The Man Who Dresses 35.9 Percent of America

Summary

Fashion People – Episode: "The Man Who Dresses 35.9 Percent of America"

Release Date: February 14, 2025

Introduction

In this episode of Fashion People, Puck correspondent Lauren Sherman sits down with renowned menswear designer Todd Snyder. The conversation delves into Snyder's extensive career in the fashion industry, his experiences at major retailers, the inception and growth of his own brand, and his significant influence on American menswear. Additionally, Snyder shares insights into his business strategies, collaborations, and the impact of his brand's acquisition by American Eagle.

Todd Snyder’s Career Path

Lauren Sherman opens the discussion by exploring Todd Snyder’s extensive background in the fashion industry. Snyder recounts his early days in Iowa and his ambitious move to New York to pursue a career in fashion design.

[13:15] Todd Snyder: "I grew up in Iowa, knew that if I wanted to do this, I had to move to New York. I worked for Ralph Lauren, J. Crew, Old Navy, and Gap, gaining invaluable experience that eventually led me to launch my own collection in 2009."

Snyder highlights his tenure at major brands like Ralph Lauren and J. Crew, emphasizing how these roles provided him with the necessary expertise and industry connections to establish his own label successfully.

Influence and Role in Menswear and Pitti Uomo

The conversation shifts to Snyder’s participation in Pitti Uomo, one of the most esteemed menswear trade shows globally. He discusses the significance of the event and its role in shaping the menswear community.

[08:23] Todd Snyder: "Pitti Uomo has been incredible for us. It’s a one-stop shop where we can discover new accessories, build relationships, and stay connected with influencers and buyers who are passionate about menswear."

Snyder appreciates the close-knit and collaborative environment of Pitti Uomo, noting how it fosters strong relationships among designers and industry insiders, which has been pivotal for his brand’s growth.

Business Model: Collaborations and Retail Strategy

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to Snyder’s unique business model, particularly his focus on collaborations and curated retail offerings. He explains how partnering with established brands like Champion and New Balance has enhanced his brand’s visibility and appeal.

[25:43] Todd Snyder: "Collaborations are one of our three pillars—alongside collection and curation. Partnering with well-known brands like Champion allows us to offer unique products that our customers can’t find anywhere else."

Snyder emphasizes the importance of authentic collaborations that align with his brand’s ethos, ensuring that each partnership adds value and resonates with his target audience. He also discusses the transition from wholesale to a more direct-to-consumer approach, which has allowed for greater control over the brand’s narrative and customer experience.

Acquisition by American Eagle

Lauren probes into the pivotal moment when Snyder’s company was acquired by American Eagle, exploring how this transition has influenced his brand's trajectory.

[33:22] Todd Snyder: "When American Eagle saw the potential in our brand, it provided the resources and support needed to scale our operations significantly. While Tailgate is no longer active, the acquisition allowed us to focus more on building the Todd Snyder brand."

The acquisition by American Eagle has provided Snyder with the financial stability and resources to expand his brand, while still maintaining creative control and staying true to his brand’s identity.

Impact on American Men's Fashion

Lauren and Snyder discuss his profound impact on American men's fashion, particularly in making stylish and high-quality menswear accessible to a broader audience.

[39:49] Todd Snyder: "Men in America are becoming more interested in fashion, and our goal has always been to make great design and quality accessible. We strive to balance being stylish without being overly flashy, making it easy for men to feel confident in their attire."

Snyder believes that his designs have empowered a generation of middle-class men to embrace fashion without feeling out of place, bridging the gap between high fashion and everyday wear.

Audience Engagement: Fire Questions

Towards the end of the episode, Lauren engages Snyder with a series of rapid-fire questions submitted by Puck’s male audience. These questions add a personal touch, revealing Snyder’s preferences and philosophies.

1. Who are your style icons?

   [51:26] Todd Snyder: "Paul Newman."

2. When are extra wide pants finally going away?

   [51:40] Todd Snyder: "I think it'll be a while, but you'll start seeing them come back in wearable forms, much like how styles from the 80s have been reimagined."

3. Menswear Guy: Hero or villain? Do you know about this guy, the menswear guy on Twitter?

   [52:30] Todd Snyder: "He’s been at both. I was not aware of him until about a year ago, but my team has handled his comments cleverly."

4. When are you supposed to wear house pants?

   [53:40] Todd Snyder: "They’re not just for the house—you can wear them lounging, at the pool, or even around town if you're confident enough."

5. What do you wear to the airport? Are you a sweats guy or a fly nice guy?

   [54:53] Todd Snyder: "I fly nice. Unless it's an overnight flight, then I switch to more comfortable attire like joggers, which are versatile enough for different settings."

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Lauren Sherman expressing her appreciation for Snyder’s insights and contributions to American menswear. Snyder reflects on his journey and reiterates his commitment to providing stylish, comfortable, and accessible fashion for men.

[55:40] Lauren Sherman: "Todd, thank you so much. This was so fun. Congrats on everything and I'm sure we'll chat soon."

[55:35] Todd Snyder: "Thank you. This is incredible. It's a huge honor to talk to you all day."

Closing Remarks

Fashion People offers an in-depth look into Todd Snyder’s influence on the fashion industry, his strategic business decisions, and his passion for making high-quality menswear accessible to a wide audience. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the dynamics of the fashion world and the stories behind influential brands.

Transcript

[Todd Snyder]

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[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah, sure thing. Hey, you sold that car yet?

[Todd Snyder]

Yeah, sold it to Carvana. Oh, I thought you were selling to that guy. The guy who wanted to pay me in foreign currency, no interest over 36 months. Yeah, no. Carvana gave me an offer in minutes, picked it up and paid me on the spot. It was so convenient. Just like that. Yeah. No hassle? None. That is super convenient.

