Peter Middleton
Where did you grow up?
In Austin, Texas!
Do you think that had a big influence on your style? In what ways? I know you’re a big cowboy boot guy.
Definitely. I think it was a mix of growing up there and then my dad is from the Syracuse area so coming up to New York during the summers and spending a little bit of time there and in the Adirondacks. And being a huge contrarian and not wanting to look the same as everyone else. I wasn’t even into country music and then I started driving my dad’s truck, suddenly it was like “Oh, okay! This makes sense. This is awesome.” But I never wore cowboy boots until I moved to New York and realized “Aw man, this is awesome, this is actually a beautiful thing I grew up on.” I think also seeing, like anything, there are so many bad cowboy boots and cowboy hats, bad jeans; it took a while until I was only looking at good cowboy boots that I was really able to narrow down what I’m into and then it was like “Oh yeah, this is what I want to wear all the time.”
What were you wearing back then? Were you trying to do the opposite?
I was pretty into the outdoors and got into backpacking camp for a while. It was a lot of standup shorts and baggies, 501’s, t-shirts and flannels. You’re pretty limited to what you can wear in Texas, it’s summer all year round and then it's winter for like two weeks. And it was right around the Americana boom. So I was super excited about selvedge denim and everyone is trying to figure out - can I wear Red Wings here. It was a mix of a lot of technical gear - Patagonia and Arc'teryx, just things that I had from guiding. As well as, I have a lot of selvedge denim. I had my Imogene and Willies, I had my chambray shirt.
I love Imogene and Willie. I had the best pair of jeans from them!
I still have the very first pair I bought.
Me too! I brought them back up recently. My mom got an incredible pair made, right about when they opened -
When they were still in that gas station?
Yes! The perfect color denim with a little crop flare.
Did guiding those backpacking trips teach you more about living with less and thinking more about what you wear?
Yes! I didn’t have a change of clothes. It was ... “I need this shirt to last, these shorts to last, I need these boots to last.” I had a spare change of underwear and a spare change of socks - that was it. And if anything went wrong I needed to be able to deal with it right then. Even going to the basecamp over the summer you had to bring everything. You quickly realize, “Man I don’t know why I brought 10 t-shirts, I’m only going to wear 2 of these.”
Which probably where a lot of your uniform thinking comes in. Do you think you have a uniform?
No! I think part of being a designer is I’m buying really weird stuff and forcing myself to wear it to see how it could work. This past summer I bought a lot of tank tops and was trying to figure out how can I wear these crazy ribbed undershirts in a new context and a new way, how can I mix it in with tailoring and things like that. But this summer I’ll probably do something completely different.
What are you thinking for this summer?
I don’t know yet!
Do you think in seasons as a designer or is that something you’re teaching yourself to do?
I think just naturally; I think the inspiration for what I want to wear and what I’m designing is sometimes the same, sometimes different. I think it's almost like you’re wearing... it’s kind of tough because I’m working on spring right now but I want to be wearing these things and figuring these things out right now but it's March. It’s a little bit different in that sense but still making things and trying to do the season and wear it out. Alright I just made these t-shirts, I’m going to try and wear them everyday this summer and see when they develop holes. See how long they last and see how they change. It’s a weird mix of dressing seasonally but also testing products and trying to wear these weird new things I found on eBay.
Could you tell me more about Wythe and the story behind the brand?
Wythe is my vision for a new Americana. It started with an oxford. I loved the classic Brooks Brothers big collar; had a few, some vintage ones, and loved how they felt and how the collars look. The body is so big it doesn’t matter what size you buy. It felt so crazy. I always wanted to start my own brand but this kind of started as a side project, trying to look at factories and mills, “Maybe I can make 50 of these and I’ll buy 10 because I really want them. And maybe I can sell 40 to friends?”
And if nothing happens you have your perfect shirt!
Exactly. It was like this is only an excuse for me to make the shirt I can’t find unless I want to pay $350 for a custom shirt. It quickly turned into “Okay there are a good amount of people that want this.” I think it was a constant internal struggle of things I knew I wanted and not believing that other people still wanted these things. That’s how it was for the shirts, “I mean maybe I can sell 50?” Then it was like “Okay, I just sold 225.”
You’re like “people want blue oxfords!!!”
It was the craziest thing after people getting the shirts and being like “This is exactly what I’ve been looking for and this feels amazing.”
Which must be such a nice feeling for you to have!
