Dressing For Wellness INHERENT

“We’re not talking about toxic masculinity...it’s about how we look at healthy masculinity, and expanding what masculinity should look like.” - Mark Hedstrom

In this episode of Dressing for Wellness, hosts Taylor Draper and Steven De La Roche talk to Mark Hedstrom of Movember about the origins of the movement, how to have difficult conversations around mental health, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on how men connect with one another.

3 Key Points


Movember focuses on giving men the tools to have conversations about their mental health and works with existing community organizations to reach Black men and veterans in particular.

Men often connect in places like barber shops and sports games, and the pandemic has caused them to lose those spaces.

Being a corporate citizen is an extremely important part of running a business that serves both employees and customers well.



Episode Highlights:


In 2007, Movember became global, and they now bring awareness to three causes: mental health awareness for men and boys, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.
Movember has focused particularly on communities of color with their mental health awareness work.

Movember doesn’t focus on toxic masculinity; rather, they focus on helping men and boys find healthy avenues to cope with their trauma and other mental health struggles.

They ask themselves how they can engage with communities on the ground and work with local organizations like churches and community colleges to spread their message.

Movember is launching a product called Family Man this November to help men talk to their children in a healthier way.

The vast majority of their fundraising happens during the month of November, but they do work year round.

Mark lost a close childhood friend to pancreatic cancer at age 35.

He and his friend group weren’t able to engage with their friend about what he was going through because he didn’t know how to start that conversation, and that helped motivate him to continue doing the work he does.

Depression has risen to over 6x its usual numbers during COVID-19.

500,000 men take their own lives every year.

Men often connect in places like barber shops and sports games, and the pandemic has caused them to lose those spaces

Resources Mentioned:


Inherent Clothier Website

Inherent Clothier Instagram

Movember

Movember USA Twitter

Movember Conversations

Family Man 

Inherent Clothier Suicide Awareness

In this episode of Dressing for Wellness, Taylor (Inherent Clothier CEO) and Steven (Art Director) talk to Janie Bryant, the head designer for the hit TV show, Mad Men. Janie and Taylor have worked together to design a new collection for Inherent Clothier. The Bryant Draper Collection launches in November, just in time for the holiday season!



3 Key Points


Janie’s decision to abandon working on a large movie project in New Orleans was difficult but proved to be the best decision of her life as Mad Men went on to be wildly successful.

There is an over-availability of instant gratification that has had a numbing effect on society. Inherent Clothier is working towards bringing patience back to its customers.

Starting your day with a grateful mindset is vitally important to how your day is going to pan out. Practice positive self-talk every day



Episode Highlights:


After working on a film that became disastrous in New Orleans, Janie was in need of an escape
Janie helped design for the HBO show Deadwood prior to working on Mad Men
Mad Men helped bring back a love for men’s suits and launched multiple incredible acting careers
Janie made it a point to watch every episode of Mad Men as it came out on Sundays
Binge-watching TV shows has become the norm but may have negative effects on our minds
Good shows have begun spreading out their episode releases in order to avoid binge-watching
Releasing entire seasons at once for binge-consumption takes away from the connection that viewers feel with those around them
Society as a whole has lost its patience because of the over-availability of instant gratification
Inherent Clothier aims to fight against waste by only making pieces of clothing when they are ordered
The process of designing the clothing for the new collection went far beyond just looking great for Janie
Janie prioritizes a grateful mindset and makes sure to meditate every morning to think of everything that she is thankful for
We tend to be our biggest critics which is why it’s important to keep a positive and grateful mindset
While most people try to stuff their critical inner voice, we should all try to switch that to a positive voice that we can still hear
Janie is able to transfer what is on paper to on-screen performance now, but it has only come after years of failure
Kids now seem to want to be famous without knowing their reasoning for wanting that
The most famous people in the world know that it’s a daily grind for years and years to get to that level
Life, in general, is filled with challenges and failures, but successful people recognize those as lessons
All human beings are creators, whether they are in a creative field or not
Inch-by-inch, we all create our own lives by doing the small things every single day



Resources Mentioned:


Inherent Clothier Website
Inherent Clothier Instagram
Janie Bryant: Website Instagram
The Artist’s Way - Book

In this episode of Dressing for Wellness, Taylor (Inherent Clothier CEO) and Steven (Art Director) continue their conversation with Jay Gats, the founder of Real Black Menswear. They talk about how authentically Taylor found the mental health tie-in for Inherent Clothier, what it means to grow and change with society, confidence, and more.

