A Farewell to Neil

We've got some rather big and bittersweet news to share with everyone: after 13 years, S&S Co-Founder Neil Berrett is stepping down from his position here at Standard & Strange. Before anyone starts to worry, everything is okay, and Neil is moving on from his time in the apparel industry in good health and of his own volition. In graduating from S&S, Neil and his partner are moving to Sweden, where Neil plans to study the language and eventually enroll in nursing school for hospice care.

Neil has been half of S&S since our inception, having also been half of our predecessor business, Cedar Cycling, before the creation of Standard & Strange. Over the years he's done everything—from working the floor, buying trips abroad, and opening new stores, to the less sexy stuff, like mopping floors, clearing broken glass, and paying the internet bill. He's been intimately involved with the front end as well as behind the scenes, growing S&S from a scrappy small business into a serious company that spans multiple cities, building close and lasting relationships with our brands and countless customers over the years.

For the first almost-decade of S&S's time in Oakland, you could stop into the store on any random day and find Neil. He might be editing photos in the back, or hanging out on the floor and talking about anything from shoe construction to radiation cleanup, but he was a constant presence who took pride in creating a friendly and welcoming atmosphere for everyone. His motorcycle was a regular fixture on our block, parked right outside the shop window on the sidewalk, just next to the door, betraying Neil's presence at the shop well before opening hours and long after closing.

Neil was never stationary for long, with a hands-on and in-person approach to buying trips that both built and reinforced meaningful relationships with our vendors, extending well beyond just business. He was on-site for the buildout and the openings of our Santa Fe and New York stores in 2019 and 2021 respectively, contributing directly to just about every aspect of turning an empty storefront into a new Standard & Strange. Neil moved to NYC full-time following the opening of our third location, but continued to visit the other stores, flying back to the Bay Area in 2024 to help us move out of our Telegraph Ave store and into our new Berkeley retail space.

All this is to say that there is no Standard & Strange without Neil. The countless hours and literal blood, sweat, and tears he put into this place is a big part of the reason we're still here more than a decade later. Long after he's gone, S&S will remain a constant part of Neil's legacy, continuing with the same commitment to the best products, the best service, and the same passion & sincerity that Neil built into the company culture from day one.

To give Neil a proper send-off, Gen, Mari, and Elliot, the three longest-standing S&S employees (over 8 years for Gen and Mari, and 7 years for Elliot) flew out to NYC at the end of May to surprise Neil and celebrate all the memories we've made. In the spirit of Neil's love of pranks and practical jokes, we lured him to the shop under ambiguous pretenses (with no knowledge that we were even in New York at the time) before revealing ourselves. After that, we took him out for dinner & drinks to reminisce on old times — buying trips, store openings, dinners, flights, and so much more. We all grabbed breakfast together the next day at Katz's Delicatessen, not too far from our Mulberry St. shop, and gave our final and emotional goodbyes after so many years of working together.

Looking back at the past 13 incredible years of S&S, we're so grateful to Neil for his part in building this company into what it is today. All of us wish him nothing but the absolute best in his future endeavors—and reserve the right to sometimes bother him with questions, and maybe invite him along for the occasional buying trip when we're "nearby" in Europe.

On behalf of everyone at Standard & Strange, thank you and farewell Neil, it's been an honor.

With Love,
The Standard & Strange Team

If you have interacted with Neil at all over the last decade plus and want to send him a farewell message and some kind words, write an email to hello@standardandstrange.com with the subject "Farewell Neil!", and we'll make sure every message is forwarded to him, even after he has officially left.