← The Grand Tourist with Dan Rubinstein
The Grand Tourist with Dan Rubinstein
Todd Snyder: “My Favorite Word Has Always Been Juxtaposition”
01:04:52
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- [00:00]
Todd Snyder
The reason why I'm successful is because I've surrounded myself with the best people and you know, everything from merchandising to design to finance, you name it. I have always surrounded myself with amazing people and that's what makes me better. I couldn't do this on my own and I think it's really important for people, if they're thinking about doing their own thing, to think about that.
- [00:22]
Dan Rubenstein
Hi, I'm Dan Rubenstein and this is the Grand Tourist. I've been a design journalist for more than 20 years and this is my personalized guided tour through the worlds of fashion, art, architecture, food and travel. All the elements of a well lived life. Back in September of last year, I received an invitation to a handful of Runway shows for Fashion Week and one of them shot right to the top of the pile. Todd Snyder I'm not the typical attendee for most fashion events, I'm the first to admit. I'm usually more of an art and design person myself, as you know. But there's something so alluring, pure and enlightening about a Runway presentation. Even today in the age of social media, it only happens once. It's a perfect synthesis of design, art direction, music and inspiration. A one shot chance for a designer to present his or her vision to their biggest clients, the media and the vast number of fans watching from afar. Seeing Todd Snyder's Runway from the front row made me want to speak with this unassuming and quite tall, by the way, American designer myself and include him in our upcoming spring print issue of the Grand Tourist. His collection, titled La Buena Vida, tells a story of a south of the border, mid century wanderlust with relaxed but sophisticated silhouettes using neutral tones and elegant materials. When I spoke with Todd, I found him to be a quintessential American tastemaker. He has a Midwestern work ethic, a designer's mind as well as a retailer's common sense. Snyder was born in Iowa and studied other things before turning fully to design. After a highly influential era at brands such as Ralph Lauren and especially J. Crew, he he opened his own eponymous brand in 2011. Guy Trebe at the New York Times said it best about Snyder when reporting from his Pitti uomo show in Florence. As much stylist as designer, he's the reliable friend who will tell you the truth when you ask if those pants make your butt look too big. He will guide you when wavering about whether to wear your gum boots outside your jeans, try a semi tuck in your sweater or knot a contrasting belt over a Trapper's coat resembling a prop from McCabe and Mrs. Miller and fasten it with a carabiner. He comes from the place where the tall corn grows and he is honestly there to help. I caught up with Todd from his headquarters in New York to discuss his unlikely trajectory into the heart of American fashion when he decided to quit his lucrative gig to start his own brand, his philosophy on dressing the American man, and much more.
- [02:49]
Interviewer
You know, I read that you grew up in the middle of Iowa and I was wondering, like, what's your earliest memory growing up there?
- [02:55]
Todd Snyder
My earliest memory in Iowa, I just remember so much from my childhood, you know, playing sports when I was younger and always hanging out with, you know, family and friends and cousins and I always wanted to be, you know, something in sports. So that was always kind of what I remember.
- [03:12]
Interviewer
And what was your family like?
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Todd Snyder
I mean, I thought my family was great. I mean, I grew up in a pretty customary, you know, both my mom and father grew up on farms and they were the first to kind of leave the farm and go to college. And, you know, so I think probably my earliest memory was actually when they were in college at Iowa State and I was born and we were living on campus and that's the thing I remember the most. We used to live across the street from a golf course that was really awesome there that my dad would go and collect golf balls and I used to go with him. So that was like a really awesome time. I was probably like three or four.
- [03:55]
Interviewer
And so what were you. If I could go back in time and find you as like a 13 year old Todd Snyder, what would he be doing on the weekend?
- [04:03]
Todd Snyder
13, 13. I was playing sports most of the time. When I was 13, I pretty much played basketball every single day. And I grew quite rapidly when I got into, I guess junior high at the time, but it's middle school and I was as tall as I am now back then. So when I was, I think eighth grade, all of a sudden I was six foot two. Of course the basketball coach was like, whoa, you're, you know, I was like his best friend. I stopped growing, which was kind of a bummer because I did have dreams of playing basketball at some level. I mean, I played through high school and played a little in college. Not on a team. I went to Iowa State and they have had quite a good team, still have a really good team.
- [04:46]
Interviewer
And, you know, if you were one of the high school jocks and playing lots of sports, like where do you think as a child or was this sort of love of fashion coming from, or did you even develop it at that time?
- [05:00]
Dan Rubenstein
Because I read that you, like, were
- [05:01]
Interviewer
sort of voted best dressed and all that, those superlatives and stuff.
- [05:05]
Dan Rubenstein
Like, did you.
- [05:07]
Interviewer
Were you someone. Were your parents, something people that sort of instilled this in you or did it just.
- [05:11]
Dan Rubenstein
How did that happen?
- [05:12]
Todd Snyder
It just happened. I remember at a young age, when I was in sixth grade, I didn't have a lot of clothes. I didn't have. My parents, like I said, grew up on farms. So clothing wasn't something that they really had a lot of access to. They buy all my clothes and stuff. So I had one pair of jeans and had a few shirts. And I just remember we were going to go to. We had a performance that we were going to be putting on in sixth grade, and all my friends were talking about all the cool stuff that they were going to wear, like, oh, I'm going to wear corduroy, this and that. And I'm like, I only have jeans and they have holes in them in my head. And I actually ended up not going to the performance because I was so embarrassed. I didn't. I. And I just still remember that I still have nightmares sometimes about it. It was just one of those moments. And then when I started making a little bit of money working on the summers and whatnot, I use that to buy my own clothes because my parents wouldn't buy me clothes. We only got a certain amount, and that wasn't enough for me. So I figured out a way to make some money. And, you know, I wanted to dress well, and I really kind of fell in love with clothes and just, you know, how they made me feel. But also just. I like the style of it. It was kind of like in the 80s when, you know, Calvin Klein was really big and, you know, the whole Calvin Klein Brooke Shields commercials were out, and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is so cool. And then, you know, I discovered armani in like, 84 and like, holy cow. And then Ralph, of course, was somebody that I followed. And I just. The more I got into it, the more I loved it and. But yeah, it was really, I think, came from the lack of having it and feeling like I wasn't good enough. And I felt like I needed clothes to kind of make me feel better. Early on, I was very much like, clothes kind of were. If I went to therapy, they'd probably tell me that was my vice. And there was definitely a piece of that. And then I kind of made a new career. So I think all the clothes and stuff I bought as a younger kid and the debt I used to ring up, I think I always laugh to my mom now is like, well, at least all that research went to good use and was.
