Page 108 - Cityview Jan-Feb 2017

106 JANUARY FEBRUARY 2017T 10 A.M. ON A FRIDAY MORNING AThis store in Bearden, Matthew McClellan is better dressed than anyone in the room, and probably mostof Knoxville. As he says, “it’swhat I do.” He’s dressed in a way that makes him look perfectlyat home precisely where he is: the man, the clothing, and the environment t. Hisson Bob, dressed more casually, looks equally at home: the man, the clothing, and the environment t. One gets the sense that this is what the M.S. McClellan family o ers Knoxville. Under the senior McClellan’s tutelage, his sta gets to know the customer (who they are, what they do, and the circles in which they move), and only then goes on to help that individual dress. It is a service that is unique in Knoxville.McClellan calls himself a history bu . But anyone who has made it through Shelby Foote’s three volume history of the Civil War is rathermore than a bu . He is a voracious and dedicated reader of history and a student of its impact on our civilization. He reads mostly on the Civil War, but he’s currently on his fourth or h biography of Churchill—whom he heartily embraces as having saved Europe and the Western world. Churchill was a huge gure on the international stage, but a er the Second World War was voted out of o ce. In the clothing industry, McClellan is a respected gure on the national stage, but not nearly as well known in his home town. Of course, this is not a direct parallel and McClellan would be the last to endorse it, yet each of them would de ne greatness by mission and success by endurance. Matthew McClellan views himself and his passion for clothing through the lens of history and measures his success by what he continues to o er to Knoxville y years a er starting his business.Fi y years ago, M.S. McClellan was knownas Hansom House and located on Cumberland Avenue. McClellan changed its name for practical reasons a er an Oak Ridge decorating business of the same name closed its doors and asked $6,000 for use of the name. McClellan discovered “it wasa hell of a lot less expensive to change the name,” and so the business became M.S. McClellan and Co.At the outset, he didn’t expect to be aroundfor so long. “All I wanted to do was to survive.”he says, adding that “all I wanted, someday, was to be the equal” of other high-end men’s storesin Knoxville, “just to join the club.” Eventually, they were all gone. But he takes no great pride in that. “I measure my success in what I bring to the community in terms of better men’s and ladies’ clothing,” McClellan says, citing the respect he receives from his peers across the industry foro ering a certain kind of quality clothing in a market as small as Knoxville.As for his long-term customers, he doesn’t think they would dream of shopping anywhere else. They feel like they are part a part of a family, and he desires that each member of this every-growing family feel comfortable and at home in his store. Some come by just to chat, just to talk clothes. “They really descend on us when we come back from New York,” he notes. “There are people who are clothing junkies, and I love it.” These clients know when fashion changes. However, McClellan prefers the word style over the word fashion. Style is a personal word, speci c to the client/clothier collaboration; fashion is an impersonal industry term for what is current.M.S. McClellan establishes relationships notonly with people who “are really into clothing” but also with folks who buy clothing out of necessity. When a new client walks in the door, McClellan wants to know something about their lifestyle. He notes that “what you really want to do is bordering on being nosy,” discovering not how much money they make but what kind of clothing they need. “We don’t try to change lifestyle down here,” he asserts, “we try to work with it.” And when a customer is interested in something unsuited to them, he adds that he doesn’t want to o end but to move them in another direction, though he is “not unknown to tell a person ‘that’s not for you’.” He would “prefer to sell the right thing instead of the wrong thing.” To communicate that requires subtlety. Again, it is about establishing long-term relationships, which is the foundation of McClellan’s success.Clients “more o en than not,” notes Bob, move on to become friends. But as an aside McClellan says that while a guy like him is a pretty big deal to his customers, he must maintain perspective. One cannot try to emulate their lifestyles but rather must live within one’s own means in order to survive. He has “known people in his 50 years who have gone out of business” because “they wanted to emulate the lifestyles of their best customers.” McClellan knows both himself and his customers, but he doesn’t confuse the two.And he knows the industry. Take ties, for example. “I think that ties have sort of stabilized,” he says. “This business of high end men’s clothing is not the hottest business in the world right now, but back then, they—in New York and wherever— made things obsolete.” In the last ve to ten years, that planned obsolescence has disappeared because there are not enough customers to makeit work. While fashion magazines may still make those changes, in a store like his, where he is selling clothing to last, he wants ties to remain relatively stable within a quarter of an inch. He wants his