[Unknown]

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[Lauren Sherman]

Pickup fees may apply. Foreign welcome to Fashion People. I'm Lauren Sherman, writer of Puck's Fashion and beauty Memo Line sheet, and today with me on the show is designer Todd Snyder. We're talking menswear, Japan, what to wear to the airport, growing up in Iowa, selling your company, and so much more. Before we get going, I wanted to remind you that if you like this podcast, you'll definitely love Puck, where I send an email called Line Sheet. If you're a fashion person, you get that reference. It's an original look at what's really going on inside the fashion and beauty industries. Line Sheet is scoopy, analytical and above all, fun. Along with me, a subscription to Puck gains you access to an unmatched roster of experts reporting on powerful people and companies in entertainment, media, sports, politics, finance, the art world, and much more. If you're interested listeners of Fashion People get a discount. Just go to Puck News Fashion People to join Puck or start a free trial. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. I don't care about Valentine's Day. Don't go out to eat tonight, whatever you do. I do love all the decor. I love making Valentine's. I love hearts. I love red and pink. I do not love purple. No offense to my mother in law, but I hope you're having a nice night in tonight or going to a party or hanging out with friends but not going out to eat. It's the worst night to go out to eat ever. Even if you're going to Marco Polo Restaurante in Carroll Gardens, which is a very funny Valentine scene. Anyway, hope you had a great week. I'm back in Los Angeles where it finally really actually rained. Feeling great about that. This. This week on Line Sheet, I wrapped up New York Fashion Week. Rachel Strugatz broke some big news about Glossier's exit strategy. If you haven't read her piece, you gotta read it. And I reported from inside the Oscar de la Renta fashion show. I was the only journalist of any kind in the room, which is a unique experience. The company's CEO, Alex Bolen recently hired their first ever cmo, Chloe Papescu from uta. And Wednesday night's show was the sort of anti marketing marketing that I think we'll see more of from them. Rachel also had the scoop on some notable exits at Mac Cosmetics. And Sarah Shapiro gave us the latest from the Embarcadero. What's happening at Gap Inc. Finally, congrats to friend of Line sheet Eric Maza, who got a fancy new job at New York magazine. I look forward to seeing what he cooks up and I hope he comes on the podcast soon. I also hope you enjoy this conversation with Todd and enjoy this week off between the shows. I know I'd love to. Todd Snyder, welcome to Fashion People.

[Todd Snyder]

Hi, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me.

[Lauren Sherman]

What'd you have for breakfast this morning?

[Todd Snyder]

Breakfast. You know, with a five year old at home, it's usually whatever she doesn't eat.

[Lauren Sherman]

What. What is her breakfast of choice?

[Todd Snyder]

Right now it's bagels. She changes probably on a monthly basis. So we're doing bagels now, which is good.

[Lauren Sherman]

Have you convinced her to try lox?

[Todd Snyder]

Yeah, actually, as long as it's not advertised. I would say like she loves salmon sushi and if we kind of tee it up that way. She's a very kind of fickle eater. But it's always interesting.

[Lauren Sherman]

I'll say that it is fascinating because we tried very hard. Only child, my kid is about to be four. We really tried to. He eats with us. We don't make him a special meal.

[Todd Snyder]

Wow.

[Lauren Sherman]

But. And when he was really young, it was fine. Like he just would eat anything. He ate spicy food. But I think being around other kids and nannies who say, don't eat spicy. So now he's always like, is it spicy? And we'll say, but you eaten spicy before. And then the other thing is they immediately go to the carbs. The one thing he doesn't like is cheese.

[Todd Snyder]

Really?

[Lauren Sherman]

He likes pizza. But he, if, if we put cheese on something or he asks if there's cheese in it and we say yes. He is reject. Not on board. Yeah. Yes. So how was your Fashion Week? You. You sort of. You weren't the first show, but you were one of the first shows on the calendar this season. And you are a menswear designer, but you showed on the women's calendar how. And you've been doing that for a couple seasons. How was it this season? And what have you been learning about the importance of a fashion show?

[Todd Snyder]

Well, it was incredible. I just started showing about a year ago again. I had taken a hiatus because of the pandemic, and then really just focusing on business and growing stores, and so I kind of kind of forgot about shows. And then last year, I got invited to do Piti Omo, which is huge and epic, and I couldn't turn that down. And it really just got my motor going again. So we showed for the second time because we showed in spring, back in September. So this is our second New York Fashion Week. And it was. It was great. I mean, there wasn't a lot of menswear designers here, but, you know, we got a ton of attention, and it was just really. It's really great. You know, for us, it. It really kind of just builds the halo. You know, we've already got. We don't do wholesale per se, but, you know, Saks and Bergdorfs and everybody is, you know, asking, can they see the collection? So that's kind of exciting. I gotta figure out how to sell to them, but that's a whole other thing.

[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah, we can talk about your business model and how that's developing. I was very excited because I went up to Tramell Tillman, one of the stars of Severance, who was at the show, and said hi to him.

[Todd Snyder]

I know it was good.

[Lauren Sherman]

It's funny. I really don't ever do that. I always say I never do that, but I really don't. And it always ends up being guys. I went up to John Mulaney at an Hermes show a couple of months ago, but it was really fun. You had such a great mix of people, and it is. You were talking about Pitti Uomo. And it's so clear when I go to those shows. I've been to Pitti a couple times, but like 10 years ago on a press trip or whatever. And that's a very specific experience to menswear and the menswear side of fashion. And I love going to your shows because everyone shows up from the world of menswear and men's editors and buyers and things. It's just a much chiller experience, but also really, really close knit. And when did you start going to Pitti was it when you worked at J. Crew or was it when you started your line? And, and how has that sort of community around, which is, you know, for the past 20 years has been really online of menswear, helped you build your business and develop your ideas?