- [07:24]
Interviewer
Do you remember, like, a big purchase as a kid that you. An amazing pair of jeans or something that, like, you kind of bought that you were like this first big purchase?
- [07:34]
Todd Snyder
Yeah, the first big purchase was the Calvin Klein jeans. I remember, like, I gotta get a pair of those. I remember the commercial. I remember when they came out, I thought they were the coolest thing. So Calvin Klein jeans. And I want to say they were, ah, gosh, at the time it might have been like 90 bucks, 100 bucks. They were a lot. And that was a lot of money for me at the time. I worked on the weekends and worked in the summers, and it just kind of dominated my whole life in the summers. It got me to work in the summer, got me to make money, and then I would go buy my own school clothes. And I remember my mom even said, if you want nice things, you gotta pay for it. And it taught me how to work and to go after what I wanted. So it really kind of set me up. At the time it was painful because I thought, gosh, my parents won't even buy me clothes. And I remember I always wanted Levi's and they would get me something from Wrangler. Yeah, I don't even know if I got a Wrangler. I was probably getting stuff from Walmart or actually Walmart wasn't around. It was Kmart. My parents were very much, and still are this way. My dad's no longer here, but my mom. They grew up on farms. They were very much tin foil. If you had tin foil and you used it, they would recycle it. They would use it over and over again until it was not usable. So that was just the mentality in the Midwest, living on a farm. You kind of live off the land for the most part, and clothes is just something that keeps you warm or what have you.
- [09:04]
Interviewer
And, like, when it came time to go to school, like, I read that you sort of studied other things like architecture and business and stuff like that before you kind of switched over to design. What did you want to do or what did you think you wanted to do in the beginning? And how did that switch happen?
- [09:20]
Todd Snyder
Well, I always knew I liked clothes and, you know, I worked in menswear shops early on, as soon as I could. I think it was in college. I started working in IT because mainly I wanted a discount I pretty much lost more money than I made, which I know is not the right thing, but it was, again, it was a means to an end and trying to dress well. And I like certain things. And working at a store, of course you get a discount. And I thought, gosh, this would be a really cool career. I would love to maybe open a. Have own a store someday. That was my dream. And I used to go to the store called Bedauers, which is haberdasher in Des Moines. And, you know, for me, everything was super expensive at the time. I couldn't afford any of it. And working there was kind of at least closer to that idea. And my dad is an engineer, so my college career was long without a master's or a doctorate. But I was probably in college for six, six and a half years.
- [10:21]
Interviewer
Because you changed tracks and things like that.
- [10:24]
Todd Snyder
Yeah, I started off in freshman engineering, which was, you know, because of my dad. I worked for him every summer and worked for his survey crew. And we'll work on bridges and roads, and it's what really made me the most money. I remember we'd work overtime and, like, this is awesome. You know, I'd have more money to buy clothes. And then when I wanted a car, so my parents, you know, weren't going to buy me a car, so I had to work to get a car. And it was just one of those things I just. My parents kind of always instilled in me, like, you know, work hard and, you know, to get the things you want. And obviously they would always encourage me to save money, which I was never good at. And it was just, you know, chasing, you know, after this idea. And so I always thought it would be cool to do that, but I didn't ever do it because I didn't know how you do that, like, where do you go to school to be a store manager or what have you. So I thought, okay, at least I'll do this. This kind of makes sense. And then I did freshman engineering. It was very, very boring. There were no girls in the class, so it was very, very boring. And then I thought, you know what? I like design. And when I used to work for my dad's engineering firm, I would work as a draftsperson. And so I would do a lot of drawing and stuff. And back then it was all by hand. And so I knew I was good at that. And so I thought, well, maybe I go into architecture and that at least, because when I was working for my dad, I would go on a lot of errands and Would be dropping off plans and blueprints to architecture firms. And I'm like, they always were awesome. I'd walk in, and they were well dressed, and they had great spaces, obviously. And I was like, this is cool. I want to do this. I wanted to be an architect. I thought this could be kind of interesting. But in the back of my mind, I always thought, you know, I was still working at apparel, you know, clothing store. And it was, you know, until I switched from architecture into business and thought, you know what? I'll just get a finance degree. That will at least get me closer to being a store owner or something, or understanding the business. And then I was about ready to graduate interviewing for jobs, and I was like, I do not want to be a banker. And. And it just dawned on me. And I remember at the time, I was dating a girl, and we got into a fight about it. She was like, you just go after what you want. And to be honest, thinking back to it, there was huge stigma around fashion and design for men. And it was just never something. I remember even telling friends and family, My parents, like, what are you studying? Oh, I'm studying design. I never told them I was studying fashion design. And it wasn't until I was getting ready to graduate and move to New York, I kind of knew. They kind of knew at that point that he's doing fashion design and all that, because obviously I like clothes. And I finally just got the guts to do it. And I remember. Which was awesome. I remember my grandmother telling me. She goes, oh, that makes a lot of sense. You know, snider in Dutch means Taylor. And I'm like, God damn it, grandma. In my head, like, you would have told me this 10 years ago. I tortured myself. Like, this is not something somebody from Iowa does. Like, all my family was. My parents were the first kind of professional careers. All the other families were farmers, so to go. And all them were the same way about apparel and clothing. And it just wasn't something that they prioritized unless they were going to church or what have you. They always dress very well. But that was, you know, once a week. Most of the time. It was very kind of utilitarian, kind of basic stuff. So that's what got me into it. It was really, you know, when I heard that, too, it just made all the sense in the world. It clicked. And it just made me feel not ashamed. And I embraced it. And I was like, you know what? To heck with everybody. And I moved to New York, and I never looked back. I mean, New York to me, I've been here 30 years now, and it's just awesome.
- [14:20]
Interviewer
I'm surprised. Maybe when you moved to New York, I mean, in Yiddish, Schneider is Taylor. So you're not that far off.
