When architect turned shop owner Jason Pecarich opened his menswear store Division Road in Seattle’s Pioneer Square in 2016, he intended the space to be a sort of “post-modern industrial haberdashery.”
Since then, he’s not strayed from his mission and has developed a loyal client following that he recently spotlighted in Division Road’s newly launched lookbook-style seasonal Guidebook. “Since our niche and customer base is a community of not only stylish guys but also collectors, we wanted to launch this Guidebook feature using some of our best customers who both shop from us and inspire what we do,” he says.
Here, Pecarich lets us in on how he defines the Division Road style, what’s on his desk at work, and more.
How would you describe the style behind Division Road?
We have what is now described as a single-uniform aesthetic. Most guys wear the same style profile from work to evening to home, and our merchandise definitely reflects this lifestyle. Everything brought into the store is done so under the consideration of many factors, but style-wise each piece needs to be timeless, based on a classic aesthetic, work with everything else in our merchandise mix, and be decidedly functional. We like workwear durability but steer away from the reproduction look, so the things you’ll find at Division Road have durability, longevity, are made with soul in traditional ways, yet are relevant for the modern wardrobe.
Tell us about the recently launched Guidebook.
We’ve wanted to do a lookbook feature for each season for a while. We produce a lot of content for the website and Instagram, and the Guidebook section of the website was designed with this lookbook feature as a main category of content, but up to now has been used primarily for our Field Guides, which are shoppable style laydowns/grids. For the launch we used our clients [as models], not only to honor their patronage but show our other clients that we won’t forget what our business is about: them.
What three objects are always on your desk at work?
Post-it notes, leather and fabric swatches, and my computer.
If you had eight hours to spend in your favorite location, where would you go and what would you do?
I’d probably go back to my hometown of Washington, DC, spend the morning at the Renwick Gallery and check out the new National Museum of African American History and Culture then eat lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill, spend the afternoon in Georgetown or Old Town Alexandria, and finish the evening at a Nationals or Capitals game. I don’t get home much anymore, but that would be a good day.
What did you want to be at age five?
It sounds corny, but I wanted to do something like what I’m doing now. Around that age, I started thinking about jobs where you matched people to products, which is at the heart of what I do now.