[Todd Snyder]

It's been incredible. I mean, I started going to pity back in 2012. I'd always heard about it. And you see photos, of course, and all the people reporting, you know, everybody just dresses so impeccably well and you see a lot of amazing trends. You just see very interesting people that you don't typically see all together. You know, everybody from Brunello, Cuccinelli to himself walking there to, you know, there's so many influencers to Nick Wooster who's like the ultimate. Who kind of invented that. You just meet all these incredible people and you, you. It's just a moment, I think that's really kind of nice. It's a little bit of a celebration in a way and a kickoff. But I was selling my collection, my champion collab there back in 2012, so that was my first time I did did that. And it just blew my mind that there was this many men that dress well and into fashion. So for me it was just incredible. And just the group of people that I've met from there or continue to kind of re engage, everybody from Michael Williams to Nick Wooster to Nick Sullivan, Eugene Tong, I mean the list goes on and on. I mean, all of us are friends, which is really nice. And everybody kind of roots for each other, which is amazing. It's just kind of a nice little community of people. I'm friends with Mike Amiri, Willie. You know, we're all friendly. You know, we're all. And that was kind of weird not having them in New York City because there's not this friendly competition. It's kind of like, well, I guess, you know, so I kind of kind of miss that. When you're in New York.

[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah. At this point, you know, Pitti is a trade show. How much business is getting done there? Are people placing orders there or is it more of a planting the seeds and developing relationships thing?

[Todd Snyder]

At this point, it's definitely planting the seeds. We do a lot of buying there because we carry third party, you know, everything from, you know, scarves to shoes to different accessories and stuff. Things we don't make, we buy from there. So we typically. It's great. It's like a one stop shop. You can go and, you know, get your socks, you can go get watches. You know, we I met the guy from, from Unimatic there and it's. That's, you know, you, you make these kind of discoveries sometimes it's very few and far between. But it's a great place to do business. I don't think, as they say in the business, I don't think a lot of paper is written. I don't know if that even happens anymore. But that was kind of how we used to say. I didn't get much paper. But all the connections typically start there. People take notes and then they kind of, once things calm down, you get an order emailed or what have you. But it's definitely kind of the beginnings of things. It's a great way to discover new things, but it's also a great way just to touch base and see if there's brands that you may have forgotten about.

[Lauren Sherman]

The partnership and collaboration part of your business is so interesting to me and kind of speaks to the niche you've carved for yourself. My husband, you mentioned Unimatic. It's the only watch he's real watch he's ever bought. Wow. Yeah, it's all because of you. Yeah, it's great. So. So let's walk back to the beginning of your career and how you ended up at Pitti in 2012. Because there are not. The reason I really wanted to talk to you for fashion people in particular is because so many people when I started at Puck, emailed me and said, I want you to write about Todd Snyder. I want you to cover Todd Snyder. Because Puck's audience, my audience online, there are a lot of women, but Puck's audience was more men than women at that time. I don't, I'm not at liberty to say what the numbers are now. I don't know. But there are a lot of guys who read Puck and a lot of guys of all different industries and walks of life and everything, and they all wear Todd Snyder. They all wanted me to write about Todd Snyder. And you have sort of developed this ownership on the middle class man or middle class and above what's left of him in America. But you did a lot of work to get to Pitti in 2012 and start your own thing a couple years earlier. How did you end up doing this?

[Todd Snyder]

Thank you first of all, for all of that. It's just amazing to hear and I've always been a huge fan of yours and it's nice to hear. The audience is very interested in me. I started out, I've been in the industry almost 30 years, wanted to be a fashion designer. Grew up in Iowa, knew that if I wanted to do this, I had to move to New York. Wanted to work for the best, worked for Ralph Lauren. Then I, you know, in the very beginning, this was back in 92, 93, and it was a dream come true for me. I moved here right when I graduated. I did an internship for a bit with. With Ralph and then got a full time job at j. Crew in 1993, where I met Jenna way back in the day and really just loved everything I did and do. It just. They gave me opportunities that I never thought I would be able to do, and they believed in me. And then from there I went to Old Navy. I went to the Gap and worked with Mickey there, which was just incredible. So I was there for about five years, and then I went back to Ralph Lauren again, and I worked there about two years under John Barbados, which was huge for me. And then he left. And then I went back to the Gap to work for Mickey and Jeff Feifel, who was there at the time. And then they left and went to J. Crew. Back to J. Crew. Mickey bought part of the company, and then in 2004, 2005, they asked me to be the head of men's. And that was just epic for me that I knew that that was an opportunity. I knew I always wanted to do my own collection, but I had such a great job. I had, you know, I was able to fly around the world and, you know, first class, business class, stay in the best hotels, shop in Paris, shop in London. And that was really my job was, you know, as a designer. You were always studying other designers and brands. And it was just a great learning experience for me. A kid from Iowa who had never been out of the state, barely. And all of a sudden I find myself on international flights. And it was just. I had the best time, and I still do, but I was always very fortunate and worked for some amazing people. And I knew my dad always told me, if you want to be the best, work for the best. And I knew Mickey was the best in business, and I knew Ralph was the best in design. And I just always felt that to be able to become my own designer, I needed that experience to really launch myself. So in 2009, I left J. Crew and launched my own collection. And, you know, I guess, what, 14, 15 years later, I'm still here. Which is. Is a testament.

[Lauren Sherman]

You left J. Crew just as your influence on American men's fashions really started to take hold. It was like 2007, 2008, when the J. Crew guy became the J. Crew guy who you made. So that's a big risk. You have this great job. You've worked at these big retailers for years. You were brought with Mickey to different jobs. Like you had some sort of security with him, obviously. Did you work with Jenny Ming at Old Navy? Yeah, I love her. Awesome.

