Buffalo Jackson Trading Co.

I have a hunch that in some strange way, clothes can make a man.

But first, let me explain that for a very long time, I did not.

The first half of my life was spent among the traditions of the south, around Magnolia blossoms and church steeples in Nashville, TN. I grew to understand the values of family and southern cooking and a refined life where the dress was proper.

But after graduating from the University of Tennessee, I headed West to learn from the mountains and the men who lived there. A different landscape and a few more physical labor jobs taught me some other lessons of life that a college degree missed. After some humbling failures and exhilarating adventures, I've come to see that masculinity is not an either-or decision of city living or mountain life, or white collar or blue, but a both-and maturity best summed up in the phrase the rugged gentleman.

Buffalo Jackson Trading Co. is the story of that rugged gentleman, a flesh and blood character that once symbolized all that was good about this country. He is embodied by names from the old days, names like Teddy Roosevelt, Robert E Lee, Ernest Hemingway, Abe Lincoln, and John Muir. And he lived by those distinctly American values of grit, honesty, pride and joy.

So where did all those men go? It's a waste of time to try and pin the tail of blame on the reasons why; its no doubt for a number of reasons.

I believe its time the rugged gentleman staged a comeback.

Roosevelt may have spoken