Chapter 94: Dan the Tailor on rappelling rabbit-holes and rocking with Ronnie

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Daniel Torjman is beautiful.

And so is his incredible store 18 Waits.

Two years ago I was walking down Queen Street West in Toronto and I noticed a couple nice men’s shirts in a window and stepped inside. I was greeted by an old hardwood floor, jazz playing on a record, classic literature on display, and an incredibly curated assortment of shirts, coats, bandanas, and hats. I started chatting with owner (tailor! captain!) Daniel Torjman and discovered we were the same age and he was also a fairly new dad trying to figure it all out.

Dan went down to New York and was a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). He then worked as a production manager for Rogan where he helped open their flagship store in TriBeCa. When he came back to Canada, he turned his attention to conceptualizing 18 Waits which emphasizes quality material and craftsmanship with incredible hand-made, local-made clothes. Every item even has a handwritten number on the tag which shows how many kilometers away from the shop the clothes were made!

I bought a splashy floral shirt and began wearing it to my speeches. Now not an event goes by without someone asking me where I got it. I always tell them to visit Dan and point them to 18waits.com. The clothes are classic, strong, and durable and there’s a patch inside every piece of clothing that reads: “Wear Well. Enjoy. Love. Destroy.”

Are you ready to hang out on a couch with me and Dan? I hope so because I promise you are in for a treat.

We are going to talk about things like: what does it mean to be genuine in a phony world? How should we enjoy the finer things in life without actually being precious with them? How do we think about searching for truth today? How should we think about where to buy our clothes? What helps create the cultural fiber of a city? What are the benefits of intergenerational friendships? Why should we let our teens go on road trips across continents? How do we become more … us? How do we encourage our kids to find themselves in a digital world that constantly pushes us towards the mean? How do we think about our comfort zones when it comes to fashion and ourselves?

Come on in and let’s flip the page into Chapter 94 now…

What You'll Learn:

  • How do you create atmosphere and community in a clothing store?

  • What does it mean to be genuine?

  • How should we enjoy the precious things in life without being precious?

  • What is a laryngectomy?

  • How can we learn to reflect positively after a dramatic event?

  • How do we search for truth?

  • How should we think about where to buy our clothes?

  • Why does globalization engender distrust?

  • What is the cultural fibre of a city?

  • Why is it so important to spread our dollars around?

  • Why should you not partake in trends?

  • What’s it like to meet The Rolling Stones?

  • What are the benefits of intergenerational friendships?

  • How are long and successful  careers sustained?

  • What is the difference between business values and life values?

  • How did LSD experimentation in the 1960s impact music and culture?

  • Why should we let our teenage kids go on road trips?

  • Why was it better to grow up without cell phones?

  • Why is the everyday so beautiful?

  • How can we become more us?

  • How can we encourage our kids to find themselves in a digital world?

  • Why are vinyl records and their liner notes so much richer in content?

  • Why is the number 18 important in the Jewish tradition?

  • How can people learn to wear fashion accessories comfortably?

  • How do books paint pictures?

  • What is the power of a genuine moment?

  • Why don’t we do high school reunions anymore?

  • What is the power of human connection?

Notable quotes from dan the tailor

“It's been a wild ride. We’re still on it. And that’s beautiful.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“Wear well. Enjoy. Love. Destroy” - tags on his shirts - Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“I don’t want you to be precious with it; use the good plates.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“Life is short and this shouldn’t be a once a month or once a year shirt. Enjoy it. Wear it into the ground.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“After cancer, you really think twice about what you're really going to go sideways about.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“You know, when you take a step back, you know, there is so much beauty in life and you find it everywhere and you really got to lean into it. And that’s something we forget to do on a daily basis” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“I think that the most important thing right now is to be supporting local. Supporting your local community, supporting your neighbors, supporting the businesses and the brands and the artists and the musicians that are doing these things in city that you're living in.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“I don’t think it’s about being expensive or fancy. I think it is about being more mindful with where you are spending your dollar.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“We tend to live in a bubble, but there's so much outside of that bubble. And all you have to do is maybe spend time with your grandparents or your neighbors to get out of the bubble.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

On the longevity of the Rolling Stones - “it's because they really believe in it and they really, truly love it. And you can't fake that at least, you know, you can't fake it for a long” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“It comes down to being genuine and finding the real truth and happiness. It has to bring joy.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“My business values are my life values.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“True art is capturing the every day.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“Find beauty in the everyday.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“Finding my identity meant finding who I am, what interests me and is really, really, truly me, not because someone else did (it) or someone else likes it, or ..., you know, forcing myself to love that because that's what's happening.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“Vinyl records were made purposefully so we should consume them purposefully.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“Everything we do is with intention.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“I look at Robert Frank’s photos and they paint an entire picture in my mind of not just the photo I'm looking at but about the moment in the day.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“Books paint a huge visual picture for us.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“The over documentation of everything is  pretty insane. And the problem with it is that in so doing, we're forgetting to actually live.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

“There are a lot of things that are lost when you're trying to capture something perfectly on a video or on a photo. You're looking at the screen to make something perfect on a screen, but you're missing everything else around it. And that's part of the beauty and the magic in the first place.” Dan the Tailor #3bookspodcast

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