- [14:27]
Todd Snyder
I mean, you could. Yeah, well, yeah, My wife's Jewish, and she's told me that, too. So it's kind of. It all made sense. It just was like one of those things. And, you know, in Dutch, it means cutter. But, I mean, a cutter is basically the first step. I mean, the cutter is actually more important than a tailor. Tailor just sews where the cutter actually is making the pattern. And, you know, so I learned. I switched degrees, and I finished at Iowa State with a degree in textile and clothing is what it was. And I didn't even know they had this program. And a friend of mine, Steve King, was in the program. We both worked at a store together. And I said, aren't you studying fashion or something? And then, lo and behold, I get into the department. That's where all the girls are. And I was like, I should have done this five years ago, but I had a lot of fun, meaning, like, you know, designing. And just. I couldn't graduate fast enough at that point. I knew this is what I wanted to do. And I read Ralph's book back in the 80s. It was his first book. And I'm like, I want to do that. I really. And I put everything I could towards it, moved here and, you know, worked at Ralph. I was always very persistent, and I was always wanting to. To get into this. I just love doing what I do. And even back then, I remember I was just running errands or getting people coffee or cleaning things up, and I just was like, more, more, more.
- [15:53]
Interviewer
And like, with Ralph Lauren, I know you read that book, or maybe I guess it was his first book that you mentioned. Like, what was about. What was it about Ralph Lauren that kind of enchanted you?
- [16:07]
Todd Snyder
I remember early on, I remember when I was working at the stores at Bedowers, I remember the rep would come in from Chicago, and I just remember, like, oh, my God, I want to know everything that you are saying. Because he would talk about Ralph and talk about. He would do these concepts, and they would call them rig walls. I mean, they're still called rig walls. And they were basically a big presentation. And Ralph's whole lifestyle is about this mystique. It's about, you know, almost like creating a movie, creating a lifestyle and creating this moment. And I was so entranced by that. I read the book and I was like, oh, My gosh. And it was Ralph. It was very inspirational. You know, Ralph grew up in the Bronx, obviously, and had a different last name and changed his name. And he really kind of just created this whole world and, you know, everything from the city to East Hampton to Colorado. He kind of had the whole lifestyle of this person and this Persona. And I was just so intrigued by that. I just thought, this is so great, because nobody has ever done anything. That transformation, meaning like a customer walking into a store, being inspired and being like, I want to be a part of this. And still to this day, I reflect on all that and think about. That's what got me into Ralph. And I remember when I was younger, I would drive. I didn't actually get out of Iowa a lot when I was younger. I never was on a plane. And I remember when I started traveling and again in college, and I went to Colorado and I was like, I'm going to check out the Ralph Lauren store here. And I went and drove and checked it out, and I started doing that. I would drive to Kansas City, had Ralph store there, and I'd check it out. And each one was different because back then it was all licensed or franchised. It's franchised. And I just wanted to check it all out. I wanted to see everything, and I wanted to understand everything. And then when I got the chance to work there as an intern, it just blew me away. And seeing how he and his brother Jerry think about the brand and think about designing and all of that, that's where all the magic started. And it truly was magical. And having that ability to be there at my beginning was really kind of formed everything. And then from there I went to J. Crew, and then I went back to Ralph later on and worked Gap for a bit, and then ultimately went back to J. Crew before I did my own thing. But it was always a very, very much inspired by. By Ralph and Armani. Armani for me was. Was that I still have magazines, tear sheets that I had collected from back in the 80s. I just was everything I could learn about design. I wanted to know as much as I could.
- [18:57]
Interviewer
And, yeah, GQ wrote that in your four years running menswear at J. Crew, Snyder fundamentally changed the way American men dress as well as the way they shop. Can you explain a little bit about the time that you were there at J. Crew and how that sort of shifted?
- [19:16]
Todd Snyder
Yeah, it really. I was there for about five years, and Mickey. Mickey hired me. I was at Old Navy at the time. And then he hired me to be it. J Crew be the head of men's dream come true. I honestly, I actually was probably never going to do my own collection. I was working for some of these amazing brands and I thought, you know what? This is great. They pay me well. I travel well. I bought my first home from stock from Gap and thought, this is pretty awesome. I'll just continue doing this. And then when Mickey called me to head up men's, and another gentleman, Jeff Fifel, who I was the head of Old Navy, brought me over as well. And that really kind of gave me the baseline of what I ultimately ended up doing, Meaning I knew from there I could go launch and do my own thing. And so J. Crew, at the time when I started, it was very preppy. It was very kind of basic. It wasn't a big volume brand. I remember when I was there, I think we were $400 million total as a company as J. Crew, with men's and women's. And then when I left, it was about a 1.2 billion doll. I think it's like probably $3 billion brand. And I remember being there and Mickey really pushing me on men's. He would always say, you gotta buzz it up, Todd. Buzz it up. You gotta make men's cool. And what buzz it up mean to him. Buzz it up. Make it cool. Like, buzz it up, Todd. Come on. Like, we're not. We're not this dandy company. So probably my second year in, he kind of really kind of got on men's because he'd fixed women's, and then men's was then his next thing. And so he kind of set his target on me and started pushing me to like, really design what it was. So we came up with this whole kind of concept that was this very New York, well educated gentleman that has roots to, you know, the city, but also goes to the country. But also, like is has a very kind of downtown bohemian kind of style. And that was kind of our guy. And, you know, thinking about who he was, he was an architect, he was an artist. He was somebody who was always trying to, you know, blur the lines, really. And I mean, from a. Stylistically, like thinking about more of the traditional kind of Ivy League. But then how does that look in more of a kind of a rough and rugged downtown style. And that was kind of the guy. And so I started creating that, I would say in around 96, I started. Or 96, sorry, 2006, I started creating that vibe. And then when the liquor store opened, that was when we kind of put the flag in the ground and said, this is who the guy is. And that's when the Ludlow suit was birthed there. It was actually the first suit that actually really started selling well. I remember Mickey saying to me, he said, look, this is our store. He goes, you and me? He goes, I don't want any other merchants in here. Like, we would go into this room. We had this little studio that we set up to be kind of our incubator for what the liquor store was going to be. And Mickey is still great friends with Andy Spade. So he's like, hey, what if we bring Andy Spade in here? I'm like, I love the idea. I was a huge fan of Jack Spade. And we kind of all got in a room, we started putting all this stuff together and started designing what the beginnings of what J. Crew was ultimately. And it all started at the liquor store. So I said, okay, we're going to make. We're gonna throw. We basically threw everything out the window as far as, like, what we were doing for the mainline of J. Crew. And we made. And it sounds like kind of textbook now because everybody has done it, but we started the Lullo suit there. So we did kind of this, what our version of was like at the shrunken suit, the more form fitting suit. This is again 2008. And then we also brought in Alden shoes. So we started doing these collaborations. I was a big fan of collaborations. I had learned that from my trips to Japan and like seeing kind of, you know, Yoji Yamamoto and Come to Garcon and all these amazing Japanese designers doing these collaborations. I'm like, this is a really cool idea. I should go do this in America, because no one was doing it in America. And I thought this could be really clever. And the Red Wing boot was actually birthed from those trips because Red Wing would only sell the cool boots to their international retailers. And I'm like, why don't you. Why don't you let us sell those? And that took them a year or two to say, yes, we'll do it. Because they're like, why does J. Crew want to sell Red Wing boots? I said, because I can't replicate what you do. I'd rather just do it authentically from you guys. And then the Timex came along, and then all that kind of like snowballed. And we really showcased a lot of that at the liquor store. So I made our Selvage jeans. Made in the usa. The slimmer fit. I had the shrunken suit. It wasn't called the Lullo when We launched it. It was just our slim fit suit. And then it took off. And Mickey was like, he knew he had a tiger by the tail and the Ludlow birthed into this giant thing. I had no idea I owned one.
