Billy Reid (born June 13, 1964) is an American fashion designer based in Florence, Alabama.Al Urbanski, RECon Report: New times, not end of times, for physical retail Chain Store Age, May 26, 2017Lauren Sherman, Seeking Comfort at Billy Reid: The designer aimed to entertain his weary audience with more than just clothes. Business of Fashion, January 31, 2017. His line includes menswear, womenswear, accessories and eyewear. His clothing, self-described as "lived-in luxury"Alex Badia, Billy Reid Men's Fall 2017 Women's Wear Daily, January 31, 2017 and "broken-in luxury",Jean E. Palmieri, Billy Reid RTW Spring 2018: The collection featured soft, easy silhouettes in lightweight fabrics. Women's Wear Daily, September 11, 2017Lee Carter, Spring 2018 Ready-To-Wear: Billy Reid Vogue, September 11, 2017 is known for its unusual accents and Southern influence. Reid summarizes his brand's concept as "American luxury built to last". Billy Reid, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, and Michael Kors are the only fashion designers who have won 3 or more CFDA Awards.Past Winners CFDA.com In 2026, Gary Muto joined the company as chief executive officer, succeeding Jeff Zens. Early life and education
Reid grew up in Amite, Louisiana ( ),Justin Abbott, Meet the Designers: Billy Reid blogs.nordstrom.com August 19, 2013 just south of the Mississippi border.Alex Hoyt, Steel Magnolia: The rugged charm of Southern fashion's prodigal son, Billy Reid Rhapsody Magazine, July 2016Instagram post Accessed 6/6/2018 He helped his mother operate a women's clothing boutique located in his grandmother's home which stocked then-new brands including Gloria Vanderbilt and Calvin Klein.Lauren Sherman, 10 Years In, Billy Reid Talks Expansion and What the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Meant for His Business fashionista.com January 9, 2015 Reid's hobbies included outdoor activities in the surrounding Southeast Louisiana wetlands. Reid's first job was at family friend Joe Buddy Anderson's menswear store The Royal Oak in Hammond, Louisiana.Southern threads, James Bond, beyond: Billy Reid's saga Matt Wake, AL.com June 28, 2018 Originally wanting to become a football coach during his youth,Kathryn O'Shea Evans, Insider: Billy Reid's Guide to Florence, Alabama Surface, March 10, 2016 Reid attended Southeastern Louisiana University and then transferred to the Art Institute of Dallas to study fashion design and merchandising. While studying full-time at the Art Institute of Dallas, he worked full-time for Saks Fifth Avenue in men's tailored clothes and sportswear, opening the Polo Ralph Lauren shop-in-shop. After graduating, a stockbroker friend convinced a 23-year-old Reid to join him in moving to California to pursue acting. Reid abandoned the Hollywood dream after three days and instead worked for six years at Reebok International at the beginning of the brand's introduction of clothing, first selling in a five-state territory and then working in design in New York City for the brand's presence in Foot Locker. Reid moved to Boston and travelled across the globe for the first collections of Australian golfer Greg Norman.Guy Trebay, Political Fashion Statements at the Men's Wear Shows The New York Times 2017/02/01 After moving to Texas with his future wife, he later did freelance design for Fruit of the Loom, Neiman Marcus, Takashimaya, and J. C. Penney.