[Todd Snyder]

I mean, I was working for Old Navy and that was, I mean, gosh, I was there when it was four stores and they quickly, you know, they were the fastest growing brand to a billion and it was amazing. You know, I probably didn't fully realize what I was getting from that as far as influence and seeing that, but it definitely influenced me as far as how I think about the business and how I think about people. They just were incredible mentors and just incredibly smart people. It just. I was surrounded by just talent, which for me was an incredible way to run in this business.

[Unknown]

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[Lauren Sherman]

So what made you decide in 2009? Okay, it's time for me to do my own thing. It makes sense to leave this cushy job. That, that was, I'm sure, very hard, but very fun. What. What made you take the chance?

[Todd Snyder]

Well, I had turned 40 right around that time and I knew if I was ever going to do my own thing, I needed to do it. And to be honest with you, I didn't realize how big J. Crew was going to get. I mean, when I was there, it definitely became kind of the zeitgeist of menswear. But it really kind of came into, you know, Frank Mugens is a still very close and dear friend of mine. He and I were doing men's together. It was me, him, Tim Hamilton, who is another amazing designer.

[Lauren Sherman]

My God, all my faves.

[Todd Snyder]

Yeah, that was my dream team.

[Lauren Sherman]

Frank was at your show on Thursday, right?

[Todd Snyder]

Yeah. He doesn't like me saying this, but he's like an influencer. I'm like, dude, you're like. People watch him and he's got such incredible style and he's just such a good person too. And Tim. So we all met at Ralph back in. In 1999. 98. And I knew when I got this job at J. Crew, I wanted to hire the best people. And Frank was number one and Tim was number two. And. And then we just kept bringing on just amazing people from back in the day when Abercrombie was super strong. It was hard to get people to leave Abercrombie because they paid him so well.

[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah.

[Todd Snyder]

But just incredible talent, you know, from all over the. The globe that we brought into the business. And then it started snowballing and then quickly, the business grew very quickly beyond that.

[Lauren Sherman]

And then you started your business. And Tim also started a line around that time. That's when I met Tim, because he was doing his line and he was deeply involved in cfd and he picked up women's really quickly too. Why did you do it?

[Todd Snyder]

I mean, it's funny, Mickey still reminds me, because I had this opportunity, I had this vision of what I wanted to. To do, and I knew I better get going because it takes a long time to build a brand and build a business. And I wasn't getting any younger. I was 40 at the time. That was, you know, 17 years ago. And it's. It's just something. I always had a dream and I thought I better do this or. Or just shut up about it. So I did it and, you know, just kept going. And, you know, we first got into Burgdorf's, was our first order, got into Neiman's, and then Japan actually was our biggest business. We were selling $1 million a wholesale to them the first year, which was just incredible.

[Lauren Sherman]

How hard is it to make product that Japanese stores don't return? Because aren't they, like, extremely particular about everything?

[Todd Snyder]

I mean, they turn the garment inside out. They look at every stitch, look at every detail. They want it to be perfect. But we had a really good partner there. I mean, we sold wholesale and then we started opening stores. We had about Four or five stores in Japan for a bit. And it was incredible for me because Japan has always been a huge piece of my process and inspiration, and just. I have just a huge amount of love for not only the. The country, but the style, the. The culture, the food. It's just the. The people are just incredible, and it's just. It's a really different way of life, and it's. It's just great. I. I am so blessed. I've probably been to Japan probably 30, 40 times in my life.

[Lauren Sherman]

You need to meet my husband because, you know, he goes twice a year.

[Todd Snyder]

Wow.

[Lauren Sherman]

I'm going in April with him. He, like, makes it, quote, unquote work. But all his best friends are there. Every white man who's 42 years old is his friend. There's about five of them. He loves it. You know David Marks and do you know Craig Maude? Have you ever met him?

[Todd Snyder]

No.

[Lauren Sherman]

He's just like this crew of guys. They're his best friends, so he goes and hangs out. But it is such a special place. And because you are sort of redefining what it is or defining what American menswear is in this era, and they study it so closely that, like, language and exchange between you and that culture is. Is super clear to me, for sure.

[Todd Snyder]

Yeah. And you asked earlier. I know how to. How to, you know, collaborations come into play. And. And it really came from my trips to Japan.

[Lauren Sherman]

They love a collaboration.

[Todd Snyder]

They love a collaboration. I remember when I was selling wholesale to them in early 11 or so, I. They were asking me to do collaborations. And. And at the time, I had just coming off of J. Cruz, I kind of want to give that a break a little bit. And they were really pushing me to do something. And so I, you know, for me, when I'm there, I'm always discovering, rediscovering, I should say, American brands just because they covet them. Like, yeah, nobody's business, you know, between Red Wing to. I mean, a Champion sweatshirt, a good Champion sweatshirt, there will be $500 to a thousand dollars. And, you know, Levi's, if you find a. And they covet them, a Levi's could be 10 grand, 20 grand based on how old it is.

[Lauren Sherman]

So your collaborations, you have this collaboration with Champion. Bill Cohan, who is our dry power columnist at Puck, is a huge fan of that line. And then you do this line with Woolrich, you have all these different things. Watches, New Balance. And you were doing that at J. Crew too, right? You were a big part of them starting that. What. How Much of that. How big is that or how important is that to your overall business as you. Because your business changed at one point where you were doing wholesale, and then you pulled out of wholesale to focus on direct, but kept doing the collaborations. Like, what's the balance of your business now? Because there's very rarely. I was talking to a designer the other night who's thinking of starting something, and they were like, I just don't know how to make this profitable. Like, is it possible to make it profitable at this point? You can make it profitable for a while if you do wholesale, but then eventually the anniversary stuff starts getting in the way, and it's just hard to run one of these businesses and make money off of them. So how did you. How does. How do the collaborations and your business model, how does it all sort of balance out today?

