OEN - Menswear, Lifestyle and Design

What does Hickorees represent?

The name “Hickoree’s Hard Goods” is invented. We were thinking about old, outdated modes of making things, with the mantra “they don’t make it like they used to” in the back of our heads, and kind of free-associating. We started looking at old baseball bats and learned that they used to be made from hickory wood. Hickory is known for it’s extreme hardness and strength, but it’s also pretty heavy, so baseball bats are nowadays made mostly from ash or maple. It turns out hickory wood used to be used for lots of things like this, including golf clubs, tool handles, wheel spokes, etc. It is also a great fuel wood because it burns very hot, and I like the association with American barbecue cooking, as hickory wood is a favorite for smoking meats. Finally, I’ve always loved “hickory stripe” overalls. So we took the word “hickory” and changed it’s spelling to make it sound more personal, like the store-owner’s last name.

The selection of your stock is so different from any other store out there, how did you come about choosing the theme?

We are constantly striving to make Hickoree’s a place where you don’t expect to find all these particular things together, but when you look at the store as a whole it really makes perfect sense. If I were a Hickoree’s customer, this is what would keep me coming back. I would be excited about the unexpected things I might discover on my next visit to the shop. It is important to have a diverse range of products and styles in the shop, but it all has to be coherent. We want each product and each brand to make the ones around it look better and in turn to be improved and enlivened by the products that surround it.

You mix the old with the new well, is there intention behind this?

We have a focused selection of vintage clothing on the site, and it’s actually a very small part of what we do. The vintage clothing is mixed in as a way to lend some context to the new products we sell. We are really focused on classic, well-made clothing, accessories, and objects, with most of the products we sell being made in the USA, and we feel that the vintage clothing helps set the tone for what Hickoree’s is all about. The implication is that the new product you’re interested in will stand the test of time just like the 70-year-old denim chore coat that’s sitting next to it.

Do you have aspirations to open a store one day?

We do want to open a physical store one day, but it might not happen for quite some time. We are really focused on getting the online store closer to our full vision for it, and there’s still a long way to go with that. We both feel that the online store will always be the primary focus of Hickoree’s Hard Goods.

Can you envision the look of the store?

The way we talk about it today is that it would look like a clean, well-organized hardware store. Everything will have its place and the contents of the store will be displayed in a clear and logical way. We are just completing a two-month long temporary physical store, and in hindsight the look of it is a bit more cluttered and “vintage shop” than what we would go for in a permanent space.

How did the Hickoree’s Hard Goods Pop-Up Shop in Brooklyn come about?

Our close friend Angela met an architect who was putting the finishing touches on a beautiful, attention-getting, LEED-certified building in Williamsburg. The facade of the building is covered in solar panels, and it really stands out from its neighbors on an otherwise grey, dreary block. The architect and his wife had been looking for a tenant to occupy the storefront space. We became the first residents at what is now called Metropolitan Green, and will be a continual, rotating temporary space for clothing shops, art galleries, a book shop, educational projects, etc. ( http://www.metropolitangreen.com )

What problems arose when you put the Pop-Up shop into practice?

All in all the temporary shop went pretty smoothly. The main troubles we’ve had have revolved around the fact that we were holding inventory in two different locations. We didn’t have a good inventory system set up that could manage two spaces and it resulted in a few cases of oversold products. We pride ourselves above all else on good customer service, so we’ve gone out of our way to help customers who bought something online that turned out to be unavailable.

The online shop is really clean and simple, something i am extremely fond of, what was the idea behind it all?

The process of designing the look of the online store was one of editing and deleting. We worked on the the back-end of the site for almost a year before finally launching the online store, so that gave us a lot of time to revisit the design of the front-end. Before the site launched we probably changed the look of the site 8-10 times, each time making it more simple, more grid-oriented, more monochromatic. We want the products to do the talking, so it makes sense to delete anything that could distract you from a beautiful photograph of a jacket or a canvas bag or a bar of soap.

Where do your vintage inspirations originate from?

We love objects that have a story behind them. This is especially true of old clothing, where the stories are often extremely rich and deep. The way we choose new products for Hickoree’s is equally informed by this love of stories. We want you to get excited about the provenance of both the old stuff we sell and the new stuff.

Working as brothers what problems does that present, if any, and what strengths do you feel the pair of you gain, combining as a team?

Very few problems arise because of the fact that we are brothers. One thing that’s nice about our relationship is that there is no baggage. We can disagree or fight over something and it never gets taken personally. There’s no competitiveness between us.

What roles do each of you play within the store, do you prefer to take on different tasks, or is it a case of first man to the job?

Sandy designed and runs the back-end of the online store, all the technical stuff: coding, inventory management, database management, etc. Emil does the front-end design and product photography. Pretty much everything else is a mutual and shared task, from hunting for new products to packing and shipping orders.

You tend to lean towards products made in the states, is this due to a lack of innovation in europe or a volume of better quality in america?

We lean toward American-made products mainly because this is where we’re from, and it feels familiar and honest to us. We also run a small brand (The Hill-Side) that makes neckties and handkerchiefs in New York City’s garment district. One of the most enjoyable parts of doing The Hill-Side is visiting the factory on a weekly basis and meeting face-to-face with the people who make our stuff. Buying American-made products to sell on Hickoree’s is exciting and fun in a similar way. That being said, we do not want to run a business based on dogmatism. If we find something gorgeous and well-made but the tag says “Made In China” we are not automatically, reflexively opposed to it.

Do you look to change anything in the industry through your store?

Everything we do is informed by what we would want if we were on the other side of the transaction. With Hickoree’s Hard Goods we are trying to create an online store with an aesthetic and a user-experience that we would appreciate if we were the customers. So in that modest way we feel that we are making a change — we are creating something that we wish had existed previously.

What would you say to aspiring store owners, any hard lessons you have learned whilst starting this business?

We’d probably just ask an aspiring shop owner to take his or her time and try to create something personal. There are too many stores that mimic what other stores are doing, it’s much more interesting when a store seeks inspiration in places outside of the worlds of fashion and retail.

What will Hickoree’s be up to in 2010?

Nothing radically different. The focus right now is on improving our customers’ online shopping experience and on broadening the range of products we offer. We have some great new functionality in the works and some really great new products on the way. Oh, and there will be a Hickoree’s blog eventually . . . but it won’t be the typical kind of store blog that just exists to tell you what’s new or what’s on sale. It will be a place to spend some time discovering and discussing, and the main focus of the blog will not necessarily be about the things we’re trying to sell you.