HIGH-END WEAR KEEPS ITS COOL
Standard & Strange in Oakland curates polished look and adds its own line
Need a recommendation on a rain jacket or boots or a bike? About the best bet in town is Jeremy Smith, co-founder of the Oakland menswear shop Standard & Strange. Over a beer, he’ll talk your ear off about a bottle opener cast at the last working forge in West Virginia, or the properties of Cone Mill denim, or even which baby stroller gives you the best bang for your buck. In a world where anyone with a Twitter account and an opinion is a “curator,” Smith’s depth of knowledge and unpretentious take on Americana-inspired workwear is about as close as you’ll get to curation outside of the de Young Museum.
Which is exactly why Standard & Strange, which Smith co-founded with Neil Berrett on Oakland’s hip Temescal Alley, has been such a boon to the chore coat and work boot set.
“Jeremy and Neil bring a polished element to the community of merchants on Temescal Alley,” says Wendy Renz, owner of home boutique Walrus, located just across the alley from Standard & Strange. Renz sums up the cool-kid vibe in the neighborhood as “Brooklyn goes west” and admires how Smith and Berrett ferret out the latest in high-end men’s sportswear. “They curate really beautiful stuff. It’s a nice shopping experience.”
Deeply committed to American-made goods and capable of sourcing just about anything for the rugged creative types who populate the Google bus during the week (and Bolinas come Saturday afternoon), Smith and Berrett are slowly treading into new territory, making the move from curators to creators.
“When we started out we carried Tellason jeans and Taylor Stitch shirts, solid American-made stuff,” says Smith. “But then we started introducing more brands from Europe and Japan.”
In January the pair launched a line of Oxford shirts, a 150-item foray into their own Standard & Strange brand clothing.
“We sell more shirts than all of our other products together,” said Smith, “and we’ve noticed that we have had trouble getting a consistent and fresh supply of shirting from our vendors that met our standards for fit and finish.” So the pair decided to start making shirts themselves and put a stake in the ground about their idea of a perfect wardrobe.
“Between shirts, jeans, chinos, that’s two-thirds of our cash flow,” said Smith. “Also, to hit the golden number for a business to run (in terms of margin), you have to become somewhat vertical.”
Going vertical was somewhat easier thanks to Cedar Cycling, Smith and Berrett’s niche brand of merino wool cycling jerseys.
“We picked up serious production and sourcing chops doing that, as technical apparel is much harder than most casual menswear,” Smith says.
The California-made shirts sold well for $140, and with a few design tweaks a second run of 500 is due for June. Denim, chore coats and chinos are all in the works, and should be coming by the end of the year.
Their push into house-made goods isn’t slowing down their knack for editing just the right mix of classic menswear with an edge. A case in point: the Mountain Parka US Army Tent by the L.A. brand Mon-italy that is now on Standard & Strange’s shelves. Made entirely from a 1950s Army-issue tent, the rugged coat looks like a military piece from afar, but up close its welter of pockets and hardware is a marvel of vintage aesthetics with a contemporary twist. Not unlike Smith and Berrett’s emerging house line itself, a heritagerich suite of duds for the modern man.