[Todd Snyder]

Well, I could probably write a book on it now. I've done probably over a month collaborations, but, you know, it's changed so much. When I started, you know, my thought was nobody really knows who Todd Snyder is, so why not partner with brands that have more brand awareness? That is Champion. Everybody pretty much knows who Champion is. And you know, of course there's the customers that are more traditional, that are like, why is the sweatshirt so expensive? That's not the guy I'm trying to, you know, convert into a Todd Snyder brand. Yeah. Then. Then there's a guy who gets it and it's like, oh, my gosh, this is made in Canada. This is amazing. Quality fits great. It doesn't shrink, you know. So for me, Champion was kind of the. The beginnings of it, and it was just an incredible moment to really do something different. I also try to do things and I don't know if you notice it, it is semi intentional, meaning I do try to think about trend and think about what. What's missing, you know?

[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah.

[Todd Snyder]

So Champion was way before Athleisure. You know, athleisure was something that kind of came on maybe four or five years after I started doing it. And not that I started it by any means, but I felt that there was a need. And for me, it's always about the authent of it. Meaning, like, this is real. Like I'm not just making up Todd sport. You know, I wanted to do something that's real and authentic and that's why I do them, is for that authenticity. And, you know, we have. We have a saying in the brand. We call it our four, our three Cs, which sounds kind of business talk, but it's about the collection, it's about the curation, you know, the stuff that third party that we buy and put in the stores. And then it's about the collaborations. And the collaborations. These are kind of like our three pillars in the brand and we use them to really kind of help shape the brand and to give customers things that they can only get from us and make it unique to us. So we're almost in a way, you know, a mini boutique, you know, department store that has a one stop shop and has all these interesting things that you can only get from us that, that I design for the most part, you know, third party. You know, sometimes we do some special makeups. But one customer came in and I just loved what he said to me. He's like, look, I know New Balance is cool because I don't know which shoe to buy. If I go to their website, they have like 200 styles. I come to you. You have four. Four. I know I'm going to pick my favorite of the four and I'm cool.

[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah.

[Todd Snyder]

And that's essentially what we're trying to, trying to sell.

[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah.

[Todd Snyder]

Is we're really trying to be that store that you can come to and be a one stop shop that you can get things that you feel comfortable in and you know that you're not passe, you know, you're not, you know, going to make a wrong choice. And that, that's really, to me what, what all that's about. And the other thing, as far as collaborations, to your friend who said, I don't know how to make money, I. Because I've been in this business a long time, I've been very fortunate in my career path. But also I don't, I love advising people and the one thing I would say to that person is you should be getting paid for that. You should have the brand paying you. If you can't figure out how to make money, first of all, you shouldn't do it. Second of all, you should be demanding compensation for that. When you see the targets of the world, and granted they're giant working with designers, they're probably getting seven figures for that collaboration. So I think that would be my biggest piece of advice to anybody thinking about doing collaboration.

[Lauren Sherman]

Unfortunately, I know the numbers, Todd, and they're often not getting seven figures.

[Todd Snyder]

Well, even six. You know, it all depends on.

[Lauren Sherman]

But like what is that? You know, sometimes it's like 200 grand they're making on that stuff.

[Todd Snyder]

Yeah. And it all depends on how much it takes your eye off the ball. And it's a balance like you don't want to, you know, I started working with Woolrich recently and it's been amazing and I really love doing it, but I really had to step back and say, can I do I have the bandwidth for this? And, you know, I also made them, I'm somewhat unique because I do have an established business. You know, I made them help support me, meaning getting me a designer to do it because I, I couldn't do it all. You just have to be honest. You have to say, here's what my bandwidth is, here's what I can do. Throw it out there. You never know if, if they're going to take it. But you kind of need to draw that line in the sand. And what is it? Because, I mean, will it get you good brand exposure? Will it bring in some income? Will it help attract new customers? All those things you have to just weigh into your business and decide whether or not it's, it's the right, the right time or what have you. I mean, the best thing about this is the fashion is a lot like high school and dating. If you let everybody know I want to date you, they don't really want to date you. And if you're kind of the one who's like, not trying to shop yourself around, it's amazing how many people want to be with you. So it's better to be a little coy in these things and they'll respect that and they may come back to you in two years. But if it's not meant to be and it doesn't make sense, then you just need to walk away. It always sounds like a great opportunity, but it's best. I probably have turned down two or three times as much as I've done, so it's not always an easy thing.

[Lauren Sherman]

If fashion is your thing, ebay is it. Ebay is where I find all my favorites, from handbags to iconic streetwear, all authenticated for real this time. A little supreme, some Gucci. I even have that vintage Prada on my watch list. That's why ebay is my go to for all my go tos.

[Todd Snyder]

Yeah, eBay.

[Lauren Sherman]

The place for new, pre loved vintage and rare fashion. EBay things people love.

[Unknown]

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[Lauren Sherman]

At some point, your company was acquired by American Eagle. You also had this. And I don't know if this is still in business, but you had, like, a college sweatshirt business or something. Can you talk a little bit about how your business. How. How. How it's helped to be owned by a bigger company that doesn't do the same thing that you do, like, they're in a different business than you're in. But how did that end up happening? And what. What has that given you in terms of freedom or resources to develop your brand further? Well, I know it's a long story, but, like, maybe in. In a minute you could. Five minutes.

