Todd Snyder is an American luxury menswear brand founded in 2011 by Todd Snyder — a designer born in Ames, Iowa on November 29, 1967, raised in the small town of Huxley, Iowa (population 2,000), who describes himself as someone who “grew up in Iowa and felt like an outcast” until he discovered that fashion could be a career. After six and a half years at Iowa State University (moving through engineering, architecture, and business before landing in apparel design), stints as a tailor’s assistant at Badowers haberdashery in Des Moines, and formative design roles at Ralph Lauren, the Gap, and as SVP of Menswear at J.Crew (where he designed The Ludlow Suit, the Broken-In-Chino, and the Secret Wash Shirt, and created J.Crew’s first standalone men’s store, The Liquor Store), Snyder founded his namesake label in 2011. GQ has called him “the most influential menswear designer of his generation.”
Key Facts
- Founded: 2011
- Founder: Todd Snyder (born November 29, 1967, Ames, Iowa; raised Huxley, Iowa)
- Headquarters: New York City, USA (Madison Park flagship)
- Current Ownership: American Eagle Outfitters (acquired 2015 for $11 million; Snyder continues as designer)
- Additional Role: Creative Director, Woolrich Black Label (appointed November 2023)
- Industry: American Luxury Menswear
History
Snyder launched his label in 2011 as the country was coming out of the Great Recession. The first collection debuted in Fall 2011 at Bergdorf Goodman, Ron Herman, and Neiman Marcus; Barneys New York picked it up in 2012. To fund the early years, Snyder and his brother ran a side business called Tailgate Clothing Co. selling collegiate merchandise. In 2015, he sold the entire business — Todd Snyder and Tailgate combined — to American Eagle Outfitters for $11 million. He used the capital injection to open his 5,000-square-foot Madison Park flagship in 2016. When J.Crew vacated The Liquor Store location in TriBeCa in 2019, Snyder took the lease — a full-circle moment. The brand now operates 20+ stores across the US, generates over $100 million in annual sales, and in 2024 returned to the runway at Pitti Uomo in Florence, where the New York Times described Snyder as “the righteous inheritor of Ralph Lauren’s mantle.
Design Philosophy and Collaborations
Snyder’s aesthetic fuses American tailoring, Savile Row technique, vintage military clothing, and workwear heritage into a wearable, non-ironic contemporary menswear. He pioneered the collaboration-as-brand-building model at J.Crew and has continued it at Todd Snyder with Champion (from 2013), L.L. Bean (first collaboration), New Balance, Timex, Red Wing Shoes, Alden, Moscot, J.M. Weston, Buck Mason, and J. Press. His “Snyder” surname means “tailor” in Dutch — a fact his grandmother pointed out when he told her he was moving to New York to work in fashion.
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