Care Label #1: Jamie Mann, Abode Store
Jamie Mann best describes himself as a Shopkeeper. Jamie learned his Shopkeeping craft in Melbourne’s Incu, where you can find everything from Stan Ray to Simone Rocha. Everything at Incu revolved around space, service and curation. After being forced to come home due to the dreaded Corona, Jamie thought about how he could bring his own little piece of magic to the Irish menswear makeup. In 2020, Abode Store launched online with international brands such as Pop Trading Co and Rototo. Ever since, Abode has been adding to their curative armoury. Along with providing a tasteful offering of menswear and lifestyle, Abode regularly Pops-Up at Hens Teeth, Fumbally and other City Centre locations. It’s always a joy to watch Jamie in his element, shooting the shit with customers and being the best Shopkeeper in town.
Jamie and I have gotten to know each other the past few years and we always enjoy talking all things menswear. As someone who is contributing to the menswear community in Ireland, Jamie was the obvious first chin-wagger for Care Label.
Jamie and I met at Cloudpicker on a mild February morning. One of those days when Spring feels just around the corner. Too warm for your winter coat, but not warm enough for short sleeves. It was 2 Americano’s and a walk up to Merrion Square where we talked all things Abode, the Irish way of dressing and the poignant story behind his most cherished jacket.
Care Label: So Jamie, where did you grow up?
Jamie: I grew up in Drimnagh. It's a suburb in Dublin City. About a 10-minute cycle from the city centre.
Care Label: Was there anything about that environment you grew up in that made you interested in this space? What's the source of your interest?
Jamie: Growing up I was never remotely into clothes or menswear. Where I grew up, you mainly wore tracksuits and you wore trainers, Helly Hansen coats and that kind of stuff. There was always a stigma around, caring about what you wore. If you wore jeans and they were too skinny or if you wore chinos, you'd always have a label thrown around for having that interest. So yeah, that did come at a point when I was just about to leave school. Then it was in college when you are taken out of that environment, and you're exposed to so many new things, especially nightlife, college life, that's when it kick-started. I started shopping a lot of vintage. Just even thinking back on nights out and stuff, there was some crazy gear worn.
Care Label: It’s all part of the journey!
Jamie: Definitely.
Care Label: That’s interesting, at that formative age you do want to break away from the norm. But being into clothes, you want to stand out but you also want to fit into this other club as well. It's kind of this interesting paradox, isn't it?
Jamie: Yeah, definitely. The main thing about clothes and the way we dress is there’s a big element of finding your tribe, your family. It's kind of a signifier of I dress in X way which means I listen to Y music. When you are at that age, and you haven't fully matured and you haven't fully found what person you are, I think that’s everyone’s gateway into clothing.
Care Label: What is it about clothing and product that you connect with? Where does the equity lie for you?
Jamie: It’s a good question. For me, there are elements of ‘this is my tribe’, this kind of signal, but at the same time, it is a lot of elements of comfort. I think confidence as well. A big thing for me is that I have a couple of shirts and I know when I put them on it just gives you that pep in your step.
Care Label: Kind of armour?
Jamie: 100%. So I think especially with clothing and the way we dress it does give you that kind of I don't know, happiness. There’s a bit of a swagger.
Care Label: Yeah. It's interesting, you think it's just something on your back, but it's more than that isn’t it?
Jamie: That's just such a surface-level thing. Everyone just thinks it seems 'Oh, you're into clothes’ and it's such a trivial thing. But it's such a good indicator of who you are as a person, what your interests are, and what your morals are. It all feeds into who you are.
Care Label: Going back to what you're saying earlier on, growing up in Ireland being into let's call it ‘fashion’, can be a bit daunting at times. There’s a feeling of ‘I'm the only person into this’. We can be sold the idea that it's either high street or it's traditional luxury. So what made you decide that the more niche side of menswear was for you?
Jamie: Just even go back to exactly what you just said, you're taught that you have these two options, the first being ‘Capital F’ fashion, the superficial thing where you buy branded clothes, to go out at night and to put up this front of luxury. While, a lot of the brands that I love, the main part of them is storytelling and feeding into this idea of community and harvesting that is to make really good interesting products. They all put a lot of time and effort into creating a story and narrative where it's not just about the clothes. There is so much more to it. It’s more about how the clothes make you feel.
Care Label: Would you say you’ve any emotional connections to companies or brands in this world?
