Ethan Summers crafts fashion and furniture for his Oil/Lumber brand at his Woodbine studio. Oil/Lumber unites industries that are normally separated, which means sometimes upholstery fabric is repurposed for wearables.
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“We're really sustainable with our products,” he says. “If it doesn't feel like a product that can be branched across both ways, I usually won’t pick it up.”
Summers infuses sustainability into every aspect of his work, including production. For his studio setup, he sourced equipment from factories including bygone Carhartt and Levi’s facilities.
“I found these old, amazing machines for pennies on the dollar that are industrial, that were used in making high quality clothing for 30-plus years,” he says.
Summers grew up in Utah, outside of Salt Lake City, and moved to Nashville to play soccer for Lipscomb University. Unable to find satisfaction in his corporate insurance and investment job, he eventually dove into a design career. “I was tinkering the whole time,” he says. “I was writing, drawing, and figuring out what I wanted to do.”
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Although he has no formal design education, Summers spent extensive time networking and experimenting before conceiving Oil/Lumber. His mom also taught him to sew as a child, and he often reimagined his own clothes.
Summers’s design inspiration is rooted in his Japanese-American heritage. His menswear and unisex pieces are simple, clean, and meticulously made. But the garments’ simplicity shouldn’t be confused with boring.
“We might have a little flash bar tack that we put somewhere mysteriously on the pocket. Or you may open a pocket and see a printed message on the inside. The little details are what separates us and makes someone feel like a different individual when they wear our stuff.”
Oil/Lumber’s 002 Athletic Short is designed for movement. The made-in-Nashville, black, elastic-waist shorts are crafted from a Recycled PET / CocoTEX material.
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“It's actually built out of recycled plastic bottles and coconut husks, but you would never know,” Summers says. “It’s used a lot in boardshorts, but we use it as an everyday short.”
The Oil/Lumber furniture line includes timeless, well-built sofas, tables, stools, and more. Custom Oil/Lumber furniture pieces can be seen around Nashville at Noelle, Burger Up, Bar Otaku, and Patagonia.
“We've been very fortunate to work with companies like Patagonia.We did a ton of furniture for them. They left me full creative freedom.”
Oil/Lumber’s success lies in being resourceful and trying things that other design houses are not willing to do. Summers credits fellow local makers, including the teams at Jamie + the Jones and Elizabeth Suzann, with generously guiding him along the way.
Every piece that Summers makes is something that he himself would wear or use, making the Oil/Lumber brand a labor of love based on high-style standards.
Oil/Lumber’s showroom is by appointment only. 2100 Dunn Ave., 801-814-8375; oilandlumber.com