MEET THE BOYS…By far my favorite menswear designers out there - DUCKIE BROWN! I sat down with the designers and got to pick their insightful and innovative brains. Check it out…

You launched Duckie Brown in 2001 in New York. What’s behind the name Duckie Brown?

Duckie is an endearment Steven’s aunt used to call everyone and we have called each other Duckie since before the inception of the company. It was natural for us to use Duckie and Brown seemed to be a good balance. It’s a very traditional English surname-very straight forward and proper to balance the more unusual Duckie.

What was your original motive in launching Duckie Brown? How has your stylistic vision changed from initial inception until now?

We love designing beautiful clothes for men – it’s that simple. Our vision grows organically season to season.

What can we expect from your upcoming show on September 10th? What influenced and inspired the latest collection?

You’ll have to wait until the show. Every collection is based on the lives we lead and what’s around us – that never changes.

Who would you say has had the biggest influence on your career to date?

Each other.

What are 4 items ever male should have in their closet?

A black jacket with a strong shoulder
A white fitted shirt
Black lace up shoes
A leather jacket

How did the Florsheim by Duckie Brown collaboration come about? Were you always keen to tackle the footwear market? Give us a little history behind this.

Tom and John Florsheim happened upon an article in the New Yorker that mentioned Duckie Brown had styled a Duckie Brown suit with a pair of Florsheim shoes. The brothers Florsheim were surprised, but flattered. They got in contact with us and it seemed like a great idea to bridge the tradition of their brand with how we interpret traditional menswear with our brand.

What are the similarities between the Duckie Brown vision and the Florsheim view? What do you think has attributed to its success?

Duckie Brown and Florsheim are both very traditional companies - in that we both do very traditional items for men. We just took their heritage shoes and turned up the music with better leathers in better colors.

How many different styles are there? Did you re-interpret some of the archived styles to help add your vision?

There are about 8 - 9 different styles a season. And yes we are always going back to the archives. That’s how the Patriot Boot came about.

Where do you see the Duckie Brown label in ten years?

We want to continue to do what we love to do – and that is beautifully designed clothing for men. Where that will take us in 10 years is anyone’s guess. It doesn’t matter where we are in 10 years – the question is what really happened along the way.

Any parting words of wisdom?

Love yourself just a little bit more. Be honest.