Jamie: Definitely. The good thing about, the brands that I'd stock in Abode or the brands that I'd enjoy outside of Abode, is they serve a purpose at different points in your life. It has nothing to do with common trends or what's in fashion, as opposed to just, I'm investing in a piece that I love right now. The amazing thing is that I know in 10 years time that I can happily pull a piece out again and it will still hold that emotional value. That's the big thing when I'm looking to buy a piece, you’re trying to create this long-term relationship with it.
Care Label: It’s kind of like an actual relationship. You would rarely walk into a friendship or partnership with someone thinking very short term, like a ‘quick buck’. I think clothing and our wardrobe are the same.
Jamie: Even what you're saying about a relationship, I remember I have one, really well-aged moleskin jacket. It's a very light jacket so sometimes I'd wear it as a shirt. I’ve had it for the guts of three, or four years and I've never washed it. It’s funny, a lot of people they're like, ‘oh, that's gross’, but I mean, it's just aged so beautifully! It has this really nice patina where the colour has dropped out at certain points. So yeah, it’s that piece I always go back to because I have this ongoing relationship.
Care Label: That jacket is YOURS and nobody else's.
Jamie: I remember I wore it at my dad's funeral and there's still a photo of my dad in the pocket. I know for certain that picture is in that pocket forever. So it's weird how this jacket has kind of intertwined itself into a memory of my dad and has an emotional value now as opposed to just a utilitarian value that keeps me warm.
Care Label: That’s amazing, you’ve been on an emotional journey with this jacket. I'm sure you think about what other life events you're going to be doing in this jacket down the line. Who knows?
Jamie: Maybe another funeral…
Care Label: Hopefully not!
Care Label: And is there any other pieces that you have that special relationship with?
Jamie: I have a really beat pair of Stan Ray army pants. They’re the runaround, kick around and cycle in pants. I’d hike in them if I could. And the thing is, they’re probably the most inexpensive piece that I have. But I do get the most joy out of wearing them. Along with that, I love Our Legacy. I think what I relate to most is the fact they don't hold themselves down to a specific style. I have shirts of theirs that I would wear for different occasions. There are a couple of brands that I love where I just love their ethos and everything they do.
Care Label: And what's your relationship with buying pieces. New, old, how often?
Jamie: I’m quite lucky with Abode because I'm working with brands that I really love that I can siphon from. To be brutally honest, I wouldn't be a big buyer of things. If I'm looking for something and there's a gap in what I need, i’ll do my research. I’ll find exactly what I want from a specific brand that does that thing really well and then find an independent retailer who'd offer that.
Although, I have been on the look for a vintage CP Company coat for about three years. I've saved up and I've kept that money aside. It's sitting there and no matter how hard I look, DMing vintage sellers, I just can't find it. That is literally the Holy Grail. Maybe I'll never find it. I'm starting to overthink it now, what happens if I do find it and I won't like it?
Care Label: Yeah, I don't know. You know when people just walk into a bar one day and they find their soulmate? That could happen to you with this jacket.
Jamie: Haha, I’ll hold you to that.
Care Label: When shopping or looking for inspo, what creates that magical moment for you? Is it a fabric, the story, a sales rep or a friend behind the brand?
Jamie: If I'm shopping for me personally, it's all about the shop space I’m in. I think independent retailers with really knowledgeable staff, could sell anything. I think that's the starting point. Have an independent retailer with knowledgeable staff and personable staff and after that, durability, in terms of style, in terms of fabric in terms of how it was made. Yeah, I think they are definitely the most important things.
Care Label: Going back to what you said about back durability. Honesty and authenticity are a huge part of being durable where people will become emotionally invested into something,
Jamie: This carries on into Abode as well. Many times I've been speaking to customers and I tell them if it doesn't fit or if they come out and they're unsure and their first reaction isn't ‘yes I love this’ then it's an uphill battle where you're trying to convince yourself to like a piece. That's never how your relationship with an item of clothing should be.
Care Label: Sure. What made you make the leap to start Abode? Ireland is crying out for independent offers of menswear and lifestyle. What made you do it?
