“Hey, listen—do you want us to polish your shoes while you’re here?” There are, I’ve found, actually quite a few down-to-earth designers in the fashion industry. Sid Mashburn is the only one I’ve met who has personally applied shoe conditioner to my thrashed Chelsea boots (as we sat down for an interview, no less). But Sid’s skill for design is equaled by his passion for retail. In a year when even ostensibly online-only brands discovered the brick-and-mortar store, Sid and his wife Ann (who runs the women’s line Ann Mashburn) celebrated the brand’s 10th anniversary, in which time they’ve opened five stores and, arguably, taken care of more guys than any other new retailer. The clothes are fully dialed-in: a preppy wardrobe cut with just the right amount of hippie-ness. But Sid’s famous commitment to service (including shoe shines) has sold untold guys from Washington, DC to Los Angeles on the Mashburn look. GQ doesn’t call Sid Mashburn’s Atlanta flagship “The Best Men’s Clothing Store in America” for nothing. Sid has cracked the code of the lifestyle brand.
And the Mashburns are just getting started. This week, much to the relief of New Yorkers with a grip of holiday shopping to do, Sid and Ann are in town for their first full-scale NYC pop-up, which runs through Saturday at Hayward House (131 E. 70th St). Sid keeps the Atlanta-based brand’s future expansion plans close to the chest, but if the pop-up is a test run for an inevitable NYC outpost, they’re having no problem with demand—the Upper East Side townhouse was slammed on day one. Where does he see the brand at its 20th anniversary? “We’re literally one day at a time,” says Sid. “But in 10 more years I hope I’ll still be doing this. I love people and love clothes and love sharing it with people. If I could be working with my wife and kids at that age in this business that would be awesome. So I’m pretty sure we’re still gonna be here and I think we’ll be pretty strong, ’cause we’ve got a point of view that’s not locked into one thing. We’re not trendy people, but we adapt well, and often times we’re a little bit on the front edge.”
Once my boots were looking 8,000 times better than when I walked in, it was time to do a little shopping with Sid. Who better to ask for holiday gift advice than a retailer who has seen it all? Like the shoe shine, the recommendations are free: it’s up to you to hit the nearest Sid Mashburn (or their friendly e-comm site) to make it happen. Here, Sid recommends a few gifts for everyone in your life.
Sid Mashburn: Do you have a girlfriend?
GQ Style: I don’t. Let’s use my brother and his girlfriend—who’s from Atlanta—as an example. They’ve been dating for three years.
You know what the gift is? The ring.
Sid Mashburn: Your dad is the second most important. The girl one doesn’t require as much work. That’s either going to work itself out or not. You’re either going to give her the ring, or you’re going to give her something nice… and you’ll be finished by Saint Patrick’s Day. But a gift to your dad is always bigger than you think it’s going to be. If my dad were alive today I would probably get him the quilted jacket here. It’s like a shirt jacket, so it kind of covers two things, and you can wear it around the house. It looks cool, but it doesn’t look like he’s trying to be cool. It looks like something he might have had in his closet for a long time. I would also consider one of our cashmere sweaters. If your dad is in the knock around stage of his life, he wants something that looks good and he can dress up. They don’t necessarily want a sport coat, that gets too expensive.
Sid Mashburn: I know this sounds not as aspirational as it should, and maybe a little bit of a cop out: I’d go gift card. Pure gift card for your brother. ’Cause he might be at the stage where he’s like, I really need a suit, man. And nice that you’re getting me a nice gift, but $300 could contribute to what he needs. And then I would give him a Swiss Army knife or one of the Caran D’Ache pens. Or if he’s burning a lot of fire, I’d give him one of the Gransfors Brux axes. Have you seen those? Unbelievable.
Sid Mashburn: If he’s in the business of needing shirts, you could also go gift card. But if he’s a dashing guy, check this out—we buy these scarves from India and we chop ’em up into pocket squares, so no two are alike. It’s a bit of a hippie vibe, which we like. And say he’s a very particular guy, he likes nice things: I’m giving him the pocket Laguiole knife from France. They’re awesome. And then the other thing I would do is get his initials on there, preferably by hand. And give him a pair of beads. I wear ’em under my shirt—it’s like letting my freak flag fly to myself.