Brand history
Reid originally launched his men's collection under the William Reid label in March 1998. When Reid started the business in 1998, it was a one-man operation; he lived in the Garment Center, while a room at the Hotel Chelsea served as an office, studio and showroom.Made in America: Four Fashion Designers on What It Takes To Do So Laurie Brookins, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 July 2017 The William Reid brand was focused on wholesale account partnerships rather than directly owned retail stores, with Fred Segal and Stanley Korshak as its main wholesale partners.The Store stanleykorshak.com Reid received the CFDA Best New Menswear Designer award in 2001.Council of Fashion Designers of America, Billy Reid Accessed 6/17/2016 The brand held a successful runway show on September 10, 2001,Billy Reid on What He Loves About Chicago and His Advice for Other Fashion Designers Stephen Ostrowski, Michigan Avenue, May 23, 2018Billy Reid's Been Through It All. And Loved Every Second of It. Cam Wolf, GQ, February 12, 2021 but economic effects arising from the September 11 attacks forced him to close the business shortly thereafter. Reid and his wife moved in with his in-laws in Florence, Alabama,High Fashion Meets Southern Hospitality Debbie Elliott, NPR, August 26, 2018 just across the Tennessee River from Muscle Shoals (home of the famous Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, where The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, and others have recorded).
In the initial aftermath of 9/11, Reid reached out to Reebok, TaylorMade and other contacts to find freelance design work to make ends meet for his wife and young children. After the economy improved, Reid's post-9/11 business model built up a small namesake chain of shops which reflected his "personality and his aesthetic," loaded with antiques, family heirlooms and reclaimed architectural materials. In 2004, Charles Moore, legendary photographer of the Civil Rights Movement,Claire O'Neill, Civil Rights Photographer Charles Moore Remembered NPR All Things Considered, March 16, 2010Charles Moore (1931 - 2010) American ICP.orgHow Photographs Define the Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter Movements Mark Speltz, Time, September 22, 2016 shot the first photos for the brand.billyreid.com Remembering Our First Shoot November 4, 2014Rachel Dodes, Designer Fashions a Comeback Without the Usual Pattern The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 9, 2006 The first Billy Reid stores opened in 2004 in Dallas and Houston showing menswear only; the women's collection started in 2007. Wholesale distribution began in 2009. Investors included Kemmons Wilson Companies, an investment company founded by the heirs of the Holiday Inn hotel chain.
The company headquarters is in Florence, Alabama, in a historic bookstore. Downstairs is his flagship shop and upstairs is his design studio. The brand operates 12 directly owned stores with a unique atmosphere: well-worn chairs and carpets, antique chandeliers, mounted animals, and antique apothecary cabinets.Fashion The New York Times 2009/02/19 Reid has said: "We're based in Alabama and work in New York; It's the balance of those two worlds that our aesthetic is about."The Shortlist: Billy Reid Elle Decor, October 2013 Reid cites Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Perry Ellis as influential American designers, and has named Bill Robinson as "one of [his] biggest influences." Vogue noted the brand's "relaxed charm and rolled-up elegance."Lee Carter, Vogue, Fall 2017 Menswear: Billy Reid January 31, 2017 In early 2017, Observer magazine called Reid "perhaps the most-likable player on the American menswear scene."Zachary Weiss, Meet the Men on Observer's 2017 American Menswear Power List 01/31/2017 The Washington Post has described Reid's aesthetic as "worn luxury".Robin Givhan, The fashion world was rattled by the election — and you can see it on the runway The Washington Post February 5, 2017 and W magazine named it "Southern Gentleman sartorialism".Michael Slenske, Inside Frank Lloyd Wright's Forgotten Masterpiece in Florence, Alabama W, August 30, 2017 Vogue described the fall 2018 collection as "country luxury".Fall 2018 Ready-To-Wear: Billy Reid Lee Carter, Vogue, February 10, 2018
In early 2018, Mark Daley became the CEO, joining the brand from Smythson,Power Moves Business of Fashion, Tamison O'Connor, February 9, 2018 and serving until December 2020 upon taking the helm of Esprit.Esprit Appoints New Leadership Team With Mark Daley at Helm: New blood at the struggling brand with Daley coming from Billy Reid and Augustinus Bader. WWD, Tiffany Ap, December 28, 2020
In 2019 The New York Times described the brand as "at once classic and urbane, while still rugged, coarse and unafraid of hard work."'Southern' Is Not a Style: Three retailers are thriving in very different ways below the Mason-Dixon line The New York Times, Michael Venutolo-Mantovani, April 3, 2019
In 2022 the brand opened a pop-up shop at Platform in Culver City.Billy Reid Opens Pop-Up in Los Angeles JEAN E. PALMIERI, Women's Wear Daily, SEPTEMBER 6, 2022
Billy Reid Inc. acquired the direct-to-consumer arm of made-to-measure company Knot Standard in 2024; Knot Standard will be a minority shareholder in the combined business. The purchase will expand Reid’s retail locations from 12 to 20 in the US. The former Knot Standard boutiques were re-branded as Billy Reid Custom.