[Todd Snyder]

You're going to have to do a countdown. Let me rewind and play my short version. When I left J. Crew, I knew I had needed a source of income. And my brother and I had started a T shirt line called Tailgate Clothing Company, and it was all for college T shirts. And it was something for me. It was a passion because I would go back to football games and have nothing to wear. And here I am working at Ralph Lauren, around all these amazing fabrics and all these amazing factories, and I'm like, why don't we just do this? And so he started off doing it, and then I helped kind of fuel it and was always a little bit involved and started in my dad's basement, and it just grew very quickly. And then when I left J. Crew, I left J. Crew, which you'll find even crazier. I left J. Crew on a Friday, right before Lehman Brothers went under on Monday.

[Lauren Sherman]

And Mickey kept.

[Todd Snyder]

Yeah, Mickey was like, are you sure you want to leave? And of course, I was like, had already kind of resigned. And whatever the kid was, I bet.

[Lauren Sherman]

He was so mad at you.

[Todd Snyder]

Oh, he was so pissed. He's still so pissed at me, but it's all good. He was so mad. I've never seen him matter. I never had seen him matter. I was like, oh, gosh. And so he kept. You know, kept asking me periodically. I stayed on for three or four months and to help them transition. And, you know, I knew I needed a job and I needed some income because my plan was just to go out. I had saved all my money from, you know, J. Crew and just everything. And I knew I needed a job. So I started talking to my brother. It's like, maybe I can help you grow this. So they started doing that, and it grew very quickly. We got lucky. Good friend of mine, Mark Breitbart, From Gap was at Old Navy and said, hey, are you still doing that T shirt line? Yes, I am. And it really gave me the jump start. We quickly became like a $20 million business. It was like a million dollars before that. And we were selling T shirts to Old Navy. We were also growing our own brand. The T shirts were not branded tailgate. And it was a great way to kind of build scale and have some income. And I started using that income to build the Todd Snyder brand. And then a good friend of mine, Mike Tucci, who is a huge mentor of mine from Old Navy and Jimmy Olson from Old Navy as well, joined me and helped grow the brand. And then quickly, we scaled to about 30 million. And then American Eagle had seen. It's kind of a bit of a convoluted story, but American Eagle had seen. I did a pop up for my champion collaboration down in Nolita on Elizabeth Street.

[Lauren Sherman]

I remember that.

[Todd Snyder]

Oh, you did? Wow. Yeah.

[Lauren Sherman]

I think I went to the opening and got a green sweatshirt because they cut them off to make them, like, cropped for girls.

[Todd Snyder]

That was me. I was there with scissors, like, customizing shirts. Wow. Back when we were kids. Yeah, it was. That was kind of the beginning. It really. I had been nominated through CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund. So I was doing that. I was nominated for, you know, CFDA Menswear Designers. And the brand really started snowballing. And at that point, Roger, Mark Field and Jay Schottenstein came into my store and they're like, who's this guy? And Roger I knew. And Roger, it really got his attention. And then I got a phone call, you know, maybe. Actually, it was pretty shortly thereafter. I remember I was at a trade show in Vegas and, you know, doing wholesale, and this kid comes in is, you know, jay Schottenstein wants to meet you. And I knew Jay was. And I'm like, yes. And. And it was actually Jay's son. And he said, you know, Jay wants to meet you. So I'm like, how do I get ahold of this person? So it took about a year or two for us to kind of get to know each other. I went to many dinners and showed many decks. And at that point, we had already had a tailgate store open in Iowa. And then quickly they're like, you know what? This makes sense for American Eagle to help build their brand and kind of on campus presence. So they bought us. When I say us, they bought the brand tailgate. And then Todd Snyder, as I always say, was kind of a gift with purchase. But unfortunately, the tailgate brand's not going anymore. But, Todd, the TS Brand, as we call it, is still going nine years after their purchase.

[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah. And going. Going strong. It's. It's become. It really has become the sort of go to. For a large group of people in this country, which. One of the things I wanted to talk to you about today is I've been to your last two shows, and I don't know if I'd ever been to one of your shows before, maybe years ago, when you used to show on what they called Men's Day or. Or whatever. But, you know, you're a very elegant person. You're an elegant designer. Your clothes are getting more and more. I mean, you've trained consumers to be interest. More interested in fashion, and especially in our country, where men in particular are sort of programmed from a young age not to care or act like they don't care about clothes. And so you're training this group of men. I think my husband's interest in fashion came from American. Oh, no, not American. I almost said American Apparel. Came from J. Crew in 2007, 2008. And then he started, you know, developing. He fell in love with Japan and started going there a lot. And then also just different designers. And now he wears. He has a thing from a kind of guys. And that is because of you. Like, not because of me.

[Todd Snyder]

Wow.

[Lauren Sherman]

But the thing is, like, that Runway show, it was, like, a lot of really dressy clothes, a lot of silk. You obviously developed a lot, and it felt very rich. And I don't mean that in terms of expensive. I just mean, like, in terms of the colors and the textures and all that. But you're also. You are really dressing like just dudes. Like, every single guy I work with at Puck wears your stuff. Like, they all. If you buy a suit now, it's a Todd Snyder suit. You and I met at San Vicente Bungalows probably what, year and a half ago, and this guy, I'm sure an agent from Cauta or something, came up to us and was like, I'm such a big fan. And they knew you. So how do you reconcile the person that you're selling to, who doesn't look at the European runways at all, is not interested in that part of fashion at all, and doesn't even want to admit sometimes that they're interested in fashion with what you want to do as a designer? How do you bring those two things together?