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Interviewer
Yeah, I remember it. And to people that don't know or might not be from New York, can you explain what the liquor store was?
- [24:43]
Todd Snyder
Oh, yeah. So the liquor store was this awesome place that actually Andy Spade came to the table with. So when Mickey wanted to make a big impact with men's, like I said, he had fixed women's, and he was ready to kind of put his sights on men's. And that's when he brought in Andy. And we. He. Andy came in, saw the collection. He said, you really need a store. And Andy said, you know, I got this space. There's this old bar in Tribeca. It's called the Liquor Store. It used to be a liquor store back in, like, the 50s. Still has a sign out front, still has the bar. And I. I was like, oh, my God, let's take it. Let's jump on it. And so we jumped on that. And so the liquor store is this old. It's one of the oldest freestanding homes, essentially, that is still up. And we took it over back in 2009. 2008. 2008. And it became the beacon for menswear. And we had people from Japan flying in to check it out. I remember going to Japan afterwards, and I would tell people, todd Snyder, and they're like, oh, you did the liquor store? And it was just like this. I'm like, how'd you know? But it just really became kind of the beacon for menswear at the. And, you know, then. Sorry. And then the continuous lean came about, and they really kind of helped showcase. And we were already doing all these cool collaborations with, you know, Red Wing and Timex and all these American heritage brands. And then. And then it, you know, took a. Took a kind of zeitgeist way of menswear in a way. And that was, you know, such a great moment. And then I knew I should go do my own thing. I knew, like, okay, I figured it out. I turned 40, and then I was ready to do my own thing. Thing.
- [26:31]
Dan Rubenstein
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- [27:50]
Interviewer
And like, when you decided to do your own thing, like, what were you. Why did you feel like it was the need to do your own thing? Was it because. Was there something you, something inside you you wanted to get out that you couldn't do it in a corporate setting?
- [28:03]
Todd Snyder
Basically, yeah. I mean, it was interesting. When I left, Mickey had offered to back me, which I was like, that's cool. But also Mickey, Mickey's really, he's a lot like, he's a driver. And I was really stressed out. He was, you know, he never. We're still very good friends today. Like we call each other all the time and. But it really stressed me out. I was like 39 and you know, you have Mickey Drexler coming in telling you to buzz it up, like, what? Okay. And then the thought of like starting a business with him, I was a little scared just because, you know, I didn't know what I was going to do. I knew I was going to do something and so we've always kept in touch. So it was one of those things. I wanted to do my own thing. And then I had turned 40 that year, year before and thought, you know, if I'm going to, I better do it now. And I went off and did it. I left J. Crew. I left a really good job. I left a lot of money on the table. But I had a dream, I did have a dream. That dream kind of came back front of my brain now and thinking, you know what, if I'm going to do this, at least go do it now you're 40. If it doesn't work, you know, 45. You can get a job anywhere. And so I did it, and it just took off. And it was really. It was really fortunate. But at the same time, I knew a lot of people at that point. I knew the head of gq. I knew buyers. I got a phone call immediately when I resigned. I was in the Women's Wear Daily, and the head buyer, Tommy Fazio from Bergdorf's, called me immediately and said, I want to carry your collection. And I'm like, well, I haven't designed it. He's like, show me when you're ready. I want to carry it. And I was like, wow. And so I was very, you know, because I had been in the business for a long time, and because of the liquor store and because of all the things we were doing, you know, I was, you know, very fortunate to know a lot of people. And I always kind of use my Midwest nice, and I. It's genuine. I'm always just a nice person, and that kind of gets me through a lot of doors, and I use it today in a lot of different ways. But, yeah, that's kind of how it all started.
- [30:15]
Interviewer
And so tell me about that first collection. When you sat down for the first time with pen and paper and you're about to design something, like, what was your. In your head? Like, what did you want to add to the industry that you thought was needed?
- [30:29]
Todd Snyder
Well, at the time, I was very. I felt like there was a huge white space in the industry. There wasn't. There was. There was. You know, you had Tom Brown, you had luxury. And I was scratching my head of, like, you know, who's going to. At the time, it was $400 shirts. You know, Thom Browne, his Oxford was 400. I think they're like 900 or 1,000 now. But I thought, this is crazy. Who's going to pay for that? Like, I felt like there was always an opportunity to have something that was accessible and have something that was well designed, crafted at a reasonable price. So I really looked in my closet. I looked in my kind of dad's closet, and what I would think my grandfather would wear and thought about, how do I reinvent those classic menswear items? How do I inject luxury into it? And it's still kind of a thing that we do now. It's really what the cornerstone of the brand is, really taking these iconic pieces that every guy should have in their closet, whether it's a suede trucker jacket, which we call the Dylan, whether it's a selvedge Jean that uses Japanese selvedge. We have a selvedge oxford. We have cashmere chalk coat that is made in Italy. You know, think about what are those items that every guy can wear and elevating them and elevating basics. And, you know, that's really the building blocks of the brand. And I use a lot of architecture references because I do think there's a lot to, you know, a foundation of your wardrobe. Like, what are those 10 essential pieces that every guy needs in his closet? And I start there, and then from there I start to build. I. I think about every category. Like, our T shirts are all made in Portugal. Our cashmere uses Italian yarn. Our tailoring is all made in Italy and Portugal. So it's all premium. We use all Italian fabric. It's always like, I'm trying to put as much as I can into it and making it something that is going to be in your wardrobe for your whole life. And, you know, whether it's a pair of shoes, whether it's a jean, whether it's an oxford shirt, whether it's a cashmere torco, whether it's a beautiful kind of. So I started off with these basics. You know, I had, how do we reinvent cashmere? I'm like, oh, why don't I do a garment dye and why don't I make it look like a sweatshirt? And like, taking things that guys know, but then adding that little bit of flavor to it and a little bit of lux to it is really is really kind of my trick. And my. My favorite word has always been juxtaposition. And it's really kind of, to me, truly defines design. It's like, you think about architecture, you think about even cooking, the ingredients are known. It's how you put them together that make them new. And that's how I design. I go about design and I think about creating something as I'm always thinking about how to juxtapose sport and luxe. And that's where the cashmere sweatshirt came around. And how do you do an old school trench coat? Well, let's make it in a double face cashmere and have it be something that you're just coveting. And it's like our chore coat. A chore coat is like a typical workwear style, but doing it in 100% cashmere. And then we do it, it's actually splittable, so you don't see any seams in it per se, like any stitching. And so it's a very clean make. It's a very. I would say high level quality because there's a lot of hand work that's done in it. And you know, that retails for like 1500. But it's one of our best selling styles and we do have things that are less expensive. But I look at very similar to how Mickey Drexler, he's the one who taught me this is like you go to Mercedes and all their stuff's amazing. You aspire to drive the G wagon or what have you, or the S class or the Maybach, but you end up probably buying the C class or what have you. Like you're. We're all thinking about like the good, better, best philosophy, and I got that from Mickey, is having those things that are reach that the customer aspires to. Whether it's is our date. Sorry. Whether it is our suede Dillon jacket which retails for like $1,000. You know, I have one. I know a lot of people, they save up for it and they buy it, but it's the one thing that kind of you can wear anywhere you can wear on a date. You can wear it to a red carpet event. Like we have a lot of people, a lot of celebrities that. That's kind of the go to for red carpet. Or you can just wear it with jeans or what have you and wear it with dress pants. There's. It's so versatile. It kind of really is the piece that kind of tops off the look.
