Claybourne's brings over 40 years of taste to gentlemen who favor American, British, and Italian clothing classics that can't be found elsewhere. Updated traditional items from small workshops and mills in the US and around the world.

 

Robert "Sparky" Claiborne grew up near Memphis Tennessee. Raised as a "southern gentleman," he learned to dress in the Ivy League, natural shoulder American tradition. Three-button suits, full-roll Brooks Brothers "polo" collared shirts with English repp neckties and bowties were the norm. With madras and seersucker in summer, Harris tweeds and fair isle sweaters in winter, paired with shell cordovan penny loafers year round. 

 

At age 15 Sparky took a shine to this style, and knew from an early age that he wanted to be in the men's clothing business. In high school he wrote a 65-page dissertation about men's shirts that won first place in a national contest. In college he started a long retail and wholesale career, working in Ivy League and classical Italian clothes. After working for several English firms he developed a taste for fine British clothing. Today he works near Philadelphia, one of America's oldest bastions of gentlemanly attire. He specializes in helping other men find their own style and taste.