[Todd Snyder]

I think a lot of it comes just from who I am. Growing up in the Midwest and then moving to New York I travel the globe, so I'm always inspired by travel. I'm always looking at what people wear. I study it like nobody's business. I'm on Pinterest all the time. It's my source for inspiration. And I'm always just trying to take everything in and just watch what people wear. And I think I've always had a very good sense of how I would dress in certain situations. And, you know, whether, you know, if you go to Palm beach, you're certainly going to dress different than you would if you were in New York City or if you're in la. It's different than you dress in New York City. It's, it's similar, but it is definitely has its own vibe. So. And I kind of get that, like I can watch what people wear. I can even just walking through airports, which isn't always the best dressed people, but you get kind of a sense of where, you know, where people are going, what they're wearing. So I've always had that in me. And I worked in sales way back when at an old men's store and was just always good at, you know, dressing myself, but then also dressing others and selling to others. Because, you know, for me it's always been about making guys feel comfortable and making kind of tearing down the barriers of, you know, fashion definitely was like a four letter word to a lot of men and still kind of is. But I do think that's, you know, next generation. Every generation comes out, it's different and it's just seeing that, you know. And I have three daughters now and I have Gabby, who's 24, she's in the business. She works for Reformation. She used to work at Oola, and then Cece is at Michigan. She's getting ready to graduate. And I follow them too, and I watch what they wear, what their friends wear. And it's just, for me, it kind of comes easy, but it's because I study it. I'm always looking at things, whether it's movies or people or reading. There's always something very interesting about costume and what people wear. I mean, you think about like, why did you put on what you put on today? You know what I mean? It's like you wake up in the morning and it's not like you're. There's a feeling you have and it's, you know, whether you want to be, you know, ostentatious, whether you want to be reserved, where you want to be as classic. Like everybody kind of has their own, as I say, uniform that they wear, but they're definitely influenced by whether it's the weather, whether it's the occasion they're going to, or just in general, they want to, you know, dress their best. And for men, I do think that they want to dress well, but they kind of don't want to be pegged as somebody who cares. And that's always been kind of a tough balance for men to do that, and I understand it. So for me, it's about putting forth great design, great quality, and making it easy for the guy. Meaning you don't want to be, you know, shocking them too much, but you also don't want to be too boring. So it's always a balance in between there that I try to try to shoot for. And I think it is because of my upbringing, but also just for, you know, who I see our guy being. I go to a lot of our stores, and what they wear, what our staff wears, always influences me too. And I really pay attention to all those cues and. And try to evolve with the customer, whether it's younger generations or different locations. We have almost 20 stores now in the States, so it's incredible.

[Lauren Sherman]

So I have a quick fire round for you from the men of Puck. They asked a lot of questions. We're not going to go through all of them because some of these questions are not worth your time. But really quickly, you mentioned your upbringing a couple of times. You're from Iowa. Can you describe it a little bit? I should have asked you that earlier, but, like, did you feel. I asked Aaron Levine this, too. He grew up, I believe, in Virginia. Like, did you feel weird that you were into fashion? Like, how did you know you wanted to be a fashion designer? Especially like this. Now, that would not be crazy for a kid in Iowa, but back then, you must have felt different in some way. And, like, what was the environment that has kind of influenced how you approach it all?

[Todd Snyder]

Well, back then, yeah, I felt like I didn't. I was in college originally went to Iowa State, and I was studying. I changed my major many times. I truly wanted to be in fashion. I thought I wanted to open my own store. I was working in retail, and it was just not one of those things anybody ever talked about. In high school, there was no placement test that said you should open a men's store or be a designer. And I read Ralph's book back in the day. It was his first book. I can't remember the name of it, but I was like, oh, my God, I want to be that.

[Lauren Sherman]

And, oh, wow, that's cool.

[Todd Snyder]

And I didn't know how to do that. And it was funny. I went to Iowa State. Started off in freshman engineering. I was always good at numbers. My dad was an engineer, civil engineer. Had his own firm, and it's still one of the biggest firms in Iowa. He's no longer around, but he was always very good at building things. And he was great with people. He was great with, you know, super smart, but. But very good at managing people. And, you know, I get a little bit of that from him, I would say. And then my mother also went to Iowa State as well. Go Cyclones. They both, you know, came from very simple, humble beginnings. They both, you know, grew up on farms, and they were the first of their family to go to college. And I was always very fortunate in that. But they also had very simple ways of dressing. And, like, I had, like, a pair of jeans, a couple shirts. I don't even remember, but it scarred me. I remember in sixth grade, and I don't think I've ever told this story, but I remember in sixth grade, like, we were getting ready for a musical for school. It was like a holiday musical, and everybody was talking about what they're gonna wear. And I remember, like, oh, gosh, I have nothing. I have a pair of jeans that have holes in them, and everybody's talking about they're gonna wear this corduroy thing or what have you. And I was so embarrassed. And I didn't go to the event. I didn't participate, and I just. I had nothing to wear. And it always made me feel like, oh, gosh, I don't want to feel like that way again. And then when I started getting in high or middle school and. And high school, and I could work, you know, I could make some money. I would just make a little bit of money, and I'd go buy clothes. And that just became, you know, something of me. Like, I didn't want to ever feel like that person that didn't had literally one pair of jeans and a couple shirts. And. And then I started getting attention, and it was just like, oh, this is kind of cool. You know, you dress better, and people kind of treat you differently. And I still remember that. And it's the one thing that, you know, probably got me into it, but I kind of got good at it. And then I started working in stores, and I was like, this is really fun. And, you know, freshman engineering turned into architecture turned into business, finance. And then I. A friend of mine, Steve King, who actually, he and I still still work together at Todd Snyder was working at Yonkers, which was the Midwest department store. He was working in Names, and I was working in Des Moines. And I said, aren't you at Iowa State? Aren't you at some textile program or something like that? And he's like, yeah. And so I met the professors and the counselors, and I remember them saying to me, and this is the case in 92. They're like, are you sure you want to be a fashion designer? You know, you're going to have to sew. And I'm like, yes, I'm sure. And. And that's how I got into it. I finally just said, to heck with things. And it was more so just the phobias of being a fashion designer. And then what would all. It all made sense, you know, I, you know, worked as a tailor at a place called Bedowers, taught myself how to sew. Loved it. I would. I would hem, you know, pants and just do whatever I could to learn. And, you know, people were kind of like, what do you. What? Just everybody. I play basketball. You know, people are like, what do you do? I'm a fashion designer. And I stopped saying fashion designer. I would say design. Oh, I'm in design. And. But there's definitely, you know, you know, stigmas and homophobes. And that was very prevalent back then and even with my family. And the best part of it was, I remember I was visiting my grandma. You know, all my cousins were there and stuff, and they were all like, I was going to move to New York City, and I had made the decision, and they all thought I was nuts. And I just remember my cousins, you know, we always. Everybody razzes each other. And I said, I'm going to be a fashion designer. And they're like, what? You know, I can't believe you're going to do that. And then my grandma says, what are you going to do? She said. I said, I want to be a fashion designer, grandma. And she's like, that makes total sense. Snyder and Dutch means Taylor.