Jamie: This is always what I have wanted to do. I've always wanted to be a shopkeeper. I always just had this idea of me in a tiny little basement shop, with a laptop and a couple of rails and just being able to shoot the shit with people all day. Just being able to chinwag about everything and anything. That has always been the dream. I never knew how it was gonna get to that point. Then it did take me to move abroad to work in some really good shops. To see that trifecta of curation, service and space, all mixing in is how retail should be done. When I came home from (Auz) because of COVID, I was alone with my thoughts and talking to people about how can I make this happen. How can I get a physical space? So the first step was, I'll make an email address, I’ll make an official Abode email address. I’ll shoot off emails to brands that I like, and then it just kind of snowballed from there. One brand got on board, another brand got on board, and the website got developed. It was all of these little things that ended up making what Abode is now. When I take a step back, it's like ‘Oh, I have a fully functioning online shop with brands’. When I finally do have the physical space it will have seemed like such an impossible task. But it’s nice to see all of these little breadcrumbs and stepping stones leading to that final point. So people think, you know, ‘Oh, I'd love to do something like this or I'd love to do X lofty goal’ and I always just say, what's the first step you need to do? Who do you need to contact? Who do you need to sit down and have a conversation with? You don't even see yourself getting so far into this project but it all happens step by step, you know?
Care Label: People look at the finished product and think it just magically appeared that day.
Jamie: Exactly. Like, I started about a year before the date Abode was launched. I was literally just sitting at home. I was still living in the box room. I had a mattress on the floor of my parent’s house. I was just sitting up emailing people and I had nothing of substance to even show these brands. I didn't have a website. I was lucky to have my cousin who is a really good graphic designer and he did a brand deck. I don't even know how he came up with all of the colours and the feel of Abode because I just sent him keywords that I loved or what I wanted Abode to be and he turned these keywords into an ethos and then I had something tangible that I could send to brands.
Care Label: We’re all eagerly awaiting an Abode store experience outside of your pop-ups, can you tell us what you want to achieve with your physical store?
Jamie: Personally, I want to provide a space and a service and an experience that just isn't here yet. What I want is to have everything that just makes the perfect shopping experience. I don't even know how to describe how I want it to be, I just know in my head when it's there.
Care Label: What does the future hold for Abode? What does success mean to you?
Jamie: I seem to place a lot of weight on the physical space, but to be honest, success right now is being able to sit down with customers at my pop-ups and just talk to people. Again, going back to that dream I had, I just want to shoot the shit with customers in a dingy little basement and just chat. That's what I am doing every day now, so I'm happy right now.
Care Label: Unreal, I love it. We've moved so far away from that traditional community-led retail experience that just isn't commonplace anymore. If you go to big department stores, there’s this clinical feeling. But that sort of tradition still exists in Paris and Tokyo where the people bleed the product and service. It’s so important to them. When you're there the product feels secondary, it’s this holistic retail experience.
Jamie: Yeah, that’s a great way to put it.
Care Label: I think because that's so rare, people go mad for that now. They don't know what they want until you actually put it in their face because we just accept the kind of mediocre retail experience. But, until you actually go and experience that you're like wow, this is what I’ve wanted for so long.
Jamie: You can see it if you've been to a really nice restaurant and it's taken so seriously. All of the things you don’t have to think of are taken care of. Your water is changed before you notice, your food menu is brought over just before you finish your drink, and your bill is brought over just at the right time. So in hospitality, it's taken really seriously, while in retail, I don't think it is. And to go back to it, that's the experience I want to bring with Abode. What you said, it is that holistic point of view, that 360-degree feeling.
Care Label: When you're at your pop-ups, you're very hands-on with customers. You really care about the product and how that fits into the customer's life and I think that is the magic of retail because it forms that connection with the customer and the brand. You speak in a refreshing way of being a ‘Shopkeeper’, which isn’t a phrase used too often,
Jamie: I’d call myself a shop merchant, but I think that’s too old school!
Care Label: Haha. So where does your attachment to being a shopkeeper come from?
Jamie: I have tried to pinpoint that ‘aha’ moment. I wish I had this big lofty explanation where I had really informative parents who were mad into fashion or fashion designers but that was not the case. I had a great family unit and I think I was lucky enough that no matter what I wanted to do there was that safety net. There is no, ‘ah yes shopkeeper’ moment. It was that slow realisation that I want to provide the service that I can't get.
Care Label: Yeah, If you can't find it yourself, you’ll do it yourself.
Jamie: Yeah, for other people.
Care Label: You were in Paris buying for AW23. How was that and any standout showrooms that you're able to tease us with?