Yeah, and I’m a trained designer but I’m super young. This is the first time I’ve really gone all in and had something produced. It’s a constant struggle of that and “Okay cool now what am I doing?” I kind of had enough money from selling those shirts, it was weird do I save some of this and do another round, I was like no no I'm going to go all out, do a full line, do the rest of the things I always wanted to own or have but couldn’t find it anywhere. So then it was like alright, what about these tubular t-shirts with really short sleeves like Marlon Brando wore in the 40s and 50s. What about a sweatshirt with a V in the front and a V in the back, you can buy it from Japan but that’s kind of it. Then, can I get these at a price point that makes sense? For the fall it was taking my inspiration and love of these classic western shapes and archetypes and trying to figure out how to wear it in New York City and not stand out a whole lot. How can I make these things for my friends back in Texas and all my friends in New York? Customers in Europe, what are they going to want to wear? Customers in Japan what are they going to get super excited about? Trying to make my version of all of this. It’s kind of turned into being super fun. Getting to develop custom fabrics and custom colors. Do custom hardwear. All these things that are somewhat new and exciting. At the very least it’s clothes I really want to wear! I’m the sample size so everything fits me. It was kind of cool, it was like alright there is not a whole lot of risk behind this which is kind of fun - stil nerve wracking but at the end of the day it’s just clothes, it's fine.
Do you think you’re getting a similar reaction from your friends up here vs your friends in Texas?
It’s pretty different which is so interesting. So I showed at MAN and there were a lot of women that stopped by and looked at the cowboy boots.
I think they’re great! You should make them in smaller sizes.
That was always the plan. We’ll do one last but we’ll size it down so women can wear it as well. But it was weird because no one from the shows looked at it. But then every single time I posted a photo of it all my friends from Texas were so pumped about it. They were excited about the other stuff but the boots were like “Oh man, let me get those!”
And that’s a difficult thing to make so I’m guessing people from Texas would understand, especially someplace like Austin - the women I know from Austin love their boots!
It’s not a big deal, if you already have 3 pairs it’s not a big deal to get a 4th.
What's another pair of Luccheses?!
For sure.
So if the Texas people are going more for the boots what are the New York people gravitating towards?
The New York people, it was so interesting, it was more of the moleskin pearl snaps. That’s what all my friends up here were super excited about. To my knowledge no one's ever done that before. With that shirt I really tried to keep some western detailing but not make it a true western pearl snap. It doesn’t have a western yoke. The western details are the pocket and the pearl snap, that’s kind of it. It’s not overboard - you’re not going to look like you’re on the set of a spaghetti western. In a lot of ways it’s just a normal shirt. It feels great. I think a lot of people here are like “Oh maybe I can dip my toe in this, I don’t want to jump in and wear the cowboy boots but a shirt, I could wear a shirt.” That's what kind of resonates with people up here, “I want to try this out, so I could get a shirt.”
And then maybe the cowboy boots later!
And then once you’re super excited about it and all in, why not the cowboy boots?
Do you think the music you listen to has an effect on how you dress?
Yeah, definitely. I think a lot of it is the attitude. The attitude and especially - we’re listening to Van Morrison now - and it’s like, I think there are lot of brands that are really inspired by the 70s and 80s; but it’s a lot of kind of the counterculture attitude of that, “No man we’re just wearing jeans because that’s what we want to wear. We’re going to wear jeans even when it’s not appropriate to wear jeans because we don’t want to be wearing suits.” I think it's more of the attitude behind the music.
It is kind of the tour uniform. Do you get made fun of for listening to country music up here?
I think people see the boots and kind of expect it. I don’t think people understand or really care.
I think for a lot of people up here when someone says “country music” they’re automatically like Georgia Florida Line or Luke Bryan. Which is definitely not true.
Do you have any favorite artists that you listen to while designing?
Lyle Lovett is a big one. He also exemplifies the laid back country music - pseudo rancher, pseudo jazz artist style. Van Morrison. Randy Rogers, Willie Nelson.
I saw Willie Nelson live a few years ago - SO good.
He’s still doing it!
He forgot a bunch of the words, but you know!
Doesn’t matter!
Go for it!
I make really big 300-400 song playlists, hit shuffle and just go from there.
If you could see a musician wearing Wythe on stage who would that musician be for you? Now that you’ve mentioned it, it really is that country music tour uniform. It’s what they’re wearing.
