What did you do for fun growing up in Eldorado, Illinois?
Eric: Pre-cell phones, our hobbies were part-time jobs and just being kids, sitting in the car, driving around in circles. We were just kids. We had ultra-blue-collar backgrounds from our fathers working in the coal mines and farm fields. A blue-collar work ethic. But something that connects to what we do now is, we’ve both had an appreciation for clothes. I was voted best dressed in our senior class! We would drive to Evansville and hang out at the mall.
Kathie: I was already flipping my collar up or wearing Oxfords. To this day, I still do that. It’s not something I saw anywhere and wanted to emulate this. It’s just something I’ve always liked doing.
What is one thing that’s always in your pocket?
Kathie: Clinique lipstick — I’ve never worn any brand but that, all through high school and to this day. I worked and saved my money to buy that.
The Kentucky Derby is around the bend. Do you attend?
Eric: We have not been. I’ve been on a horse only one time in my life! We’re more Keeneland people. I love the horse culture and eventing more than racing. We do a lot of Derby coats, though. Clients ask for conservative or flamboyant coats. Guys want to look good, presentable. They want to have color. It’s an opportunity for guys to step out of their comfort zone a little bit.
Do you have a favorite bourbon?
Eric: In the first few years of opening Adams & Sons, that was a common question: “What’s your favorite bourbon?” I don’t know, I’m from Illinois! I once went to a blind taste test and hated every single drop, but we were drinking it neat. Later, I discovered that ice takes the edge off, and since then, I’ve been a bourbon drinker. My favorite is a bottom shelf choice: Buffalo Trace Benchmark #8. Every guy I’ve had blind taste test it has said, “This is really, really good!” It’s $11 a bottle.
Do you have any unexpected talents?
Eric: I grew up in the ’80s, a time when free style BMX was popular. I raced BMX and rode bikes all day long. I can still do that stuff. We have a large picture in the studio … of me on my old ’84 freestyle bike doing a trick, but I’m wearing a suit. People marvel that the guy they’re about to buy this nice garment from is doing a trick on a bike.
Kathie: I’m a major bargain shopper, but I’ll pair items with one of our sport coats, and that’s what I’ll wear. I love to go into stores and try things on.
What’s one piece of style advice you would give to every guy or gal?
Eric: Don’t be too precious or too perfect. A lot of guys are put off by dressing well because they feel they have to be perfect. We notice it with pocket squares. You don’t have to know how to perfectly fold a pocket square. That’s where personal style comes from, having little eccentricities and things that you like. That’s what makes you unique.
Kathie: It’s OK to step a little bit out of the box. But if you don’t feel comfortable, you’re not going to wear it.
STYLE NOTES
Evansville Living readers will remember Newburgh, Indiana, resident Eric Adams as the designer of a caramel-colored leather chaise lounge featured in an early issue. He and wife Kathie long have had a passion for fashion and design. After moving to the Evansville area and forging successful careers in marketing and elementary education, in 2015 they opened Adams & Sons, a purveyor of men’s fine clothing based in Owensboro, Kentucky. They branched out in 2019 with Brit & Blue, a line of luxury tailored jackets designed from duck cloth in a variety of colors and built to go from the job site to the board room.
“Our customers want more clothing that can be worn casually, in the workplace and outside the workplace,” Eric says. “Americans have a work ethic, independence, and can-do spirit. We’ve built Brit & Blue on that.”
Jackets adorned with Eric’s signature have found their way onto clients like two-time Grammy-winning song-writer Kendall Marvel and Gonzague de Montrichard, a French count and financier living in Boston, Massachusetts.
“What’s really neat is when you create clothing, you create for people something they take into their lives,” Kathie says.
