Sid and Ann Mashburn - Tastemakers with Heart and Soul
Ann and Sid Mashburn
Husband/Wife dynamic duo Sid and Ann Mashburn are doing big things with their signature styles.In this episode you’ll learn about their journey working with legends like Ralph Lauren and the leaders of Vogue magazine, how they chose Atlanta as their home base, the powerful pillow talk that comes when working with your spouse, and how they define success in the future!
More about Sid and Ann Mashburn
Sid and Ann have always loved finding and making great things to share with people – in short, making a connection with everyone. They’ve had this itch since they were young, making mixtapes and organizing parties. Together, they opened a shop on the west side of Atlanta in 2007... and then kept going.
Sid and Ann met in New York in the early 1980s. After design posts at J.Crew, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Lands’ End, Sid spent years looking for the kind of retail we had seen in Europe and Asia: places that weren’t just shops, but experiences. Ann was on the editorial side of things at Condé Nast as an assistant and editor at both Vogue and Glamour and knew how to find the incredible among the so-so.
Sid and Ann had this sort of mental, analog Pinterest board brewing since they met, of all the things they loved and wanted to put together in one place. So, when they began, they knew it wasn’t only about making cool, special, useful things. It was about the curating of them, making the selection a little less daunting, a little easier, even fun. Because you don’t need a lot of choices... you just need the right choices. And with over fifty years in the fashion industry between the two of them, they felt they had the experience to pull it off.
So today, theirs is a simple concept: a combination of their own designed-and-produced clothing and their favorite classic, iconic, and hard-to-find pieces... all in a space designed to feel as beautiful, inspiring, and welcoming as possible. They have four sets of connected men’s and women’s shops: one on the Westside of Atlanta, one in the River Oaks neighborhood of Houston, one in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, one on the Katy Trail in Dallas, as well as an e-commerce shop at sidmashburn.com & annmashburn.com that serves customers from all over the world. It’s full of all of their favorite things: things they make, things they find, things they want to share. They just opened a new men's shop at the Brentwood Country Mart in Los Angeles, and stay tuned — maybe their next shop will be closer to you.
Read the full transcript here.
Key Topics:
Introducing Sid and Ann Mashburn. [00:42]
Sid’s early introduction to fashion through magazines at home. [03:29]
Learning to understand people’s needs. [04:50]
Ann’s Devil Wears Prada experience with her first job in fashion. [07:21]
Crafting a unique style while growing up in Mississippi. [10:00]
Building a design foundation in New York. [11:49]
How Sid and Ann met for the first time. [13:21]
Becoming the first menswear designer for J Crew. [13:49]
The immense value of vision, style, and taste. [15:24]
Sid’s early vision of entrepreneurship. [16:01]
Balancing complementary skills in Sid and Ann’s marriage. [17:51]
Making the decision to move to the south. [20:15]
Exploring Atlanta in a roundabout way. [22:26]
Three men and 3000 square feet. [23:34]
Why Sid chose a highly edited product mix. [26:56]
The power of focusing on the customer experience. [28:52]
Growing the family business with Ann Mashburn. [30:40]
Applying enlightened hospitality to fashion. [33:34]
The importance of EQ in customer service. [35:39]
Managing and maximizing growth opportunities. [37:39]
Maintaining authenticity while expanding. [38:16]
Navigating decision-making while seeking the counsel of many. [39:50]
What success looks like for Ann and Sid. [45:17]
Trafficking in confidence. [48:47]
Providing context around clothing. [51:13]
Matt’s philosophy on how to dress. [54:02]
Mentioned in this Episode:
Matt Hall’s Book | Odds On: The Making of an Evidence-Based Investor https://www.amazon.com/Odds-Evidence-Based-Investor-Matt-Hall/dp/1626342563
Danny Meyer’s Book | Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
https://www.amazon.com/Setting-Table-Transforming-Hospitality-Business/dp/0060742755
Ann Mashburn | You Need This… I Promise
https://www.annmashburn.com/you-need-this
Sid Mashburn | You Ask...Sid Answers
https://www.sidmashburn.com/hey-sid
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