An American fashion house founded by designer Billy Reid, who launched his first menswear line, William Reid, in 1998 and won the CFDA's Best New Menswear Designer award in 2001, before the September 11 economic downturn forced him to close that business and move his family to Florence, Alabama. Friends approached him in 2004 with the idea for what became the current Billy Reid brand and retail concept, and he's since won three more CFDA awards, including Menswear Designer of the Year in 2012. The label stays rooted in Florence, Alabama rather than New York, giving it a distinctly Southern identity.