Jamie: Yeah. 100%. When I go into the showrooms I'm still the new kid on the block. But seeing these brands and showrooms in the flesh, you can see how refreshing it is for them to have new people and they are so supportive. They know I'm not going to be their biggest account right now, but they know that I could be. The brands that I deal with place so much love and care in nurturing Abode as a store and you can tell they're not trying to make a quick buck off me. They really do care about the curation and more specifically they care about their brand which speaks volumes. There's a showroom called DSMR and they stock brands like Pop Trading, Stepney Workers Club, Karu Research, Late Checkout, so they are a great showroom because they love the brands they stock. So Pop Trading, is one of my favourite brands. In terms of versatility and colour, they also do a lot of carryover styles. They push the boat out every single season. In terms of fabric, you can see I'm wearing a seersucker pair of (Pop Trading) brown pants. I also went to see Pendleton which I have coming in for AW. I have a really great selection of blankets and some homeware pieces. I don't know if that was a selfish buy where I just wanted the stuff myself. People will walk into my house and there’ll be blankets hung from the ceiling, the walls and all over the couch.
Care Label: And how do you feel about the Irish ‘Scene’ in general. That is such a cringe word, but I couldn't think of a better one. But how do you enjoy working here and developing Abode here?
Jamie: I think because Abode is so new and refreshing it has been embraced with open arms. Every person I've met in photography, menswear, or other shop owners in Dublin they see how much value it has for the community and for the culture in general. But you can see how important it is in terms of expressing ourselves, expressing the city. What we wear and the shops that we have is the fabric of the city. It is our attitude, it signifies what makes us different from other cities. Sorry, what was the question?
Care Label: But as you said, because it's relatively untapped, you can take it (Abode) in any direction you want which must be really interesting.
Jamie: Yeah, it is great. We do have one amazing space which is Indigo&Cloth and they also know how important it is to have more people at that table. So the more people and the more stores enter this space, the more choice there is for customers. Around town you can see people wearing just say, Solomon’s, Raw Denim, and Paraboot. So, people are wearing them, they’re just buying them from abroad. As well, Ireland is always seen as this, leprechaun, fisherman type while there is so much more! We have an amazing food scene. We have an amazing wine scene. We are growing a really good, independent menswear scene. So it is changing. We’re making Dublin more than just some tourist destination, we are showing how we are a rich cultural city.
Care Label: You are are successful within this space. But for someone entering this kind of world now, is there any advice you would offer to people?
Jamie: Now, this goes for anyone who's trying to start anything on their own. But It really is just to break it down. What's the first step you need to make? I think people think they need to have this master plan and everything needs to be pre-planned, but nothing works like that. You could make this master plan and none of it goes the way you thought it would. So really break it down. What's the initial step you need to make? And lastly, don’t look too far forwards and don't look too far back.
Care Label: Yeah, I think that's really sound advice. Once you nail the ‘Why’, I think you're kind of halfway there.
Jamie: That is the important thing that we're not just starting something for the sake of it. I think that's where a lot of things go missing. That's why a lot of stores that opened in Dublin ended up failing because there wasn't that why behind it. There wasn't that purpose that was pushing it forward. There was no willingness to push through the difficult bits.
Care Label: Yeah, it goes back to that durability thing. If you have a solid why you're probably going to be durable. It has to be financially sound, but, that why is so important.
One more, what’s the easiest way to make a start?
Jamie: What I did was just set up an email address. I paid 15 euros and it was the best 15 euros I’ve ever spent. It gives you that confidence to just approach people. It gives you that feeling of, okay, yeah, this at least looks official. But on the opposite end of that email address, I was sitting on a mattress on the floor in my underwear. So it is just breaking it down to those small steps, having that purpose, having that why to keep pushing on.
Care Label: You’ve mentioned that you're going to a wedding this summer. Are you on the hunt for an outfit?
Jamie: Yes. To be honest, last night I stayed up far too late with many open tabs looking for an Engineered Garments suit. It's not even my wedding! It's a close family member. There is this really good brand out of Manchester called NEMCEE. They are a really good garment maker who does these made-to-order workwear suits. She recently just got a new studio as well so I'm really excited for them to open back up. Just think of like the most unreal workwear jacket or workwear pants and it's something you can wear again and again and again.
Care Label: But what if you find that vintage CP Company jacket, you could wear that.
Jamie: Yeah, and then a football match after!
If you’re reading this, you’ve reached the end and I couldn’t be happier.
Hope you enjoyed reading about Jamie and Abode.
Find menswear, lifestyle and other goodness from Abode here
Stay tuned for the next Chinwag.