Billy Reid is an American fashion designer. His clothing is known for its classic styles in high quality fabrics, but with unusual accents - "low-fi Southern-bred luxury" according to Reid's site.[1]
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Reid grew up in Amite, Louisiana, just south of the Mississippi border. He operated a women’s clothing boutique located in his grandmother’s home. Reid's hobbies included outdoor activities in the surrounding Southeast Louisiana wetlands.[1]
Reid attended Southeastern Louisiana University. Later he attended the Art Institute of Dallas and studied fashion design and merchandising. While still at the Art Institute, he started working for Saks Fifth Avenue. After Saks he worked for 6 years at Reebok International, travelling across the globe for the first collections of Greg Norman. He started his own company in 1995 with clients including Fruit of the Loom, Neiman Marcus, Reebok and Takashimaya.
Reid's first collection launched in Spring 1998. He received the prestigious CFDA "Best New Menswear Designer award" in 2001, but economics forced him to close his business shortly afterward in Spring 2002. Reid moved to Florence, Alabama.
Reid's new business model built up a small namesake chain of shops which reflected his "personality and his aesthetic" - loaded with antiques, family heirlooms and reclaimed architectural materials, they "took on a very personal, warm and hospitable environment."[1]
His company headquarters is in downtown Florence, Alabama in a turn of the 20th century bookstore. Downstairs is his flagship shop and upstairs is his design studio. There are also shops on Bond Street in New York City (opened Fall 2008),[1] Northpark Center in Dallas, Nashville, Charlotte, Charleston, and Houston.[2] The stores are notable for their atmosphere of faded elegance, for example the New York store has faded chairs and carpets, an antique chandelier, mounted deer head, and antique apothecary cabinets.[3]
His clothes are sold in many Bloomingdales stores across the US. There is also a line of K-Swiss/Billy Reid sneakers.