The RL Q+A: Nathaniel Asseraf of Broadway & Sons

Walking in, you’ll pass rack after rack of well-worn Western jackets and perfectly faded denim. Standard-issue chinos and army tees, New England collegiate cardigans, and heavy-gauge letterman sweaters fill every nook. A vintage California state flag hangs on the wall, and an old Coca-Cola vending machine rests in the corner. If you were picked up and dropped into Broadway & Sons, a vintage shop that’s famed in menswear circles, you might assume you’ve landed somewhere in rural America. In fact, you’d be about 5,000 miles away, in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The duo styled and photographed the collection in Gothenburg entirely themselves, bringing a subtle twist of Broadway & Sons style to heritage Polo designs. Here, Nathaniel sits down with us to talk about family history, his time at Ralph Lauren, and his unique personal style.

You grew up at Broadway & Sons, but spent some time at Ralph Lauren before taking over the family business. What was that like?

I grew up with the shop, and I loved it. But when you’re young, you know, you never want to follow the family right away. I wanted to make my own experiences.

So, I decided to move to Paris—I had family there and speak French, and thought, “Why not? Let’s try it.” But then I got there and thought, “Ok ... now what?” I loved vintage clothing but didn’t have any money to open my own shop, so I had to find a job. I applied to work at the Ralph Lauren store and eventually was offered a job. And I said, “Well, of course I’ll take it. It’s Ralph.”

I stayed there for two years. But throughout that time, the business here in Sweden was growing, and really taking off worldwide. We needed someone to do all the work, and I didn’t think anyone could do the job better than someone who grew up at Broadway & Sons.

And now you’re back in Polo, with the Spring Training collection. You and your brother styled, modeled, and photographed the collection entirely yourselves—tell me a bit about your process and approach.

I remember asking for everything to be sent in a bigger size. I love to wear tops oversize, especially oxford shirts with a T-shirt underneath, and sizing up to a large in the Classic Fit brings back the vibe of ’80s and ’90s Ralph Lauren shirts. That’s partly the look we wanted to go for—’80s and ’90s Ralph, reinterpreted.

We took some of the photos in our studio on the first floor of the shop, using a 1930s linen canvas that once served the Swedish army as a sort of canvas shelter. The rest were taken outside our warehouse, where we also have a garage with part of our collection of vintage cars and bikes.

And speaking of the shop, what do you guys aim to stock at Broadway & Sons? Are you focused on certain niches, or is it all-encompassing?

Just like Ralph, I think, we’re trying to do as much as possible among different worlds but also following current interests. We’ll always have military surplus in our selection, but if we notice that people are asking more about workwear, we might focus on workwear for a period and try to find the best possible workwear in the world. If people are asking about military, we’re going to do everything in our power to find the very best military vintage.

Everything vintage, Americana, and well-made fits our style. If I find well-made vintage blazers, I won’t hesitate a minute to buy them for the shop. I want it to be a mix of the best of everything, and for people to be able to expand their style at Broadway & Sons.

My brother is finishing his last year of high school, and works whenever he can at Broadway & Sons. He’s the kindest fellow ever and takes such good care of customers. My role is mainly keeping up the flow of products listed online. Usually, this time of the year I’m going on business trips solo or with my father to find vintage stock to buy. Finding good vintage is extremely difficult these days, as people have been consuming mostly fast fashion and bad-quality clothing for the past 20 years.

Ralph Lauren is, in my opinion, probably the only modern brand that looks great in any vintage shop. Ralph Lauren is getting very hot on the vintage market, too. We’ve sold a lot of vintage Ralph shirts, dating back to the ’70s and ’80s, in the store. We’ve sold original Polo Western denim. And since the quality has been great throughout the years, it’s no surprise that people want it.