- [35:15]
Interviewer
And you know, you're coming up in your, I think, 15th year in business. Is that right?
- [35:19]
Todd Snyder
Yes. Yeah, it's our 15. Yeah.
- [35:21]
Interviewer
Okay. And you know, you're someone obviously who knows tailoring as well as merchandising and the whole ins and outs of the business. How would you compare how people dress or how men dress in 2011, when you started to. Today, in 2025, what's been like the biggest shift in your mind?
- [35:43]
Todd Snyder
I think the biggest shift is the younger generation is definitely more. They're not afraid as much as when I was younger. They're definitely having an easier go of dressing. Well, I think the new generations that have been coming out in the last 10 or so years have been embracing menswear and fashion. And it's not kind of taboo anymore. It used to be very much a four letter word, as they would say, but now it's very kind of. There's still men. Men definitely don't like shopping. I can say that unequivocally. It's definitely not something that is all across the board. But we figured out a way to attract A guy. And really, the whole goal of the brand is to make it easier for guys to understand and dress better. And that's kind of our purpose. Our purpose is really to help guys look their best. And, you know, you come into any of our stores, I've met every GM of every store, and I kind of use the same speech that I did when I was at Bedower is like, you got to get to know every customer by their last name, like, Mr. So and so. And until they tell you, call me Jim. That's really important. And that was always my biggest pet peeve when I came to New York City. And even today, if you go into luxury stores, you gotta. There's a velvet rope. You gotta wait, you gotta make an appointment, and then you go in and you feel like you're not welcome. And that, to me, is not a great way. You know, that, to me, is not customer service. That's a. You know, people are coming to buy something from you. They're taking time out of their day. You know, you need to be friendly, and you need. And it sounds simple, but you'd be surprised at how many stores you walk into and you don't feel like you belong. You feel like, you know, you're kind of interrupting them in something. And we're the exact opposite. We need to make them feel as they're our neighbors. They're the ones that, you know, we want to be a part of the neighborhood. We want to be a part of the community. And our purpose is really almost to be the concierge of that person's experience in the store and even beyond the store. And if you think about going into a store, wouldn't it be great if you got not just style advice, but you got like, oh, you're in town. Where are you going to dinner? Oh, here's some cool places you should go. Or check out this cool bar. Or have you been to this? Like, we're really there to kind of help entertain them in some ways, but more so just kind of being cool and giving, you know, guy style advice and making them feel as if, you know, it's not a hurdle and it's not hard to do this, but showing guys small little tricks to, you know, whether it's, you know, matching your shoe to your belt or whether it's like, how do I wear a baggy jean? What should I do with, you know, shirts? Am I tucking them in now? Am I not? Like, it's silly little things like that that you would believe or not. Guys are confused by and it's, it's consistent. But you know, definitely guys have evolved. I mean, our customer today, our average is about 35 to 40. But we get, we get the extremes. We get the 18 year old to 80. My favorite is when you get a dad coming in and buying his son his first suit. There's. It always brings a tear to my eye and it just chokes me up every time I'm in a store and I see that happening and it just. To me, that actually means more than any fashion award, any fashion show is like seeing a father handing his kind of knowledge down to his son. It reminds me of my dad. I still remember my dad showing me how to put a sweater on and making sure the sleeves didn't stick and all that. And all those little things are important. And not every guy has that and has that muscle. I think girls do more so. But that's really the reason why we're here, is to help guys dress better and give them great quality. That's really, at the end of the day, it's, you know, one customer came in which I really appreciated his point of view, which I still remember. He said, look, Todd, I, I know New Balance sneakers are cool, but I get confused when I go on their site and I see like 200 styles. I don't know which one to buy, but I come into your store and you have three. And I know if I pick one of them, I'll be cool. And that's, that's really what every guy. They just want, they don't want to be embarrassed. They just want to be like, I'm cool. I don't need to be cutting edge, but I also don't need to be, you know, my dad.
- [40:22]
Interviewer
Is that this like weird push pull we have nowadays in culture where we've got a younger generation that is so exposed to things like social media and e commerce and they can pull from anywhere and dress any way they want, literally. And then you've got a different psychographic or generation that, that is thinking of things in a very kind of menswear. Menswear kind of way of, you know, limited options, three options suit, you know, matching the belt with the shoes and like the more traditional side of things. And there's. You're not just. The market is now serving both of them in a sense.
