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It all started with a t-shirt: the desire to create a perfect version of this all-American staple.
In 2013, this desire prompted neighbors Sasha Koehn and Erik Allen Ford to set up shop in a 350 square foot California garage and launch their digitally native menswear brand, Buck Mason. Since its humble beginnings, Buck Mason has amassed a loyal following, expanded to offer both men’s and women’s apparel, and opened retail stores in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. Now, with the opening of the brand’s first Tennessee location, Nashvillians can shop Buck Mason’s full collection of modern classics at its 12 South brick-and-mortar locale.
Always passionate about essentials, Buck Mason first began by selling boxes of third-party jeans and tees packaged together—six wardrobe essentials for $250. The venture picked up steam selling to a few hundred online customers, but when The Wall Street Journal ran a weekend edition article in 2014 describing the brand’s t-shirt as the equivalent of high-thread-count sheets, inventory completely sold out overnight. It was then that co-founders Koehn and Ford knew they were onto something big.
As business boomed, the brand’s local t-shirt vendor could no longer keep up with growing delivery demands, resulting in the decision by Koehn and Ford to create their own t-shirts. This is a decision that has proven to be as challenging as it is rewarding.
“I was humbled by a t-shirt—brought to the brink by the all-American staple. It looked easy: slap two sheets together and you’ve got a Hanes Beefy. It turns out that’s not the case. By now we’ve got the hang of it. We don’t make the perfect men’s t-shirt, not yet, but eight years and 100 fit revisions later, we’re getting a little closer to the grail,” says Ford.
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After the tee came other modern riffs on classic designs such as the perfect five-pocket jean, a great fitting oxford, the quintessential trouser, and more. Ford and Koehn’s commitment to creating timeless pieces at a great value has remained a distinctive pillar of the brand. By developing yarns, fabrics,
and construction methods in partnership with their suppliers, Buck Mason produces apparel to ensure both timelessness and value. And customers can rest assured that their purchases will hold up season after season, while never going out of style.
“I had this idea of what I wanted my closet to look like, the absolute classics in tried-and-true colors, made to stand the test of time. I guess that’s all Buck is, my dream closet,” Ford explains.
This level of quality is on full display at Buck Mason’s 1,200 square foot, mid-century modern 12 South store. The brick-and-mortar shop stocks the brand’s full collection of timeless men’s and women’s apparel, including their million-selling Los Angeles-made t-shirts, elevated sweats, hard wearing leather and waxed canvas jackets, and Japanese denim jeans. In addition to shopping the brand’s collection, customers can browse through a hand- picked assortment of books, enjoy a curated selection of vinyl records, sip on local Corsair Distillery Triple Smoke whiskey, and ogle Koehn’s donated 1968 Porsche 912 Targa, which is parked inside.
Despite its West Coast roots, Buck Mason feels right at home in Nashville. The brand first made its Music City debut in the summer of 2018, by way of a vintage school bus turned mobile retail space which spent three months parked in Nashville. Ford and Koehn immediately fell in love with the city and knew Buck Mason had to find its way back.
“Nashville was a personal goal for me and Sasha. I’m a big country music fan, my wife used to live in Nashville, and we had thousands of online customers in Nashville at the time. During our summer there, it was clear that our guy was in Nashville and wanted to be able to shop with us in person. The overwhelming social media engagement and organic outreach leading up to opening our new shop justified our decision and we could not be happier with how the new store has been received,” Ford says.
Buck Mason 12 South marked the biggest store opening in the brand’s history, and the team is thrilled to not only have a permanent home in Nashville, but to become an integral part of the community.
“We want to be a part of the fabric of the neighborhood in 12 South and not some retailer that swooped in from out of town. We are working on developing partnerships and deeper relationships with local businesses and artists, and our belief is that if a tourist comes to town and sees the shop it will feel like we are a local Nashville brand with a California twist,” says Ford.
(1119 Halcyon Ave., 615-730-8814; buckmason.com)