3 Key Points


Be an artist who is distinctive and cannot be copied. One whose work grows and changes with society.

Confidence is the key to finding what you want to do and sticking with it.

You cannot and should not approach everything you do in the same way. You need to be able to adapt and be flexible.

Episode Highlights:


Taylor founded Inherent Clothier during the darkest period of his life, when his marriage was under strain and his mental health was on a decline.

The inspiration for the mental health theme came from Ian Lee, who recognized that he and Taylor both dressed in order to feel good about themselves.

Today, men need to be able to talk about how they feel, and it’s a big difference between this generation and previous generations.

Talking to each other about the real stuff is so necessary to cultivate empathy.

Jay’s favorite comedian is Dave Chappelle because none of his jokes could be done by anyone else.

There’s a difference between your material aging well and changing with society.

There’s a difference between having a love for the world and being worldly.

As a Black man, Jay has always felt like he needs to know everything and be the best to the point of undeniability, but he’s also found that he has to be humble enough to take feedback and criticism from his mentors.

Tweetable Quotes:


“Style is my life story. Style helped me change my entire life.” –Taylor Draper

“No matter how great I am, I’m still human.” –Jay Gats

“If something’s bad, just tell me that. It takes 2 seconds. I don’t need 5 minutes for you to tell me why it’s bad and we’re not going to use it. Let’s take 10 seconds to tell me why it’s bad, and let’s use the other 4 minutes to talk about how we’re gonna make it better.” –Jay Gats

Resources Mentioned:


Inherent Clothier Website
Inherent Clothier Instagram
Jay Gats' Instagram
Real Black Menswear Instagram
Richfresh
Ralph Lauren
Rubinacci
The Rake: Sammy Davis Jr. Article
Cole Haan
Suitsupply
Kevin Hart

In this episode of Dressing for Wellness, Taylor (Inherent Clothier CEO) and Steven (Art Director) talk to Jay Gats, the founder of Real Black Menswear. Just like Taylor and Steven, Jay works towards helping men assign value to how they dress while also bringing out their inner voice and style!

3 Key Points


Jay believes that bringing in the right help is essential to reaching a higher level of success. The most successful people know when to ask for help and those moments of vulnerability help spread out the responsibility.
The menswear culture is one that has turned into a popularity contest when it should be focused on delivering a great experience and staying inclusive of all cultures.
People put entirely too much thought into what other people think of them. Know what is good for you and makes you happy, and let the rest go.

Episode Highlights:


The most successful people know when to say “I need help” and bring in an expert.
Take where the innovation comes from, the mindset, rather than copying the innovation itself.
To actually do something of note, you must put some of yourself and your experience into the project.
People need to find the style and voice that are already inside of them so they can stay true to themselves.
Acknowledge all cultures in menswear instead of following the culture and focusing on only a select few.
Those that work in the menswear industry need to be able to help anyone with their style no matter who they are.
Empathy is completely lost in today’s society. People make the mistake of thinking of other people as numbers and statistics.
The pandemic has cleared out a lot of the people that didn’t know what they were doing in the menswear industry.
Making mistakes can be expensive but is the best way to learn.
Men need to place value on how they dress and recognize when it’s time to change it up.
Many men struggle with adhering to what the world wants instead of listening to their inner voice and being themselves.
Americans and the menswear industry need to talk about people that landed on the right side of history.
Today’s society is way too sensitive and it stops people from being successful.
Kindness can show itself in many different ways, so don’t mistake the truth for rudeness.
Black people in today’s society just want people to listen to them and shut up about what they don’t know about.
Companies need to be held accountable to the people that work there and should be ready to hear about it when they aren’t.
Educate yourself on who you are buying your suit from and the quality of suit that you are buying.

