In the autumn of 1980, two magazine distribution entrepreneurs brought Brandon Jeremiah Scott into the windy city of Chicago, Illinois. Descending from a long line of creative minds and a lifetime surrounded by his ancestors' art collection, it was only natural that design would become paramount in Brandon's life. It wasn't until later that Brandon would quite understand the impact Chicago had on his designs. The lines of the Sears Tower can be drawn from the seam of a jacket. The ease and movement of his fabrics were inspired by growing up skateboarding in a Encinitas, a small beach town in Southern California where he spent most of his teenage years.
Eager to get a back to the hustle and bustle of urban life, Brandon entered San Francisco State University where he studied fashion design. There he had his first runway show displaying his aesthetic for modern, clean, lines out into the world. A show entirely full of jeans -- tailored impeccably and pigmented to perfection. By his senior year he won the award for "Most Marketable Designer." Nice Collective took notice of Brandon's talent and offered him his first job as a design assistant. Over the next year he would gain invaluable experience from one of the most progressive lines to originate from San Francisco.
Shortly after, in 2005, a prominent San Francisco based designer, Rebecca Beeson, offered Brandon a position to launch their first menswear collection, B.Son. For the following four years Brandon worked as head of design, production, and sales overseeing all aspects of the collection. By 2007 Brandon was named Sportswear International's Best New Designer of the Year.
Anxious to explore and expand on his own vision, Brandon parted ways with B.Son in 2009 and launched his first collection, B:SCOTT with his father, Tom. With an extensive background in sales and business development, it was with great pride that they would venture on their first family business together. Tom started a magazine distribution company with Brandon's mother, Marlene, in 1980 and in just six years, net sales grew from $10,000 to $7 million. Tom later ran a book fulfillment division for Ingram Book Group, grossing over 100 million in sales. With 30 years of experience in business, an MBA from Vanderbuilt University, and 25 years of software development, it was apparent that this pairing was the perfect equilibrium of creative passion and business sense.
The intention of B:SCOTT was to create menswear that encapsulated the fusion of Japanese and German aesthetics. Discontented with the over-designed and mass marketed trends of his industry, his vision was to produce lines with purpose and structure. Treating each seam like the bones of a building and deriving inspiration from his Grandfather who trained at the Bauhaus in the 1930s. The mundane beauty of everyday life from a destitute parking lot, to a vintage car, or a sky scraping building is what catalyzes B:SCOTT's creations.
In March of 2010, Brandon produced his first runway show for Concept LA Fashion Week. Melissa Magsaysay, in The Los Angeles Times, wrote: The most impressive point of the event was the B:SCOTT runway show. Designer Brandon Scott's line of well-tailored wool jackets, understated waxed denim pants and double shawl collar cardigans had a hip-hop edge and street sensibility and are ultimately what every guy wants to wear, not to mention a few stylish girls in the audience who expressed a desire to don the jackets in smaller sizes.
What the future holds for B:SCOTT is just as what his collection expresses. Embracing the American Struggle to make a name for oneself and one's family while maintaining creative integrity and unadulterated passion. As Brandon always says, "You have never really lived until you have really struggled."