Robert Talbott Luxury Clothing Company

Instilled in Monterey, California is the hard–working and triumphant spirit of the coastal workers that once inhabited its shores. It is a place of opportunity, of grit, and where the fruits of the ocean were reaped by brave fisherman and hardy cannery workers not so long ago. It was in this environment where Robert and Audrey Talbott would build their luxury clothing company, amidst go–getters, entrepreneurs and laborers alike.

Sixty–five years after the Talbott family first landed on the west coast, Robert Talbott luxury clothing company has grown into a major luxury clothing line with its own unique and elegant style. I conversed with Bob Corliss, CEO of Robert Talbott, in hopes to understand more about the state of his company, its design influences, and its undeniable coastal identity. Under the guidance of Corliss, Robert Talbott has evolved into much more than Robert and Audrey Talbott could have ever imagined upon creating the brand.

From a small shop on the coast of central California, Robert Talbott luxury clothing company is now a country–wide corporation. With stores in California, Texas and New York, the popularity of Robert Talbott’s elegant clothing speaks for the true quality and prominence of this once small business.

It only takes a quick internet search of Robert Talbott to find yourself enamored by brightly colored fabrics, carefully woven sweaters and classy neckties of all hues. It is this vibrant luxury that has become somewhat of a trademark for Robert Talbott, designing clothing that pops rather than monotonously blending into the background. Bob Corliss attributes the creative intuition of the very unique Robert Talbott clothing line to a "design team that is intimately involved in the design process from start to finish."

The head of the design team, Mark Calder, is the creative director at Robert Talbott and leads their creative ventures. Calder’s eye for style and passion for design allows the company to excel in the design realm and create products at a standard to which most people today are not accustomed. In any medium of art, whether it be painting, photography, clothing design or cinema, there must be some driving influence to guide an artist towards a compelling final work. For the designers at Robert Talbott, that influence is the ocean and the coastal life that has been woven into the fabric of all of the company’s garments. Bob Corliss explains, "the colors, design and active yet casually elegant style that our company strives to achieve embodies the rich culture of life by the ocean."

Where once Robert Talbott was a brand particular to the Monterey Bay region, it is today a larger–than–life testament to the small foundations it was built on. Bob Corliss explains that when he first got involved with the company it was small yet strong and that his "goal was to leave the company in a better condition than he had found it." Corliss knew that the company had incalculable potential and set out to bring Robert Talbott to full fruition through new tactics of advertising and design. By investing in marketing and a talented design team, Corliss has watched as Robert Talbott grew substantially over the years from a small business to a major fashion player.

Bob Corliss was able to see the valuable elasticity of Robert Talbott—which seems to be as permanent as the ocean it was built beside—and confidently calls the brand the "only truly great American company." Robert Talbott was built on the ideas of a deep–rooted sense of tradition and value, an appreciation for the craft and, perhaps most importantly, an innate understanding of and dedication to quality. It is these things, along with the grit and passion that is so obviously incorporated into Corliss’s company, that allow it to be one of the greats of our time.