There really aren’t a lot of ways to reinvent a woven shirt. Somehow in 1999 Steven Alan found a way to do it. That was the year he created the Reverse Seam which would go on to sell tens of thousands of shirts. The innovation? To twist the placket and to reveal the outseam. It’s more than that though, Steven flipped the dress shirt to be a deliberately casual button-down. It’s not complicated, but the Reverse Seam was a important reinterpretation. It’s like going back in time two decades and...

Last year I was reminded that it is easy to accumulate things, but difficult to get rid of them. I spent most of the year giving things to friends, donating to charity, selling on eBay and just generally pushing to divest. It was happening in every area of my life; my closet, electronics, bikes and as you well know, my extra car. If I wanted to just junk things it would have been easier, but it probably would have resulted in much more separation anxiety. If I sell something cheap on eBay or...

It’s been a year of Central Division. It’s hard to decide if a podcast’s birthday is something to be proud of or embarrassed about. But here we are. So we reflect on a year of the show, consider some friendly criticisms from loved ones, and fearlessly look forward.  We also invited some friends to celebrate. Master of all media Chris Black joins us (19:25). And we talk to our old friend Matt Hranek, the king of print (40:45).  Hope you like it and thanks to everyone for listening and...

As promised, a conversation with Huckberry founders Richard Greiner and Andy Forch. Over the past several years Huckberry has grown and evolved to be an important company in the gear/outdoor/clothing/home/ space for men. It’s everything we all want in a brand: humble, genuine and adventurous. And where else can you buy a cooler, an avocado vase and a therapy notebook — highly considered, well-made and unique things all in one place? Every interaction I’ve had with Huckberry over the years...

A few weeks back I recommended the book Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles by Rosecrans Baldwin for a summer reading list. Having been an admirer of Rosecrans’ writing (especially in his newsletter) I was eager to chat with him about the book on the podcast. He graciously drove across town and we had a great chat in my backyard. We spoke about the many great stories in the book, life in Southern California and he even opened up about his relationship with the brand...

Sometimes I meet successful people and I want to talk to them about what they consider the keys to their success. Maybe it’s for me to try to figure out just where I went wrong. Is my lack of success tied to my inability to better respond to emails? Ha! Jeff Raider is hugely successful but also just a regular guy. He’s a co-founder of both Warby Parker and Harry’s, two massive brands. The growth of those two businesses don’t seem to have changed him. Jeff is one of the most normal, kind and...

Listen now | Midwesterners like to celebrate commonality, be it actual similarities or those that are imagined. Michael Hainey and I never had to fabricate the connection. It was always apparent that we had much in common beyond the geography of where we grew up. His childhood in Chicago and midwestern roots are well documented in his brilliant book This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at www.acl.news/subscribe

Listen now | The ACL Podcast 006 This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at www.acl.news/subscribe

As someone fascinated with the origins of prep and American style, a conversation with Lisa Birnbach is always going to be something I find compelling. Like a lot of people who are intrigued by prep, I view it as an interested outsider who wants to understand how it became what it is today. Lisa helped to define the preppy lifestyle and also played a big part into pushing it into the mainstream culture with The Official Preppy Handbook. Preppy style really took hold after The Official Preppy...

The River by Noah Kalina Noah Kalina takes beautiful photos of beds, rivers, old factories, Zuckerbergs, motel rooms, this tree, chickens, bagels and many other interesting things. His wonderful eye and talent shine through in whatever big or small project he is doing. I love his photography, but it’s his newsletter that I find the most fun. Every edition delights me with his quirky adventures and wit. If someone asked me to describe Noah Kalina’s newsletter the words might not come to me...

Knox Robinson —the coolest guy in running—in the New York Pioneer Club collaboration capsule. Tracksmith is interesting to me because of how it has managed to take inspiration from history —to embody the aesthetics of a heritage brand— while simultaneously being completely forward-looking and modern. I’ve seen a lot of brands try to do this and it almost never feels right. Tracksmith took the good parts of archival running and modernized it to create an inclusive, fun, New England-centric...

Listen now | This week, we are visited by our great friend, Randy Goldberg. He joined us to talk about the Pop Up Flea which was a fixture on the calendar around this time for many years. Those were fun times to see friends, make new ones and shop for gifts (or for yourself) in person. We hope we can all do that again soon. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at www.acl.news/subscribe

Today I’m not shopping for stuff on sale, I’m asking myself the big questions. Why do I own all of this stuff? How did I get to this point? Should I be buying stuff on Black Friday? Since I am committing to downsizing 60% of my possessions in the next 12 months I wanted to talk to Sean Hotchkiss about how he did it. I also wanted to ask him how it feels four years on. That’s the basis for the conversation above. He sent me this photo. These are his clothes. He told me that this is 75% of...

The conversation that I had with Will Welch above would have been hugely satisfying if it were just him and I had it over a breakfast meeting at Lafayette. The fact that we could share it as a podcast really makes me happy. I greatly enjoy deep conversations with people where we go beyond the surface level small talk. Obviously, small talk is not the point of a podcast, but sometimes I think it’s difficult to truly get people to open up and be real. This wasn’t the case with Will and it never...