- [41:04]
Todd Snyder
I would, I would say our brand probably serves both. It's, it's really interesting. I have, you know, three younger daughters, two of which are 24 and 22. Actually 25. She just turned 25. Gabby just turned 25 a couple days ago. And she always tells me it's like, dad, oh my God, like, all my guy friends love your brand. When I'm at events or whatever, I tell them my dad's Todd Snyder. They're just like, oh my God, I love that brand. So there's definitely a change, there's definitely a shift, but we kind of have all different spectrum. We call them archetypes. You know, kind of the, the textbook way of describing them is like thinking about each customer in a different way. You know, we have a guy that's classic but updated. We've got a guy who's kind of trend driven and kind of wants the newest and latest. And we really try to think about, you know, our store being the one stop shop for the guy. I mean, we're not going to have guys lining up for sneakers outside of our store. That's not what we're intending. But we will have the cool Nike or we'll have the cool New Balance or what have you. So just like all those stores, we're called Tier 0, which is the highest you can be as far as sneaker distribution. So we get all the new ones coming out. We get the, you know, the latest and greatest. And it's kind of neat that, you know, you can come and get that. I probably shouldn't talk about it too much because I'll probably start getting lines out the door, but it is something. And then you can always get like a vintage watch in there. So, like, we sell these amazing, you know, rare pieces. You know, I bought a few from, from, from ourselves. I got my first Speedmaster from us, which I always wanted. So we have something for everybody. And it's really, you know, if you, if you want to discover kind of great things. And that's what the store is really about is discovering cool things that, you know, mean something to you or mean something for a present. It's really. You can get everything from a tuxedo all the way down to a T shirt. It's really kind of meant to be that one stop shop for a guy who wants to have something cool and look the part. And we get a lot of guys coming in for their wedding parties or themselves getting their first tucks. It's just kind of neat. Like, we've definitely become a destination for the guy who wants better but doesn't want to pay a million dollars for things.
- [43:26]
Interviewer
And the spring summer collection, which recently debuted is called La Buena Vida. Tell me a little about this collection and where that it's got this Sort of South of the Border vibe. Very kind of mid century. Reminding me a little bit of the fashions of the movie Queer that came out about, I want to say, a year ago.
- [43:46]
Todd Snyder
You noticed.
- [43:49]
Interviewer
Tell me about that.
- [43:51]
Todd Snyder
Well, I mean, that was such a. Such a great movie. Jonathan Anderson did the costume in it. But I'm curious to know what piece. Kind of tipped my cards a bit. But it really kind of was inspired by this mid century point of view. I've been inspired by the 50s forever. And it's interesting because I know the history of fashion now. I've been through everything and seeing things kind of repeat themselves is really interesting. So the 50s was very much inspired by the. Or, sorry, 80s. Sorry should say this again, the 80s were very much inspired by the 50s. So if you look at the tailoring from the 50s, early 50s, you know, wider lapel off the shoulder jackets, Ricky jackets, which were a cool kind of thing that Ricky Ricardo popularized. Ties a little bit wider. A lot of that you would see, you know, in the 50s and you would see kind of progressing in the 80s. And Armani kind of really used that as kind of his baseline and how he kind of reinvented tailoring and thinking about like sweater jackets and all that. So for me, I was very much inspired by the 80s and kind of the colors of like Miami Vice and kind of those kind of little bit more Miami inspired colors that are somewhat Caribbean in feel. Like if you see houses in Bermuda, Bahamas, they're always kind of brightly colored. And you see, you know, even in Miami, you have all these beautiful houses that are on the water. They're always bright colors. Color was always kind of a great way to express things. And so my thought was like, let's do something. So vintage of honor was kind of the vibe. And so it has like a very, you know, 50s Havana kind of mixed with this very 80s kind of Miami. And it really kind of embodied kind of the feeling that I had. And then I discovered the movie Queer and was like, oh, this is amazing. And a lot of those were vintage garments. A lot of those things that was in the costume were vintage. Those weren't made. And the Ricky jacket was prominently shown there. And I was like, oh, that's it kind of just reaffirmed my. My already. I had already started the design process and then I watched the movie and then the one shirt I loved was. I can't remember the character's name, but he was wearing the see through. It's. It's a cotton voil. So it's great for when you're in the south and it's hot as heck, and it's. It breathes like you're wearing nothing. But it was, like, a really cool style. So a lot of that stuff came straight from the 50s, came from, like, the 40s and 50s. I've always been a big fan of the guaybera shirts and kind of these. My wife. My first wife is Cuban, and both my daughters are half Cuban and then had been to Cuba before, and, you know, her father obviously was Cuban, and his style was just so cool. You know, he would always wear these shirts kind of untucked and. But it was still dressed up, you know, and it was just kind of a neat, neat style. And I always kind of remembered that growing up. And so I thought it was a cool way to kind of express. Plus, I felt like there's a Latin feel that really kind of needs to be expressed at this time. From stylistically, you know, everything from that I'm seeing out there, you know, from tailoring to oversized shirts to even, you know, tank tops and things like that. I wanted to have this a little bit more of a. A little bit more flavor, a little more sex appeal to the collection, and that's really kind of what came out of La Buena Vita.
- [47:21]
Interviewer
And is there what. You know, when you take these sort of vintage ideas, like, what would you say in this collection makes it a Todd Snyder collection? How did you put your.
- [47:31]
Todd Snyder
Your.
- [47:32]
Interviewer
Your stamp on it?
- [47:33]
Todd Snyder
Well, I mean, vintage for me, and that's what I discovered in working at Ralph. You just. It's amazing how much he looks backwards to go forwards. Like, he. They have a warehouse in New Jersey that's just full of vintage that he and the team have collected over the years. Just probably the best vintage collection I've ever seen in my life. And I kind of got that idea meaning, like, looking back. And so I really became a connoisseur, I would say, of vintage. And I've collected so many things in my career. Everything, you know, from Champion, which I've done for. For a decade, over a decade, to, you know, old. Like, we actually. There's a brand that I remember, of course no one else does. It was called Barry Bricken from, like, the 80s. It's cool menswear brand that was, you know, just awesome. And we've been. We bought a couple pieces on ebay and what have you, and just great pieces. And of course, nobody knows it. And I pull them in and they're like, whoa, that's cool. Where'd you get that. And I'm like, well, it's Barry Birkin. And I actually was trying to intern there before Ralph hired me. And there was a lot of cool menswear brands back then. There was, you know, Barry Bricken, Bill Robinson. There was, you know, Perry Ellis, obviously, there was a lot of. Joseph Abboud was another one. And there's just a lot of really cool brands back then. I remember because that's when I was just getting into. And I used to sell Barry Bricken when I was at Bedauer's. And anyway, having that reference and knowing kind of the. The stages of what fashion goes through and kind of having a history of that stuff for me is super important. So I've been collecting things forever. And so as I think about design, I'm always kind of looking backwards. And a lot of designers do that like you. That's why you always hear, oh, the 90s are in, or the 80s are in, and there's no written script like, oh, you need to do 80s this year. But you're seeing kind of the revisit of prep. You're seeing kind of this new age, and it was looking fresh again. It looks new. And my daughters are reinterpreting what I was growing up on, and it's really kind of fun to see it. And, you know, that's really what fashion is about, is kind of evolving and kind of taking things that were old and making them new and reimagining them in new fabrics or even new silhouettes or shapes again, it kind of goes back to the juxtaposition and taking something that is old and making it new by, you know, tweaking things ever, ever so slightly.
