Introducing Brandon

 “I am a 47-year-old married father of two amazing kids and one 14-week-old Labradoodle puppy, as well as a brother to three sisters, an uncle to two nephews and a dear friend to a diverse village of many”, Brandon tells us, standing in the hallway of his home in Portland, Oregon. His house is a buzzing suburban nest, well looked-after and full of life, love and all the sights, sounds and smells of a modern day family coming and going. Family pictures hang on the walls, alongside keepsakes from their years living in China, Chicago, Milwaukee and San Francisco.

Brandon describes himself as “savagely progressive in most areas (but conservative in a few areas too) and a realist who also embraces idealism”. As a Senior Global Brand Executive with over twenty years of experience in the interconnected space of sport, innovation, youth culture and style expression, he admits to being “obsessed with sports!” Brandon grew up playing soccer, baseball, american football, tennis, volleyball, and spent four years playing basketball competitively at the collegiate level. Nowadays, he mainly sticks to golf and tennis, coaching his son in basketball and cheering on his daughter in tennis and volleyball. Away from sport, he’s into movies and bingeable TV series, still loves music (“I’m a child of the original Hip Hop generation”), and enjoys being outdoors in nature feeding his growing addiction to ‘glamping’. Mainly at the moment though, he tells us, he’s just reading a lot of books about puppy training.

Let’s start with having you explain your style to us, Brandon...

I would describe my style as personally empowered/confident in being diverse, flexible and multi-dimensional/eclectic, as well as thoughtfully coordinated, easy, efficient - and timeless.

Would your friends describe your style any differently do you think?

I don’t think that my friends would describe my style that radically differently than I have for myself, if anything, I think they might add in simple - and “consistently me.”

Thinking about your friends, what’s your ‘style/fashion role’ in the group?

These answers have changed over time for me, when I think about where I was at in my style expression journey 10–15+ years ago, versus where I’m at today.  Back in the day, when I was younger, I was more apt to follow trends to fit in and go along with the masses (including my friends). I definitely would not characterize the younger me as a style leader, or one driving style inspiration.  I was an adopter and follower in those days, comfortable with joining in on what were defined as the popular looks - including wearing items (and brands) that a lot of my friends were wearing at the time.  Flashing forward to today/now, and the way that I like to understand and see the world, I’m comfortable and confident in being and doing ‘me’ (all of the time) when it comes to style - and so I would say that I’m also not a style leader or point of style inspiration for my friend group nowadays either.  For the most part everyone in my friend group does their own thing when it comes to style (looking good and feeling good on their own terms), depending upon the dynamics of their lives - married with kids or single; employed or currently unemployed; corporate job, social service job, entrepreneur or working multiple jobs; financial position of discretionary spending power/flexibility or living and getting by paycheck to paycheck.

Who inspires you style-wise?

To be honest, at this point/chapter in my life, I can’t say that there’s a person or group of people (celebrity or common) who necessarily inspires or influences my style. 

Where are the other places you’re getting style/fashion influence from?

I mostly keep a pulse on style through scrolling my social media feed and from thumbing through magazines every now and then.

• GQ; Esquire, Men’s Journal, Complex, High Snobiety, Mr. Porter, HypeBeast 

And what are your three favorite stores to shop in for clothing/apparel?

Currently, a few of my favorite stores to shop in for clothing/apparel are Nordstrom (physical store), Macy’s (physical store), Nike (physical store and App) and Amazon (App).

What is it about these stores that make them your favorite/preferred place to shop?

I appreciate and value the following things about the clothing/apparel stores that I previously mentioned in the answer above: Breadth and depth of product offering, assortments and items; Clean presentation; Great service; Premium Environment.

Does the experience of those stores matter to you too?

Yes, the consumer experience at those stores matters to me - and I think that the holistic experience is defined by the four elements that I mentioned above in my previous answer.  Whether physical or digital/on-line, what appeals to me and makes them attractive as a consumer are those elements.

What other stores/spaces are you shopping in and why?

Another store/space that I currently shop in is Stitch Fix.  They provide me the outlet to let go of control (a bit) and open myself up to surprise, delight and spontaneity via the digital service that they offer.

Going a little more specific, what are your top five favorite brands?

Currently, some of the apparel/clothing brands that I like right now are Nike, Levi’s, Calvin Klein, Lacoste, Malbon Golf and Amazon. 

What are your top priorities when it comes to buying new items of clothing?

Style; Fit; Comfort; Price/Value; Timelessness.

And why do those things matter to you in the order they do?

• Style:  the visual style factor is important because it is what initially captures my eye/interest/attention and draws me in.  I believe in the motto of “look good/feel good.”

• Fit:  critically important for an item to be properly sized and to fit right/work with my body in the right way, or it just won’t work physically.

• Comfort: if an item doesn’t feel good on me - and the way that it lays/sits/hangs/touches/interacts with my body, etc. I won’t be able to sustain wearing it.

• Price/Value: I like to know that I’m making a good investment in purchasing an item, so that its quality justifies the amount of money that I’m paying for it - and the value exchange is fair.

• Timelessness:  I want to feel that I can still wear an item 1 month out, 1 year out or 10 years out (if I really needed/wanted to) - and that its style relevancy can have some longevity and not be defined by the short timeline of a trend.

Let’s start with how many pairs of shoes, any shoes, do you own?

I probably own 75 pairs of shoes.

If you had to split them up into categories and write a percentage next to them [what, math!] what would that look like?

Sportswear/Sport lifestyle shoes = 75%; Sport performance shoes = 20%; Casual dress shoes = 4%; Formal dress shoes = 1%

What type of shoe would we typically find you in, if you there is a ‘typical shoe’ for you?

Nowadays, you would typically find me in some type of Sportswear/Sport Lifestyle shoe (Nike Blazer, Nike Dunk, Nike Air Force 1, Nike Air Max 1, Nike Tennis Classic, Air Jordan 11) or Performance Running shoes.

What are the most important things for you when it comes to buying your favorite kind of shoe?

Look; Fit; Comfort; Price/Value.

What about your favorite brands for shoes?

Nike; Jordan Brand; Converse; Cole Haan

Why are these your favorite brands do you think? 

These are my favorite brands because they represent best-in-class for different dimensions of style, innovation, functionality, quality and cool factor.  Also, all of the brands have solid origin/heritage stories and have a strong sense of mission, purpose and positioning.

What about your favorite shoe stores, again - on or offline? What makes them your favorite stores?

Currently, some of my favorite stores are Nike, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Amazon.  These are some of favorite stores to shop in because of the following factors - breadth and depth of product offering, assortments and items; Clean presentation; Great service; Premium Environment.