On The Cuff With Jesse Walkershaw

Located at 4010 24^th Street, San Francisco, is a small, box shaped store. The clean white walls are lined with a kaleidoscope of pattern and color: the sleeves of beautifully crafted men’s shirts hanging from silver hooks. Walkershaw Man, the extended men’s line from Walkershaw Clothing, opened in August of 2011 and business is good. Connie and Jesse Walkershaw are the owners of this men’s boutique, though it’s much cooler than a boutique. The Walkershaws also operate a sewing school on Castro Street, called Sew, and are in the band Go Van Gogh, together.

No big deal.

Last Thursday I met up with Jesse and we talked a little bit about robbing graves, marital disputes over flamboyant yellow buttons, and why he doesn’t sell shirts in women’s sizes.

Walkershaw Man: Young lady! Have you taken a look outside? There’s like 50 women’s clothing stores out there! What are we men suppose to do? And besides, Connie has a women’s boutique at Sew.

FASHION SLICE: This is true! Anyway, on Walkershaw Man's Tumblr, you describe your line of men’s clothing as “New Looks, for the Well Dressed Man.” But when I look at your clothes I see a look that’s very retro; shirts that Don Draper would wear on a Saturday. So what exactly about Walkershaw Man is “new”?

WM: It’s a bit of a mix. If you look around, for instance, you check out these vests, there is something positively Edwardian about them. But then again this vest, here, (points to a sleeker, black vest) is very forward and futuristic in design so we’re playing a great deal and I’m stealing from history, you know? I’m robbing every grave I can find because it’s hard to invent something totally new. I’m just taking the bits and pieces that I like from fashion and those juxtapositions are what’s “new.”

FS: On display at your shop, and online, is the Brown and Blue BBQ Shirt. I love this shirt for the double buttons!

WM: The buttons were actually a Connie twist. I cannot take responsibility for that! We started making the prototype for Blue and BBQ and then we started playing around with the buttons because they’re usually after the fact. Anyway, she put down two of them together and said, “I really like that” and I said, “I really like that too!”

And so we get yelled at because there’s ten buttons on that shirt. You know? Ten buttons is a lot to unbutton.

FS: What’s your daily routine like at Walkershaw Man?

WM:I do all the cutting at my wife’s sewing school. Connie’s got a great big table. I go in there everyday before I open here at noon so usually by 9:30 I’m over there laying out fabric and laying out patterns.

FS: So where do you sew the shirts?

WM: Well all the prototype sewing is done right at Sew, but our actual production sewing is done right here in San Francisco, by contract sewers that we’ve known for years. They’re the ones yelling at us for putting 10 buttons on a shirt.

FS: So what’s it like working with your wife in so many ways? You’re in a band together and you design together…

WM: We have a daughter together,

FS: You have a daughter together…

WM: It is eventful (laughs)! In so many ways its great and obviously we have a great rapport. She’s my best friend and my sweetheart and all. Now we do argue all the time about creative things and she’s my pattern maker so there is a lot of negotiation between us.  We don’t’ always agree on everything; sometimes we’ll be buying fabric and she’ll be like “why are you buying that fabric?” or “why aren’t you buying that fabric?”

Or like these yellow buttons that I bought years ago; every time I finish cutting something and I’m like “Oh, yes! The yellow buttons would look so good on this” I’ll take them out and Connie will come over and say “you’re not going to put those yellow buttons on that shirt”

“I’m not?”

“Nope.”

Because at the end of the day I have to accept that her taste is exquisite and that I have a certain flamboyance that she doesn’t always share and I suppose that sometimes my flamboyance is beyond what my customer is going to be interested in; that I do wear clothes that my customer will not wear…yet.

FS: You’ve been in business for less than a year and are doing well. In this economy why do you think people are buying your clothes?

WM: People come in because they like the way the clothes look and the feel of the clothes. I’m very much into the tactile aspect of the fabric. I see fabric all the time that looks great but then I touch it and, ugh, I wouldn’t want this on my skin!

FS: Does Walkershaw man provide tailoring services?

WM: Not exactly. I don’t do true bespoke tailoring, but I can adjust my patterns for people whose arms are shorter or longer or if they were in between our sizes. I’m happy to adjust my patterns so that clothes truly fit people because I want them to look good and feel comfortable. I don’t ever want to sell a garment to somebody and it sits in their closets and they look at it regretfully for two years until they give it to Goodwill.

FS: Changing gears a little bit here, your band Go Van Gogh’s sound is a blend of Middle Eastern melodies, Latino drums and American rock n roll. Does your music influence your design?

WM: I think that the music and apparel that I create reflect the eclectic nature of my interests. With music, I like music from all over the planet. You know I’m as likely to be listening to Hank Williams as I am to Balkan Beat Box or some little band from Peru and the next thing you know on my iPod shuffle comes up the Sex Pistols. So its just like I was talking about robbing the graves for fashion ideas, you know? The Pierre Cardin suit idea, you know, I made a lot of jackets for myself like that for years but on the other hand I like mod clothes from England or I was a total punk for a long time. I still wear black, I’m wearing black pants now, but they’re just not skinny anymore. So I like to mix it up... just not front pleaded pants, please. I won’t go there.

Though not available for purchase online, Walkershaw Man is opened for business: Wednesday to Saturday 12PM to 6PM, Sundays 12PM to 5PM and Tuesdays 12PM to 5PM.