- [49:59]
Interviewer
And speaking of Champion and these collaborations, I read that you have a. You have a vintage collection of Champion.
- [50:05]
Todd Snyder
Oh, yeah, I do. I have a big.
- [50:07]
Interviewer
How large of the collection are we talking here?
- [50:09]
Todd Snyder
I haven't counted recently, but it's definitely over a thousand. It's. Well, Champion and a lot of these brands I work with. The reason why I work with them is because they. They. They are the originator. You know, Champion's been around longer than any brand out there in the sporting goods area. Longer than Nike, longer than Adidas, Lululemon, you name it. It's like, why not do something authentic and do it with the inventor? Like, they invented the sweatshirt. They truly. They have a patent on the sweatshirt, which is like, is that real? The same thing. When I worked with L.L. bean, you know, I wanted to do something that was outdoorsman and something that was rugged and thinking about hiking and.
- [50:50]
Dan Rubenstein
And
- [50:52]
Todd Snyder
Lo Bean was classic, you know, so.
- [50:56]
Interviewer
And is there some kind of vintage bit of a champion that you have that you feel like is, like, your prized possession?
- [51:03]
Todd Snyder
Oh, God, I don't know if I have one. I have a lot. Probably the best thing I have from champion is. And it seems small, but I have this really cool polo shirt from them that's like a coach's polo that I have never seen it before, and I haven't seen one since. I used to get all this stuff in Japan, literally. A buddy of mine that I work with named Steve King, we used to go to Japan all the time, and we would buy these old vintage sweatshirts and hoodies, and we'd just be like, oh, my God, look at this. And we were just like, finding the coolest thing. Like, it was like finding gold, really. And we'd pay a couple hundred bucks for a sweatshirt. So I kept all those, and as I just started doing more and more with them, if I see something I haven't seen before, I must have it, you know, Like, I have a bunch. I have a collection of. Probably the coolest thing I have. I would say now that I'm thinking more about it, is I have a collection of rowing shirts, meaning, like, the old kind of, like, there'd be, like, a ringer T with a little tab on it, and they'd have, like. Or almost like a sash on it, like a diagonal line in the front. Because all the teams would have their own uniforms or the rowing. You know, you could tell, you know, one team from the other. So I have a pretty good collection of those. I probably have, like, five or six of those, which I really love. But they're very cool because they're. They're almost like jockey uniforms. Meaning, like, you know, kind of how when you see the horse races and stuff, each one has their own vibe, but they're very kind of, you know, think of Minecraft in a way. I mean, that's how they're designed. They're very kind of blocky, and, like, they either have, like, a weird stripe down the center or diagonal across the chest. So that's probably one of my more favorite things. But, you know, I've been collecting a lot of tailored. I have a ton of Armani that I've been collecting over the year. I could never afford Armani when I was growing up just because it was so expensive, but now I've been collecting it. Of course, now it's in fashion, and God bless. He was such an amazing person. And I just Think what he did was incredible. So now, you know, when I got into tailoring, I started studying what he was making and I would literally dissect and tear apart old jackets. And that's kind of where I kind of fell in love with tailoring, is understanding how something's put together. You start to think about what does the chess piece look like, what does the shoulder look like, how do they do that sleeve head? And you think about, you kind of study it and you get to understand it more because it helps you become a better designer. And understanding drape and understanding how fabric, you know, sits on the body is really important. So I've always used kind of the history to help educate me so that I can make something different for the future.
- [53:44]
Interviewer
And you know, there's a lot of chatter about fashion being an industry in flux, especially on the luxury end, and designers going from brand to brand and people kind of struggling for things to make sense and people kind of pushing back against the so called system. And you've kind of forged your own path in a sense to young designers out there that might be listening, that want to start their own brand, maybe it's a fashion brand, maybe it's something else or some design brand. What kind of bit of advice would you give them?
- [54:17]
Todd Snyder
Well, my advice, I do do a lot of work with schools. I'm on the board of Lim College, which is a small college here in the city. It's really awesome. We've actually hired some interns from there. And I always say the same thing. I've talked to fit, I've talked to Iowa State, I've talked to Parsons, I've talked to a lot of students and it's all the same. My dad told me this when I was young. If you want to be the best, work for the best. And the key part is work for the best and learn as much as you can. I was in the industry for 20 years before I did my own thing. And you might be able to do your own thing on your own. But then when you need people to come with you and you want to get the best, you got to have some experience and they have to believe in what you're doing. Like, if you come out of the gate and you're doing your own thing, good luck. Because there's not going to be a lot of experts are going to say, yeah, I believe in that. I'm going to go do that with you. Like you're, you're going to be out there on your own. So it's really important to Kind of learn and get to know people and really understand and surround yourself with amazing people. The reason why I'm successful is because I've surrounded myself with the best people and everything from merchandising to design to finance, you name it. I have always surrounded myself with amazing people, and that's what makes me better. I couldn't do this on my own. And I think it's really important for people, if they're thinking about doing their own thing, to think about that. And who's going to be side by side with you in the trenches as you start to think about, how do I pay my bills, how do I get a financing for this, how do I, you know, ship this, how do. And like, there's no, there's no playbook out there. And even if you have a playbook, there's so many nuances to the business and a lot of potholes that you have to really be mindful of. I re. I. When I started my brand, I would probably get stiffed every year with 100 grand from two or three different stores. I would just be like, what the heck? You know, we ship them goods, they sell it, and then they don't pay you, and then they use that as their. Their cash flow. And it's not fair. But there's no, there's no laws against it. If someone goes to bankruptcy or they don't pay you, it's really hard to get paid. You can sue them, but especially if they go bankrupt, you can't. You got to get in line. And usually it's the, you know, the landlords that get paid first and the.
- [56:41]
Interviewer
It's like, what happened to Barney's, basically?