Resources Mentioned:


Inherent Clothier Website
Inherent Clothier Instagram
Jay Gats’s: Instagram
Real Black Menswear
Richfresh
The Rake: Sammy Davis Jr. - Article

In this episode of Dressing for Wellness, Taylor (Inherent Clothier CEO) talks to Richard Taylor, owner of Harrison Blake Apparel. Started back in 2014, Harrison Blake had humble beginnings, only producing lapel pens and small accessories. Now, Richard creates high-quality custom suits that give their buyers inherent confidence that they can take to the other parts of their lives!



3 Key Points



The mental health aspect of dressing confidently and confidently dressing can help people bring that confidence to other areas of their lives.

The impact that a new-found confidence from dressing better has on the other people in your community will cause people to look up to you.

The assumptions made about you will be based off of how you dress




Episode Highlights:



Getting a dream suit allows people to awaken their inherent confidence

Life experience has shown Richard that people respond to you differently when you are wearing a suit

Productivity goes up when you can get into that mindset of getting ready to take on the world

Their is a direct correlation between how you dress and how productive you make your day

A lot of education and interviews are needed to bring awareness to what changes have been made due to the pandemic

It affects you as a person when you dress well. It’s very visible to other people.

Dressing well not only affects you, but also the people in your community in a positive fashion

Staying conscious about how you dress before you leave your house will add intentionality to your daily routine




Resources Mentioned:


Inherent Clothier Website

Inherent Clothier Instagram

Harrison Blake Apparel

Harrison Blake Instagram

Life of a Gentleman Podcast

In this episode of Dressing for Wellness, Taylor (Inherent Clothier CEO) talks to Emmy Award Winning Costume Designer Janie Bryant (Mad Men, Deadwood, Why Women Kill), a new part-owner of Inherent Clothier. They discuss Janie’s background in costume design for film and TV and how she discovered her passion for menswear. Janie also shares her views on contemporary menswear, cultivating confidence in yourself, and more. They even share some details on their upcoming collection, which Janie and Taylor designed together! Be sure to follow Inherent Clothier on instagram to see this collection come to life.

3 Key Points


Money isn’t required to take pride in your appearance.

Modern menswear is focused on versatility and the ability to mix-and-match pieces.

Confidence is important in following your passions, but sometimes it only comes once you start.


Episode Highlights:


Janie is now a part owner of Inherent Clothier, and she has wanted to design a menswear collection for years.

As a costume designer on shows like Mad Men, Janie has seen firsthand how men realize the impact a well-fitted suit can have on their confidence.

You can take pride in your appearance no matter how much money you have.

You can turn a suit into a more casual, everyday look by wearing a t-shirt under the jacket or pairing a sport coat with jeans.

Janie believes menswear badly needed an update in the way Inherent Clothier is making it modern.

To Janie, a modern interpretation of formalwear is the flexibility to wear a dinner jacket with jeans, and to otherwise mix and match.

The Bryan Draper Capsule Collection will include formalwear, shirts, all-season suits, and you'll be able to mix and match all the pieces.

Janie studied fashion design in college and moved to France when she graduated with the dream of becoming a famous fashion designer.

Once she moved to New York, she ended up in social circles with a lot of film people and learned about costume design.

Janie was working on a music video and the director told her to believe in her choices and to believe in herself; she hadn’t even realized she was doubting herself, but that advice has stuck with her.


Tweetable Quotes:


“There’s so many combinations, and you can really turn the suit into something that used to be, in older generations, a formal thing, into just an everyday, casual thing.” –Janie Bryant

“I truly believe that enlightenment and joyfulness is optimal to live a great life. So how do you get to that place? You get to that place through great mental health.” –Janie Bryant

“Being yourself and having confidence and faith in yourself is the most magical thing you can do.” –Janie Bryant


Resources Mentioned:


Inherent Clothier Website

Inherent Clothier Instagram