Recently, while in Los Angeles, I paid a visit to the new Wittmore pop-up shop on Third Street. The colorful space is brings to life Wittmore’s nicely curated and eclectic brand mix, which up until a few weeks ago has been an entirely digital shopping affair.

The physical and online stores are the product of my longtime friend and mentor Paul Witt. Wittmore is a culmination of Paul’s many years in the clothing business and his varied work across various creative disciplines, a few of which involved me as his underling. The shop presents Witt’s personality well, and represents a playful perspective that very much aligns with his personal taste and style. It’s an inclusive and needed respite from the world of pretentiousness that can often surround so many menswear brands and stores. Wittmore brings a keen eye and an injection of playfulness that makes clothing fun again.

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In April of 2012 I posted about Oak Ridge, Tenneesee, one the U.S. government’s secret Manhattan Project sites that was established to produce the fuel for the first Atom bomb. The post was spurred by the Department of Energy and the digitization of their photo archives, which included a lot of long classified photos of the secret town. You can read all about it here.

That post got a lot of attention and people all over the world were curious to see the photos and learn about how a town of over 80,000, which was home to the largest building in the world at the time (the K-25 enrichment building at CEW, which is pictured above and below), had the 10th largest bus network in America and used more power than the whole of New York City managed to remain a closely held secret.

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Mark McNairy and Noah Johnson knew where they wanted to go professionally, but neither took a traditional route to get there. Johnson became a writer, editor and art aficionado after learning to appreciate design through the lens of skateboarding. McNairy, who thinks of him self more as a man who “makes things,” rather than one who designs them, learned the clothing business through hanging around at factories and just learning the business as he went along.

To better tell the stories of these creative folks around us ACL has partnered with Timberland to create The Experts, a symposium of the people who, like Timberland, hold significant the values of craft, process, provenance, art and style.

Growing up in Greensboro, North Carolina, Mark McNairy first got into clothing through an obsession with sneakers. Eventually he moved to New York and over the course of jobs learned what he needed to know about design and production to start his own label Mark McNairy New Amsterdam. It’s the type of story —one of self-taught determination— that inspires not only those that are into fashion, but everyone who aspires to have the job they dream about as a kid.

Mark wears the Classic 2-Eye Boat Shoe and Earthkeepers® Abington Waterproof Raincoat from Timberland®.

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You haven’t visited most of Maine—few people have. It’s an immense state that’s largely unpopulated. Well, try this: fly to Bangor, then drive three hours north. You’re getting up there. At the end of an 18-mile dirt road is Libby Camps. Established in 1890, it’s been in the same family for five generations. That all sounds promising, and it should. We’re partial to lodges and cabins that don’t dress themselves up (wall-to-wall carpeting is a telltale warning sign). When you arrive at Libby you know you’re in a place that has earned the right to take the long view.

Come in May and June to fish for native brook trout in many of the remote ponds that can only be accessed by foot or, even better, by float plane. Or come back in September when the water falls and they turn red before they spawn. Either way, you fly fish from a 20’ Old Town canoe and cast out one of the idiosyncratic flies made by the guides. Or, if you’re more classically minded: a caddis or March Brown. You can hope for a trophy 3 pounder, but that’s a setting the bar high. Aim a little more realistically, while expecting regular action from strong, healthy fish.

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It took a lot of coaxing to get me to visit San Diego. Having spent so much time in L.A. and San Francisco for work and increasingly for fun, I had honestly relegated San Diego near the bottom of my list of places to visit in the Golden State. My girlfriend of nearly two years, who grew up in La Jolla, was determined to change my thinking (a talent girlfriends wield skillfully) on the subject of San Diego. Her weapon of choice? The historic La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla. Knowing my appreciation for provenance, this was a shrewd and ultimately successful move.

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Mark McNairy thinks of himself as more of a maker than a designer. His training was anything but formal, it happened in factories in New York’s garment center watching things being made right on the spot and learning as he went.

Growing up in Greensboro, North Carolina as a self-professed “sneaker obsessive,” Mark’s first job in the clothing business was a traveling salesmen in the South. Eventually he started re-producing vintage clothing under various labels, and in 2006 he launched his namesake collection, Mark McNairy New Amsterdam.

When we teamed up with Timberland to celebrate The Experts, individuals who value craft, style and the unique thinking that drives the world, Mark’s name popped into my head immediately. Mark McNairy represents a quirky anti-establishment aesthetic, but also the hard work and commitment that is takes to go off on your own and make a new path.

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One thing you notice when you go to Four Barrel on Valencia Street in San Francisco is a decided lack of people camped out working on their laptops. This is intentional, there’s not power outlets or wi-fi provided because the focus is on coffee — as it should be. Granted, some people want to post up in a coffee shop soaking up all of the oxygen, but that’s why God invented Starbucks.

The guys at Tellason worked with the very talented folks at SF based Vertical Online to profile the compelling characters that wear Tellason jeans, including this video and the previous release that focused on motorcycle builder Todd Blugaugh. These short films are beautiful pieces strictly from a visual standpoint, but it’s nice to know that these connections are real and the guys actually wear the jeans. Much respect to Four Barrel, Vertical Online and Tellason for keeping it real.

Related: ACL’s 2009 interview of Tellason’s Tony Patella.

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