Designer To Launch Collection Inspired By Grandpa's Sunday Best

ATLANTA — Growing up in rural Georgia, Brandon Hosley's grandfather on Sundays traded workman's clothes for suits that hung perfectly on his thin frame and always got attention at church.

"He taught me what a man is supposed to look like in a suit. He was never flashy, always simple, neat and on point," the Atlanta custom clothier said. "That's how I became intrigued with style and men's fashion. I took style and incorporated it into my life."

Hosley and I met at The Gathering Spot — a private club of mostly Black entrepreneurs, professionals and young creatives. I watched as several strangers complimented Hosley on his collarless, blue gingham-check shirt with red buttons and cuffs tailored to cradle his wide wristwatch.

Each encounter with a fan of his fashion sense offered an opportunity to pass a business card and spread the word about the line of signature shirts inspired by his grandfather's Sunday best set for a fall release by his custom fashion label, Look Sharp Haberdashery.

"Truthfully, the signature shirt is inspired by my grandfather's shirts. He wore the traditional collar shirts, with a tie and without a tie. But there were rare occasions he would wear a collarless shirt. He had a few of them in different colors. And I remember them looking good on his 6-2 frame," Hosley said.

"All these years later, now that I've gotten into men's fashion, this is how I've paid tribute to what I saw my grandfather wear without any pomp and circumstance."

Hosley's grandparents raised him in Albany, Georgia. Grandpa was a masonry contractor. Grandma was a seamstress. As a teenager, Hosley worked as a menswear specialist at a retail store. He started taking clothes apart to teach himself the finer details of designing men's clothes.

In college, Hosley continued to work in retail, determined to learn the ins and outs of the fashion industry, until his junior year. He moved home to care for his grandfather, Ernest Hosley, whose health was in decline.

When his grandpa's condition improved some, Hosley enlisted in the Air Force and traveled the world, serving as a logistics and air transportation specialist. After Hosley's active tour of duty ended, he returned to Albany, where he worked at a community bank.

He never gave up on his dream of breaking into the fashion industry. Everywhere Hosley went in civilian clothes, there was always a chance people would comment on his personal style and seek his fashion advice.

"That's how I knew I needed to develop a brand that would be mine. That led me to researching being a custom tailor. I didn't know there was such a market for it from where I came from," Hosley said.

Hosley moved to Atlanta and, in 2014, launched Look Sharp Haberdashery from his Buckhead home, specializing in handmade accessories and custom wardrobes for men. Business boomed, almost too fast. Hosley hired tailors to keep up with demand for custom tuxedos, sport coats, shirts and slacks favored by C-suite executives who remain loyal clients.

Earlier this year, at the urging of his wife, Hosley refocused his business on launching a collection of clothes, starting with the "Signature" dress shirt.

After months of design tweaks, Hosley put the finishing touches on his "conservative with an edge" look — a collection of fabrics and patterns tied together with eye-catching red buttons.

Now, he's preparing the internet, sales and supply-chain infrastructure needed to meet the potential demand for custom tailoring of his creation.

In a lot of ways, Hosley says, his whole life prepared him for this moment.

"It's come full circle for me. I've taken several paths to get where I am today. There was always this setback or that, and a lot of adjusting and adapting while still staying focused on what I wanted to do and having the perseverance to keep going," Hosley said.

"I don't regret any of it. Everything that happened was a necessary step. I feel like I did the best with what life handed me, and better than I would ever give myself credit for."

The Signature shirt is set to debut this fall — his grandfather's "season."

"As life would have it, we're going to be launching around the time of his birthday and date of passing," Hosley said. "It's all happening based on the vision that was given to me. My grandfather would be proud of that if he were here to see it, and that feels good."

Like a shirt tailored to fit you just right.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots."

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