CLEVELAND, Ohio – William McNicol, the fashion designer behind the new Cleveland-based “William Frederick” label, has launched a new line of clothes to bring attention to small town America.
With his new “News From Home” fashion line, McNicol is taking on the figurative role of a reporter, bringing attention to heavy topics like poverty and the opioid epidemic. These issues, McNicol, said, affect his hometown of Wellsville, Ohio.
Wellsville had a population of 3,541 at the 2010 census. It’s located about 40 miles south of Youngstown, tucked in a corner where West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio meet.
“We don’t even have a basketball court in my hometown with two workable rims. The playgrounds are completely run-down. We don’t even have a doctor, we don’t have a mental health professional or a therapist or anyone that’s clinically trained,” he said.
McNicol hopes that, eventually, his work in the fashion industry can change that.
“News From Home” launched this past weekend. The materials and colors chosen in his clothing were inspired by scenes of his hometown, and photos from a few recent visits to Wellsville. McNicol’s fashion studio is currently based in Cleveland, and he lives in Lakewood.
The collection of winter clothes makes use of warm fabrics like wool and corduroy. Each piece uses dark, subdued colors like navy blue, rust orange and mustard yellow. All of the clothing was designed in Cleveland and manufactured in Cleveland-based factories. Many items are unisex.
The line of clothes is timeless and simple; McNicol said he doesn’t want to chase down trends and instead focuses on classics that can remain stylish years from now. (“The one thing I don’t want my customers to feel like when they’re looking at one of my collections is like it’s a Netflix queue,” he said.)
“News From Home” is a line made up of items like trousers, varsity jackets, coats, t-shirts and hoodies.
Beyond the fabric, McNicol is doing work to share his hometown’s story, which he said can be relatable for most Americans.
In a new documentary about Wellsville titled “It Takes A Village,” launched in conjunction with the “News From Home” clothing line, McNicol interviews various town residents and explores issues affecting the town. The documentary will be released in three parts.
The first part of the series was released on Tuesday on Vimeo, and it focuses on depression and mental health. It tells the story of Jason “Peanut” Carter, a hometown friend of McNicol’s, and his experience coping with depression.
It Takes A Village (Part 1) from Thornburg Creative on Vimeo.
In addition to telling his hometown’s story, McNicol wants to give back.
He wants to teach design and photography to high school students, and get to the point where these classes are offered as a part of the school’s curriculum. He wants to build a playground in honor of his hometown friend, Zane Carter, who died from an overdose in 2014.
These offerings, McNicol hopes, can help kids in Wellsville find creative, productive outlets and contribute to improving test scores.
When he was growing up, McNicol was always interested in fashion, paging through Sear’s and Macy’s catalogues. He started drawing sneakers when he was eight or nine, and continued sketching different clothing designs throughout his college years at Baldwin Wallace, studying management and finance.
Currently McNicol works as a medical underwriter at New York Life as a day job, and creates fashion for William Frederick Clothing in his free time. When it comes to fashion design, McNicol is entirely self-taught.
It wasn’t until McNicol, now 31, turned 30 last year that he attended his first New York Fashion Week. Then, he decided to turn his passion into a reality.
McNicol went to New York on a solo trip, and wore a blue coat of his own design at Fashion Week events. A photo taken of him ended up appearing on Women’s Wear Daily, a popular fashion blog that McNicol had followed for years.
“That was my first feature on a street style blog, in January of 2017,” he said. “That was the first time I felt truly validated. That was the point where I decided I was going to go all-in and start working on my first collection.
Since then, photos of McNicol’s designs have appeared on Esquire, GQ, Fashionista.com and the popular sneaker-focused @goat Instagram page, which currently has 1.9 million followers.
“It was coming full circle to take inspiration from these same street style blogs since I was a kid, and then seeing myself on these same street style blogs wearing my designs,” he said. “It was surreal.”
In the past year, his designs quickly earned traction, and three months ago, McNicol launched his first line of clothes titled “Irene’s Garden.” The clothes incorporated pastels and floral patterns, inspired by his grandmother’s garden. When it came to picking out a name for his brand, McNicol looked to his grandfather’s name, “William Frederick.”
McNicol has taken found most of his inspiration from his family and upbringing. These aspects have always been integral to his mission as a designer.
“The reason I actually started the entire brand was in hopes of being successful enough to rebuild my hometown,” he said. “I really feel like I’ve found my life’s purpose in this work.”
McNicol also wants to give back to Cleveland, his new residence. He hopes to one day own a brick-and-mortar shop that sells his designs in Northeast Ohio, and possibly combine it with a local coffee shop.
All William Frederick items are produced at Forma Apparel Manufacturing in Beachwood and SEAM, a factory located in Cleveland. Each piece includes a “Made In Cleveland” tag.
“The fact that all my tags are able to say ‘Made in Cleveland’ is really important,” said McNicol. “When you support my clothing brand, you’re also supporting other local small businesses in Cleveland.”
You can see McNicol’s new line of clothing on the William Frederick Clothing website.
https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2018/12/new-cleveland-fashion-brand-sheds-light-on-small-town-ohio.html
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