Todd Snyder on his meteoric year that was 13 years in the making

With two months left in 2024, Todd Snyder can reflect on the past year and feel he has maxed out the annual allotment of good things.

The designer kicked off the year in Pitti Uomo, hosted a New York Fashion Week show, inked a deal with Woolrich, and added more stores to his stable of retail outlets; the latest one on the Upper East Side, along with being nominated for Menswear Designer of the Year at the CFDA awards tonight and being honored in a ceremony the following night as its Menswear Designer of the Year.

Snyder sat down with FashionNetwork.com to discuss his amped-up past 10 months.

The latest is the release of his first Woolrich Black Label collection. Snyder was appointed its creative director and showed his collection to the press last June during Men’s Milan Fashion Week. The Iowa-native designer admitted that he was initially hesitant when the two started talking two years prior, partly due to the extensive list of designers who had come before him. Still, he was sold upon visiting the brand’s 200-year-old archive and its Milan and Tokyo design labs.

“I like the challenge of changing what people know about a brand. How do you take a heritage brand and change that? Snyder said.

Part of the revamp included not only playing with classic themes such as its famous Buffalo Plaid, a Pennsylvania Mountain Laurel floral motif in honor of Woolrich’s birthplace, and giving them a luxurious gloss up, but also redoing the packaging labeling and logo, which involved combining MTN for Milan/Tokyo/New York, conveniently is shorthand for mountain, to add to totes and more.

Snyder also leaned into authentic North American culture by working with Kanata Hand Knits, the Canadian brand known for its Cowichan-inspired sweaters.

“I wanted this outdoors expedition idea to talk about the color design that I loved and for this brand to be considered rugged luxury with edge and technical aspects,” Snyder said while pointing out several styles made from heavy Italian cashmere from the first collection at ToddSnyder.com.

“My favorite piece is this cashmere work shirt that can be worn as a jacket. You’ll have this forever,” he said.

Though uniquely American, the brand has a deeper penetration in Japan and Italy, with freestanding stores. Besides ranges like the Rockies, the mountain Snyder envisions wearers conquering is trash bag mounds on city streets.

“It’s an intersection of a modern sensibility, luxury appeal, and technology mixed with a streetwear vibe. It’s multi-functional; you can wear it in the mountains, but it can also be cool in the streets. How it mixes makes it new. It’s classic but still modern, a hard blend to make,” he added.

The new gig puts Snyder in the unique class of designers helming their own label and another brand. His secret to doing both well?

“I surround myself with amazing people and work with the best design teams. No one believes me, but it makes it easier, and everything rises when working with talented people. Creativity snowballs, and working on one thing turns into another,” Snyder said, using designer Jonathan Anderson as an example.

“His brand has only improved because of his role at Loewe. It depends on the structure and partnership because things can go sideways if those aren’t strong. I’ve been in the business to know not to over-commit and to understand my partner. Woolrich has been fantastic,” he said.

Snyder has made good partner choices. In 2015, the Todd Snyder brand was bought by American Eagle, led by current CEO, Jay Schottenstein. Under his tenure, the brand began expanding, opening its first store in NoMad in 2016.

“We grew 50 percent year-on-year since launching and through the pandemic. We hit critical mass about four years ago when we started opening stores. Around June 2020, Jay said, ‘You should open about ten stores. You make hay while the sun is shining,'” Snyder recalled. The CEO was ostensibly referring to favorable lease terms due to the retail pandemic-related mass exodus.

“At that time, I wouldn’t have had that gut instinct. He views things differently and has turned the momentum into 20 stores, with digital also doing well,” he continued. According to a company spokesperson, the 100 percent direct-to-consumer business is projected to exceed $130 million this year.

Snyder’s latest store is a ‘pied-a-terre’ on the Upper East Side to complement the NoMad, Rockefeller Center, and Tribeca ‘liquor’ stores in New York, the brand’s biggest market.

Designed with head of store design, Erik Berndt, the 2,700-square-foot evokes a Parisian apartment based on the duo’s favorite spots in the City of Lights, such as Frenchie Restaurant and the classic, Maxim’s.

“We needed to capture that uptown customer; it is small, unique, simple, and easy but chic. I design spaces that almost feel like someone’s living room, making it feel comfortable for guys, so they aren’t intimidated; it’s welcoming,” Snyder explained.

The space also features a made-to-measure service, vintage luxury timepieces and jewelry in collaboration with Foundwell, and a shop-in-shop with New York-based eyewear brand Moscot.

In 2025, the brand plans to open another four to five stores but will remain in the U.S.

“International will come, but nothing is planned yet. My dream is London,” Snyder said.
“There was a baseline of business that was happening, which gave us the foundation to go flex and go bigger. As we opened the stores, I had this fantastic opportunity, and I wasn’t thinking about runway shows again; everything was going well. Then Pitti came along, which was an amazing opportunity. I said, ‘Let’s lean into this and take advantage of this.’ I got my design mojo back in, and I stopped thinking just about what sells and thought about what I love,” he recalled.

The lead-up to Pitti was nerve-racking, but Snyder dug into his love of textiles, working with Italian weavers (particularly Riccardo from Lyria.)

“I was initially intimidated; I hadn’t done a show in five years. I wondered, ‘Am I meant to show in Europe? I was nervous, and it drove me to dive deep and brought me back to my core, working with weavers and mills to create something unique. I wanted a silk brocade, but make it masculine. He blended silk, linen, and wool, resulting in a rustic but elegant blend. Once I started working with them, I said, ‘I am gonna be ok.’ It brought me back to that process. No creative is sure until the final product is out there and people react. Pitti caused those jitters, pushing me to do the best work I could; now that I have that feeling, I want to do that again,” Snyder said.

While he couldn’t say exactly how, he did say he plans to show Todd Snyder again at New York Fashion Week in February and, between the two brands, continue to be present during key global market weeks.

“Shows and presentations are important creatively as they reinvigorate my whole design sense, bringing me back to when I was sewing shirts in my living room.”

The industry has noticed, too. At this year’s CFDA Awards, Snyder will be nominated for the seventh time, something he swears is accolade enough.

“It’s a good number. Because I have been nominated so many times, it is incredibly rewarding for the team. I didn’t get here on my own. I continually push my amazing, talented, and passionate team, especially when we do shows. It’s not cliché to me that it’s more about the nomination, to be considered amongst so many other amazing deserving designers. Holy crap, I am here with Thom Browne and Tom Ford and other designers; wow, that’s remarkable. Winning isn’t as important, but the nomination makes you feel like we did something this year,” he said, noting that he is winning his first significant industry award for the event following the CFDA ceremony.

Not bad for an unassuming designer from fashion’s most outer-reaching realm, Iowa.

“Halston is from Des Moines, IA, so I have that. I felt like an outsider, but I was visiting my grandmother before I moved to NYC. She said it makes total sense because your name means tailor in Dutch. I finally felt I fit in, and it gave me the confidence I needed to break into the industry,” he said, adding, “Hard work can open a lot of doors.”

Since Snyder aims to fill the menswear void and be the go-to menswear designer, the ladies may have to be patient.

“I don’t know if I am going to do a women’s collection; many people ask me if I will do this. My 24-year-old daughter Gabby does too; I say, ‘Well, you can do it yourself.'”

After all, her name is Snyder, too.