minute scene. And it went viral.”
The coat nonetheless sells out, and 2021’s No Time to Die gave it one other increase. “It stays our No. 1-selling piece, and it’s taking us months to compensate for backorders,” Reid says. Provide-chain points have plagued different components of the enterprise, too. “It’s been a nightmare,” he says. “All the pieces’s a problem, and it’s taking place at each degree.”
Reid is ready to launch a collection of name partnerships in 2022, together with home-furnishings, athletic, and music initiatives. “They’re all collaborations with nice of us that I can’t point out simply but,” he says.
After Covid compelled its cancellation, Reid can also revive his Shindig competition this summer time. Since 2009, the Florence occasion has featured trend, meals, artwork, and performers like
Jack White
and Alabama Shakes. “We’ve had a two-year hiatus. I hope we come again.”
Reid shared just a few of his favourite issues with Penta.
The merchandise that represents my private model is… my glasses. They’re the
Billy Reid
model, made in Japan, impressed by a pair of Nineteen Fifties American Optical glasses I purchased at an property sale throughout the road from my home.
The designer who conjures up me most is…
Ralph
Lauren was the primary designer to encourage me. Any American designer would in all probability reply the identical means. Once I labored for Saks, I opened
Ralph Lauren
outlets for them in Texas. I grew to become a fanatic. I’ve such fond reminiscences of Ralph, too. Once I met him, he couldn’t have been kinder.
“American trend” means… taking the world of workwear and tailor-made clothes and placing them collectively. You make a terrific wardrobe primarily based on that. It’s how I constructed my very own wardrobe.
The primary piece of clothes I offered with my identify on it was… a denim shirt, for [Dallas retailer]
Stanley
Korshak, beneath the
William Reid
label. I made 36 of them. Then I bought [L.A. retailer]
Fred Segal
as an account. The next season, we had 37 accounts. Then I moved my enterprise to New York, and had my first runway present on Sept. 10, 2001. All the pieces fell aside after that. I moved again to Alabama to reset my life, and relaunched Billy Reid in 2004. I wished to design my work round my life, not vice-versa. Fortunately, it’s labored.
Each customer to Florence ought to see… [legendary music spot] Muscle Shoals. Watch the documentary. What occurred right here, and what nonetheless does, I discover top-of-the-line tales in all of music.
The three objects each man will need to have in his wardrobe are… I’m a traditionalist at coronary heart. A navy blazer—one that matches you—remains to be the important thing factor to put on. And a pair of great-fitting denims. And a wonderfully-fitting Oxford shirt. You may construct from these three issues.
The most important trend mistake that males make is… after they don’t put on the garments, however the garments put on them. It’s what occurs when males don’t know what matches. The pants are ultra-baggy and puddling. The jacket’s to his knee. Once we see a person in our outlets and we will introduce him to one thing that matches, we’ve bought him.
The books you’ll see on my nightstand are… sometimes design books. So proper now, Thornton Dial: Ideas on Paper by
Bernard Herman.
Dial was a folks artist. Hippie by
Barry Miles,
a terrific design-culture e book. Right down to Earth: Laid-Again Interiors for Fashionable Residing by
Lauren Liess.
And Textile Designs – Artists’ Textiles 1940-1976 by
Geoffrey Rayner.
The one factor I want I had not designed is… [laughs] too many to say. Let’s say alligator gar printed bikini tops.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.