Smooth as Tennessee whiskey! Justin Timberlake revamped his clothing line, William Rast, with fresh new pieces for the fall. The Americana-inspired T-shirts, jeans and jackets are available at Nordstrom, Dillard’s, Belk, Bon-Ton and Bloomingdale’s right now.
The “Can’t Stop the Feeling” singer and Memphis, Tennessee, native, 35, posted a teaser clip with the hashtag #WeAreWilliamRast in a Thursday, September 8, Instagram post, instructing viewers to check out the full YouTube video. In it, Timberlake joins William Rast cofounder Trace Ayala, his longtime friend, to explain the inspiration behind the collection.
“To talk about the brand, you have to understand where we grew up,” Timberlake, who shares son Silas, 17 months, with wife Jessica Biel, said. “We grew up in Memphis … obviously, a huge historical music town. And Nashville, right down the road, is the cornerstone of country music. But Memphis is also the home of the blues, and the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll.”
The gang of models in the video wore simple T-shirts, dark-wash jeans, denim jackets and more items that Timberlake deemed a little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll at the same time. And every piece has sentimental value to the pair because of the deep family ties: William Rast, which launched in 2005, is named after the cofounders’ grandfathers.
“It’s a crazy feeling to even look at a rivet, and it has your grandfather’s name on it,” Timberlake, who counts Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley as icons, mused. “The smallest little detail, but you’re like, ‘That’s our brand.’”