On and Off the Clock: Dan Snyder from Corridor

YOUR SIGNATURE 3-PANEL SHIRTING IS A GAME CHANGER FOR GUYS WITH BROAD SHOULDERS. WHERE DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT DESIGN ELEMENT? WAS IT INSPIRED BY SOMETHING OR DID IT DEVELOP SOMEHOW?

The fit comes from a vintage pattern that I used to make shirts for myself. 

When I was sewing shirts in my apartment I was looking for a pattern that excluded a box pleat, which I think isn’t very clean. 

I also didn’t want to have darts, which I find aggressively slim and unflattering. I found this pattern and have been continuously tweaking it over the last 10 years.

HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE YOUR CUSTOMER? WHAT’S HE INTO AND WHAT DOES HE CARE ABOUT?

I think that my customer is into culture - clothing, art, music - a vibrant life without taking themselves too seriously. I think that they care about design and quality, but aren’t defined by it. I believe there is a subtlety to the clothes and the customer. 

ANY FASHION RULES THAT YOU ADVOCATE FOR?

I think that it’s important to dress to your figure. Don’t wear tight pants if you’re a big guy and if you’re a short guy, you shouldn’t have a break in your pants. 

Essentially, one should wear clothes that flatter them. They shouldn’t conform stylistically to fashion. People should feel natural in their clothes. 

If it feels like a costume, then it will look like a costume to the world. Wear comfortable clothes and you will inhabit them.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY?

I think that the focus on first world manufacturing (USA, Europe, Japan) and how it correlates to quality or working conditions is more or less bunk. 

Having worked in a wide variety of USA and European factories, it is my experience that our clothes are far better made, more unique, and the pay scale, benefits and working conditions are actually much better in our India partner’s factory (daycare, open air workshops, retirement funding, women’s rehabilitation partnership, etc.). Also, the quality of stitching and consistency is far better.

Menswear is all about the fabric. The US mills very little fabric and even fewer woven fabrics. This means that the US factory workers have little context and basis for how to work new fabric. These fabrics are rarely designed and more or less chosen from foreign mills and shipped in. They’re not likely to be washed and controlled before sewing, and only maybe afterwards.

From the threads to design to the final garment, our clothes are made by the same people - which makes them completely unique.

I don’t begrudge first world manufacturing at all. In fact, we still make specialized products here. But to believe that it is wholesale better in any way is simply not the reality.

HOW DID YOUR PERSONAL STYLE DEVELOP FROM HIGH SCHOOL UNTIL NOW?

Like many that grew up in the 90’s, I was really influenced by skate-culture and some mix of concert t-shirts - which is culturally surfacing again. I’m from Maryland, so there was also some chesapeake red prep thing happening, oddly mixed with hip-hop adjacent Nautica garb. 

As I got older, I got really into the sartorial thing, blazers and that bullshit and then dipped my toe into the raw denim world, but never really connected there. I lived abroad and had a short-lived pass with replay/g-star eurotrash of the early aughts. 

I really settled into who I was and am as a person stylistically about 12 years ago, which is really what Corridor is about. Subtly beautiful American clothing that feels fresh and forward, yet classic and tasteful at the same time.

WHAT DO YOU NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT?

I’m almost always on my bike. I live in Brooklyn and bike into the city everyday, no matter the weather. 

I don’t view it with a badge of honor or some view that I’m saving the planet or that I’m doing it for my health - I only bike because I’m lazy. It’s just easier, quicker and more convenient to bike. 

I can go to the bar, play soccer and see friends with complete autonomy - move at my pace and go when I want because of my bike. It shrinks it all and makes it easier.

DO YOU HAVE ANY HOBBIES THAT YOU WISH YOU HAD MORE TIME FOR?

I want to garden, but I have no yard - so I’ve settled on house plants. Separately, I’m really interested in natural light portrait film photography and have been making time for that. 

I usually make time for things that I want to do. 

I think that’s mostly true of anyone - if you really want to do it, in your gut, then you make time for it. My hobbies are pretty run of the mill: I read, play soccer, go dancing and see a lot of movies.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE STORE OR RESTAURANT IN YOUR HOMETOWN?

I think that the MOMA design store in Soho is really great. There’s always something interesting to see. 

MAST Books in the East Village is really beautiful and the selection is always gorgeous.

I also like this weirdo crystal shop in the East Village called Crystals  Garden where you can buy houseplants, crystal and palo santo and  feel like some self-effacing satire/parody of yourself, but it’s done in  this bric-a-brac way that’s cute and fun and not so self-serious. 

And there’s this women’s store named Oroboro which has beautiful  clothing, pillows and home goods.

To eat, I love Somtum Der, Pig and Khao, Emmy Squared and Veselka.

WHAT RECORD IS THE MOST NOSTALGIC FOR YOU?

Nostalgia is different than favorite - just to clarify - and for me, it’s tied to a person or a time such that when you hear it, you’re transported back. With that caveat:

Beck’s Seachange, Bloc Party Silent Alarm, Wu Tang’s 36 Chambers, Neil Young After the Gold Rush, Grateful Dead Brokedown Palace, The Band The Last Waltz, Kanye 808s & Heartbreak, Radiohead Ok Computer, Robyn Body Talk, and Satori Maktub.

WHAT GENRE OF ART DO YOU FIND MOST INSPIRING?

I think that cinema is the most inspiring and highest artform. 

It combines (or can combine) all other forms: dance, music, art direction, theater, etc. and for me, it’s the artform that can take me furthest from my body. 

I think that real art does more than transfix you; it transports you - you surrender to it and live it - and the ability to create mood and atmosphere really connects with me.

CAREER OR PERSONAL, WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE IS THE BIGGEST RISK YOU’VE TAKEN?

I think that any publicly creative endeavor is a huge risk. Your work is judged not by people who love you but rather by people’s hard earned money and they will tell you (willingly or unwillingly) if your work is good enough - literally, if your work is worth it. 

People will vote if my work is beautiful or not. This is a big risk both financially and internally. I do this because I want to make a beautiful product. 

If it doesn’t sell, then it means that I failed in some regard, or there was a missed connection in the presentation, marketing, etc. - and this is also part of the work. The photography, the creative direction, the style - the clothing is an amalgamation of so much. 

So I know that this is a risk, that it could fall flat or not connect. My hope and drive is to stay within myself and trust myself, and make the product that I believe in.

ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?

I’d like to thank anyone who’s purchased or tried Corridor. We try to make the best garment we can. Also, I’ve included a small note/envelope onto every garment and the letter may be worth reading.

"Since sitting down to sew my first shirt, I wanted to make beautiful clothing that was easy, authentic, and personal - grinning takes on familiar classics. I was looking for balance - tailored and military, Americana and international, prep and workwear. After living up and down the Northeast Corridor, these unlabeled shirts and I settled in New York City and they finally had a name.

The result is Corridor, the new Americana - the melting pot. Melding influences to create something new yet something completely familiar, like meeting someone with the same sense of humor. 

With this range of influences, I want you to find your own take on these garments - the clothes should feel like you.

These ideas, spun to thread, dyed to cones, woven into fabric, sewn together, and onto your body are made with positive vibrations, and I hope that they move through you and your world."