- [56:43]
Todd Snyder
Yeah, I mean, that's, you know, and Barney screws up. You know, it's like you. You can't get money from them and, and it's really, you know, we got screwed by Barneys. You know, there's a lot. And it's. Thankfully, we don't sell wholesale anymore. I do think there's a lot of things that are broken in the industry, especially in the States. I think in. In Europe and in Japan, it's. It's. You can only go on sale at certain times. And I think retail is really tough because there's just so much disruption. And it's much easier just to go directly to a brand sometimes than go to a retailer until things work its way out. It's going to take some time. But you see this all the time. Essence files for chapter 11. And it's just over and over again. I'VE seen the same story, and it's challenging. And thankfully, all these luxury designers, I mean, that's the other thing. I've been in the industry for a long time, and I remember the 80s, and I remember there was a big boom in the 80s. Everyone was making money and luxury was it, and Gucci was hot and everybody wanted big brand names on their chest. And it was like, bling, bling. And then it died, and then it went into grunge. And everybody kind of said, to heck with this. We're not wearing it anymore. And it took a long time to build that back up. But I think we're kind of in that phase right now. I think people are kind of. Of over the hype and over the overpaying. You know, it's ridiculous. What, what. You know, some of these brands are charging for things. I make my stuff in the same factory as Loewe and Celine and what have you. And I know what, I know what their markups are. I'm not going to tell you, but it's a lot more than mine that,
- [58:20]
Interviewer
that I believe as your Mr. Menswear. What is the number one mistake you see most guys that you just sort of meet almost casually in terms of the way they dress?
- [58:36]
Todd Snyder
The most mistake, I think you're trying too hard. I think is probably the biggest mistake that most men do. My advice is always start with one thing. Don't try to do it all. Don't try to. All of a sudden, if something is in that, you buy the whole kit, as I call it, meaning, like if, if a cabana shirts in, don't buy the cabana. Like, if you've never worn it before, just buy the shirt. Like, don't buy the. The short that goes with the shirt and then the shoe that goes with it and kind of do the whole thing. Just buy the one thing. And. But I've always, I've always said this.
- [59:12]
Dan Rubenstein
I can hear.
- [59:12]
Interviewer
I think I can hear your finance person in the background being like, what are you doing?
- [59:15]
Todd Snyder
Yeah, yeah, just buy one. But no, you, you buy the basics. I mean, that's the reason why I start with foundations. And, and I do genuinely mean, this is you. You build your wardrobe, you think of it as investments. You think about building a great foundation. And then if you have all these great basics, then you layer in, like one fashion piece, and then all of a sudden you start to look, you know, hip and cool and relevant, but you're not like, completely changing your wardrobe. And I do think, you know, there's definitely customers that want the whole thing, and God bless him. But I think, you know, for the guy who's a little bit new to it, just start with one thing. Because I think that's the one thing most guys freak out over is like, what am I supposed to do? And they don't want to look. They don't want to look stupid. You know, I think every. I think every person comes into a store thinking I want to look cool. They don't want to be, like, cutting edge, but they also don't want to be, you know, boring and dumb. They want to be just. They want to be themselves, and they want to dress well. You know, whether it's for a wedding, whether it's for, you know, first date, what have you, they want to look their best. And that's why we're here. And I think that's why. I think it is hard for guys and why we've been so successful is because guys come to us and they think, oh, my God, this is easy. You made it easy for me. And I've been in the store a few times. I've done a few tailoring appointments with people, and my favorite reaction of guys comes in. He's kind of like, yeah, I'm here. I have to go to this event. And he's kind of like, you know, and then by the end of the appointment, you start throwing things on him, and you start to see him, like, perk up a little bit and stand up a little straighter, and you start seeing a smile on his face, and you start to think, like, I got this. That, to me, is everything.
- [61:05]
Interviewer
And, you know, now that you're. You're in a 15th year, what's next for you? Like, what are you thinking of the next 15 years? 20, 40? If I interview you again at 20 in the year 2040 for my 1000th episode, right. Where would you want to be? Have you ever thought about that?
- [61:26]
Todd Snyder
I don't normally think about that stuff. I mean, I love what we're doing. I never thought I'd have 20 stores. I mean, I was happy with one. And I'm really fortunate because I have an amazing company behind me and Jay Schottenstein and American Eagle that believe in me, and they've invested in me, and they've helped me grow this thing. So I never thought I would be 20 stores. So I listened to Jay a lot. Jay said to me, I think this could be a 40 to 50 store brand and be doing 2,300 million. And I think that's our goal. I mean, Financially, it definitely is. But a great example is we opened up a store in Easton Town center in Columbus, Ohio. And at the time, Jay was the one who said, you should do this. Like, I think it'll do well. And sure enough, it's doing well. It's doing really well because there's not a lot for a guy to wear there. Meaning, like, I know it sounds silly, but we are the place that guys go to to get their suit to whatever. There's not a lot of places you can go and get all that stuff. We really have kind of a great assortment for guys that want to dress better. And it's really, you know, knock on wood. It's been a dream come true for me. I feel so fortunate. So, yeah, I. Sorry not to give you an awesome answer, but that's essentially my best answer.
- [62:51]
Interviewer
And I guess my last question is how does one get their hands on a Timex Todd Snyder collaboration watch? Because they have, I feel like all of your best collaborations, they sell out pretty quickly.
- [63:03]
Todd Snyder
Yeah, the last one did really well. We call it our Dillon, which was kind of inspired by our Dylan suede trucker jacket. And it blew out. I was. We don't always intend them to blow out, but this one did really, really well for us. And it's just classic. It's like a Marlin classic Marlin Timex from the 50s. It seems like I always pull a lot from the 50s, but it's a 50s watch. Design was great in the 50s. And I'm sure you, you know that, you know, from architecture to there's furniture to everything, I mean we're all covet mid century anything, right? And it's definitely a time that there, there was just amazing things happening in design. And this watch really kind of epitomizes it. Simple, it's clean, it's modern at the same time, which always sounds, you know, what do you mean? Modern. But there's a modern. And that's what I love about modern design in general. Whether it's architecture or interiors or what have you. There's a timelessness to it that kind of, you know, 1950s to 2020, it's really not to get corny, but stood the test of time, you know, it's pretty amazing.
- [64:16]
Dan Rubenstein
Thank you to my guest, Todd Snyder, as well as to everyone at KCD Worldwide for making this episode happen. The editor of the Grand Tourist is Stan Hall. To keep this going, don't forget to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter. The Grand Tourist curator@thegrandtourist.net and follow me on Instagram danrubenstein and follow the Grand Tourist on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to listen and leave us a rating or comment. Every little bit helps. Till next time.