[Lauren Sherman]

And I was like, wow.

[Todd Snyder]

She told me, 10 years earlier, I would have been like, okay, wow. Screw all of you.

[Lauren Sherman]

So you did it. I don't want to encourage too many people to start their own lines, though. Maybe just go work for time. So you did it. Here are. I'm just going to ask you a few questions from the guys at work who all love your stuff. Mostly Peter Hamby, the host of the Powers that Be podcast. He's a big Todd Snyder fan. He asked a bunch of questions. I'm going to do the good ones. One is, who are your style icons?

[Todd Snyder]

Paul Newman.

[Lauren Sherman]

Great. Two is, when are extra wide pants finally going away? I don't think they actually exist, but it's fine. What is your take on that?

[Todd Snyder]

I think it'll be a while, but I would say the extra wide. I mean, the big, super extreme ones, you know, I already. I always kind of see them already on kind of the down side. I mean, but you're going to see bigger proportions. I think it's art, and I think it's the type of thing that you see it. How does it come back to something that's more wearable? But if you look back to the 80s and you look at the suits, what guys were wearing back then, that it's incredible how you could pretty much fit someone's waist in the leg. So it takes some time. You'll get used to it, and then you'll think, gosh, how did I ever wear skinny jeans?

[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah, it's going to be okay, Peter. We promise. Okay, this one is a good one. Menswear guy. Hero or villain? Do you know about this guy, the menswear guy on Twitter? Oh, my God. You don't know about him?

[Todd Snyder]

Lucky for you, I live under a rock.

[Lauren Sherman]

That's interesting. He's very divisive. I like him.

[Todd Snyder]

But, well, style.com. i did not know who he was until about a year ago.

[Lauren Sherman]

Oh, style, not calm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was at your show.

[Todd Snyder]

He's been at both. Yeah, he's been at both. And thank God for my team because they're brilliant and he's said some pretty clever things. Todd Snyder is not sexy. It's sex.

[Lauren Sherman]

And I just was like, oh, yeah. I had to sit next to him at the show where you made everyone look everyone directly in the eye. And I was extremely uncomfortable.

[Todd Snyder]

I heard about that. I apologize. It was definitely my direction. I told the models, I said, don't be afraid to look people in the eye. It was a small show.

[Lauren Sherman]

A lot of people really liked it, so it was successful.

[Todd Snyder]

It was a small show. I wanted it to feel intimate and obviously maybe a little too intimate.

[Lauren Sherman]

But anyway, so the other two questions, this one is from another Peter at the office who says, when are you supposed to wear. He got the Todd Snyder house pants for Christmas. What time of the day are you supposed to wear house pants? I think this is a silly question.

[Todd Snyder]

But you can answer it whenever you want to. I would say they're not necessarily just for the house. I mean, it's something that you can wear lounging around, you can wear them out to the pool. You know, if you're confident enough, you can wear them, you know, around, around town. It's meant to be something that you can style differently. You know, you can wear it with a third piece, as we call it, like a, a jacket or even a sweatshirt or something. So whenever, whenever you want. I mean, that's that I would always tell people like, you know, whenever you goddamn well please. But anyway, that's, I would frame it up.

[Lauren Sherman]

I agree. So, final question from David Kobe, the best dressed guy at Puck by far. Mickey Drexler met him and it was love at first sight. He was like, you look so cool, you get a discount. So David asks, what do you wear to the airport? Are you a sweats guy or a fly nice guy? I thought this was a great question.

[Todd Snyder]

It's a great question. I fly nice. I, I, if I'm, if I'm doing an overnight though, I will bring a change of so purposely, you know, you know, big benefit of doing Champion is I have enough, you know, joggers and stuff that I can wear. But I typically wear those after I get on the flight if I'm doing it overnight. But yeah, I do not subscribe to the, you know, wear it to. I mean, you never know who you're going to see.

[Lauren Sherman]

I agree. Todd, thank you so much. This was so fun. Congrats on everything and I'm sure we'll chat soon.

[Todd Snyder]

Thank you. This is incredible. It's a huge honor to talk to you all day.

[Lauren Sherman]

Yeah, I'm sure we will chat again soon. Fashion People is a presentation of Odyssey in partnership with Puck. This show was produced and edited by Molly Nugent. Special thanks to our executive producers, Puck co founder John Kelly, executive editor Ben Landy, and director of Editorial operations, Gabby Grossman. In additional thanks to the team at Odyssey, JD Crowley, Jenna Weiss Berman and Bob Tabador.

[Unknown]

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