Today we speak to Charles Jackson, co-founder of august, a leather accessories collection made in Los Angeles.
I grew up on the East Coast, born in New Jersey actually, and because of my father’s career as a basketball coach we ended up living in 12 different homes before I left for college. We followed him to places like upstate New York, Puerto Rico, Montana, and then finally Chicago and Los Angeles.
I think all of our transitioning as kids gave me the bug for travel so when my wife and I got married in 2010 we decided to fulfill this lifelong dream of mine to travel the world. Before we left we had this concept to create luggage based on all of the cool places we would stop along the way, but when we finally got to these communities, people were so fired up on their localism that we shifted our focus to create products right here in downtown LA.
My wife and I have now been growing our business, august, for the past two years and are really excited not only to experience the continued demand, but for us as a company to expand our product offerings in order to meet the needs of the modern day traveler.
Mr. Jackson on his personal style:
Jeans: My rinse selvage rb 15x Rag & Bone are my go-to but I’m just now breaking in my new Frame denim l’homme chesil jeans and am really happy this local LA based group has finally made the transition out of just women’s into men’s.
Shirts: White button downs are my favorite, and especially for how much we travel. They can be dressed down with board shorts for the beach or worn with slacks for a sharper look. A big plus is not having to iron them for that crisp collar look, the button down does it for you. My personal favorite is Zegna. I also wear my Ernest Sewn plaid shirt, which I bought back in ’09, during the fall/winter and like the way they were able to merge a rugged pattern into a modern/slimmer urban cut.
Pants: Brunello Cucinelli slim fit cargos. Functional but again can be dressed up with a sport coat and look awesome. Love these pants right now and the story of the brand.
Suits: Isaia bespoke grey three-piece. I made this with one of the folks at Isaia for my wedding and basically wear it for any formal occasion.
Shoes: Alden wingtips exclusive for Union Made and my Vass boots from Budapest. Vass has been a family business for generations and these guys literally invented the Budapester. Years ago when we were traveling through Eastern Europe we found their tiny shop on a side street in Budapest and spent hours talking to these guys. They really make one of the best quality shoes in the world but also do an affordable bespoke last.
Accessories: Peace Bomb bracelet and Mansai bracelet. I wear a necklace that I made with the folks at Union Street Goldsmith in San Francisco, which is an Ottoman coin, with the letter K for my boy Keller, and a hammered gold setting on a chocolate brown leather rope.
I also make my own hats with patches from national parks all over the country. My dad, brother, and I used to road trip a lot and I thought it’d be cool to make hats that gave a little nod to the parks throughout the U.S.
Watches- I love Jaeger as they are known as the watchmaker’s watchmaker and do parts for several of the top watch brands in the world outside of doing their own in-house pieces from start to finish. The recent Tribute to Deep Sea is a great throwback, and I like anything in the Memovox family as I love the alarm function. There’s something so cool about wearing an automatic alarm watch, especially when your buddies are bitching on a surf/ski trip because their iphone wasn’t set right or their batteries were running low and my Jaeger will just keep running without any of that connectivity to an outlet. I also am a huge fan of F.P. Journe and have my eye on a piece for this Holiday season.
Outerwear: I don’t leave the house without my dark navy Loro Piana Voyager from fall to spring. It really is a workhorse and has been to dozens of countries around the world with me. There’s just something awesome about a luxury brand that can create a Storm System for wet weather and still make the piece look fashionable. My dark green linen Brunello Cucinelli sport coat is my go-to for the summer/spring months.
Your favorite App: Probably Tripadvisor or Airbnb because I use them so much on the road.
Favorite piece of technology: I’m not a huge tech guy but I do a lot of landscape and portrait photography when I travel and the new FujiFilm x100s is an awesome walk around camera, not to mention having this retro, cool aesthetic.
Next tech purchase: I have my same iPhone from 2010 so I am due for an upgrade and the iPhone 6 is just about to come out, so that’s next.