The company’s primary financial supporter has been Kemmons Wilson Companies, a Memphis-based investment firm owned by the family owners of the Holiday Inn hotel chain. In addition to Kemmons Wilson Companies, Hong Kong-based product development and sourcing firm Newtimes Group made a strategic investment in Billy Reid, and also owns Robert Talbott.
Production The garments are made in the US, Peru, Italy, and Japan, and more recently in India and ChinaBilly Reid Goes the Extra Mile to Make Menswear in America The Manual, Beau Hayhoe, September 21, 2018 using French, Italian and Japanese fabrics.Richard Nalley, How Billy Reid Built a Hollywood Following from Alabama: Laid-back Billy Reid makes suits that effortlessly look elegant barrons.com December 10, 2016 In May 2012 Billy Reid and Natalie Chanin planted a 7-acre field of organic cotton for use in their clothing lines.Rinne Allen, Billy Reid and Alabama Chanin's Homegrown Cotton T, September 5, 2014
The Billy Reid eyewear collection includes sunglasses and optical frames,Aria Hughes, Billy Reid Signs Eyewear Licensing Deal With Eponym, Women's Wear Daily January 12, 2017Designer Billy Reid to Launch First Eyewear Collection Invision, 8 January 2017Bethany Biron, How Eponym is carving out a niche in the luxury eyewear market Digiday/Glossy, March 22, 2017 and made in Japan with CR-39 lenses. The collection included sunglasses modeled on Reid's signature personal frames made from sustainable buffalo horn. Design details include leather-wrapped frames, ultra-light titanium nose pads, Italian acetate, and gradient lenses.Stephen Garner Billy Reid Inks Eyewear Deal With Eponym Mr Magazine, January 17, 2017 The eyewear capsule collection debuted in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Rosenbaum House in August 2017 as part of the annual Billy Reid Shindig,Russ Corey, Billy Reid Shindig: Exhibit debuts spring collection, eyewear TimesDaily, August 27, 2017Spring 2018 Ready-To-Wear: Billy Reid Lee Carter, Vogue, September 11, 2017 and 13 styles were delivered to stores in November 2017.Billy Reid's Eyewear Line Makes Classic Styles Feel New Again Esquire, Christine Flammia, November 1, 2017 The limited-edition buffalo horn frame sunglasses named for Billy and his wife are boxed in wood finished with an ancient Japanese wood-burning technique called yakisugi (焼杉) meaning "burnt cypress".Billy Reid Just Released Fall's Best New Sunglasses Justin Fenner, Men's Journal, November 2017The Latest Design Trend: Black and Burned Wood Amanda Fortini, T, September 19, 2017 Reid names Michael Caine and Buddy Holly as icons of men's eyewear style.Vision Quest: Designer Billy Reid on His Eyewear Line and His Relief Efforts Joseph V. Amodio, Barron's, December 17, 2017
The fall/winter 2017 collection included shirts with yellowhammer embroidery, and the bird became a de facto symbol of the brand. As the state bird of Alabama, the subspecies of Colaptes auratus is known by the common name "yellowhammer", a term that originated during the American Civil War to describe soldiers from Alabama. The bird has black and gold striping on its wing that is similar to the Billy Reid Signature Heirloom Ribbon, a black and gold ribbon with a bias stripe.