In My Backyard With Mark McNairy

Mark McNairy played a big role in the initial inspiration for starting ACL. I met him in 2005 when he was the creative director at J. Press. At his core he’s a product guy, and he introduced me to so many interesting people, brands and American manufacturers. The first factories I visited in Maine and New York were with him (one of which was the Bentley Cravats factory in Chelsea which we discuss briefly) and the first time I went to Japan was with him.

Mark has design instincts that I have never seen in other people. He has an incredible ability to quickly see something interesting and create a design with a totally unique point of view. He does this better than anyone I have worked with over the years. I also find Mark to be hilarious with an extremely dry sense of humor. We hit it off from the start and I still consider him one of my favorite people of all time.

Mark is designing a new collection called McNairy & Co. and is always looking for new projects and design partnerships. As I said, he loves product and always wants to be creating new things with his unique vision. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

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Big thanks to Al James for lending me his music. The song is: Hard Working Dogs by Dolorean.