You're just wearing an open pearl snap with a t-shirt, it’s nothing fancy. I’d be the most proud of Lyle Lovett for sure.
What was your process for making the cowboy boots? Did you go back home? Lots of research I’m sure.
It was so weird. I’m always doing research - that’s my favorite thing to do. With the internet it’s so easy to go down a wormhole and never come out. That’s what I do all the time. There are like 5 or 6 books on handmade cowboy boots from the 20s to the 70s/80s. They’re incredible; the inlays, the stitchings, the shapes. So reading all those and seeing examples on eBay and random websites. Buying my own pairs and wearing them. I went back home a year and a half ago, one of my friends from home, he’s older and that’s all he wears (handmade cowboy boots). He was able to tell me about all the makers that are left in Texas, who makes what style boot and who you should go for for what.
It’s truly an art.
A lot of my friends in tailoring are super excited about these handmade English shoes or handmade Italian shoes and it just doesn’t do it for me but cowboy boots are like the lightning bolt of “Oh yeah this it.”
So I know you’re one of the founding members of Bullshot Book Club. Could you tell me more about that?
Steph and I were at dinner at JG Melon uptown and discussing how we wanted to read together with our friends, the waiter came by and without hesitation Steph ordered two Bullshots before I knew what had happened. When they came to the table I wasn't sure if I knew anything more, but as I sipped the Bullshot we both knew what to call our newly formed bookclub!
You need to propose some Western Lit! Cormac McCarthy for the next book, All The Pretty Horses!
Those would be amazing things to read. I have first editions of everyone of those except for the first, All The Pretty Horses.
Could you tell me more about these oxfords?
So this was the very first old oxford I have, kind of 40s-ish. This is 50s/60s. And these are ones I found that highlighted all the things I loved about the old oxfords. There are so many imperfections, so many slubs, so many irregularities about the oxford that you can’t find anymore. So the blue oxford is a custom color and it’s based on these colors. I have a shit ton of old collars and that’s where the idea of the stamp came from. Even on this one you see that was a guy’s name. Every single person wrote their name on their collar so when your laundry got done you knew exactly which shirt was yours.
Which kind of goes back to camp stuff, backpacking. I’m sure you probably had your name written in your stuff.
It was like “Whose black t-shirt is this? Every person here has this same black t-shirt.” Some of the older collars are really crazy. You’ll see all the names, a name is crossed out, and another name is written.
Do you have a piece of clothing that you remember buying that changed how you thought about getting dressed or what was the first thing you were like “I really want to buy this”?
Oh man, I feel like there were a lot of them. I feel like the first pair of grey flannel trousers I owned. I mean I have 22 pairs now. I got it and I was like “How can I get more of these things?” I had 3 pairs and I wore holes through all of them because I’d wear a different pair each day. I wore the same 3 pants. I think there are a lot of different things I’d buy but I don’t think they’d change the look a whole lot. One piece would change and another piece would change something else. I think even, I got a giant cowboy hat over the summer, and kind of bought it thinking it was a kind of cool prop. Then it fit and I started wearing it. It felt great! Then it was like, “Alright cool. What is the look with this?” It’s just a t-shirt, a t-shirt tucked into jeans or pants, or whatever. I remember having a tuxedo and the tailor wanted to taper it to 7.5” inches. I was like “No, no, no! I’m going to wear boots with this!” and he was like “You’re going to what?!”
And you’re like “I’M FROM TEXAS!”
I said “I’m going to wear boots with this tuxedo so I need it to be closer to 8.” He was like “WHY would you wear boots with a tuxedo?”
Which is a very common thing to do back in Texas.
Right, right. I like having every single leg opening a little wider so I can fit boots under it. I know what pants I can’t wear with boots.
What was the first pair of cowboy boots you got?
Most of my boots are vintage, and the first pair was Acme rough out suede from the 70s. They were already pretty beat up which I love. They have a huge heel. So the normal actual cowboy boot heel is 1.5” and this is 2.25” and the heel is huge, super underslung. I always feel kind weird but I feel like a lot of the curves in cowboy boots are really beautiful and this cowboy boot is only curves. The heels are curved, the instep is curved, everything about it is dramatic angles. I think that's why it stuck so fast because I immediately jumped into this really dramatic cowboy boot that changes the way you walk, changes the way you hold yourself, changes so many things. I loved that - I loved feeling changed because of something I was wearing.
