Over the course of his 12 years in Atlanta, Georgia, Mr Sid Mashburn has been asked a lot about his adopted hometown. For example, after three decades of designing menswear for J.Crew, Ralph Lauren and Lands’ End, in New York and Wisconsin, why did the Mississippi native set up his own shop in the “A”? When I ask him, on a balmy afternoon in early September, he credits his wife, Ann.

“Ann is from the Midwest,” he says. “She always loved the south, but didn’t know anything about it. She just thought it was charming and exotic.” Mr Mashburn laughs because, even if it is his home, he tends to agree with her. There were other factors, too. He left Lands’ End in 2006 (“Ann was surprised it wasn’t sooner – in that kind of role, it’s either feast or famine”) and was looking for a new opportunity. “We narrowed down our potential cities to New York or Chicago,” says Mr Mashburn. “But Ann said, ‘How about Atlanta?’ I said, ‘How about fantastic?’ I flew down here immediately. And it was the place. It felt vibey, indie and easy for our mothers to understand all at the same time.”

That last sentence is like Sid Mashburn the brand on a bumper sticker. No matter his age, town or business, a Mashburn guy is going to be well-groomed, blazered up (“hi, Mom”) and just a little unbuttoned. The kind of guy who is happy to rap out with you on his latest vinyl haul, just like Mr Mashburn himself. And this is no accident. His business, he says, isn’t just about the impeccably tailored, soft-shouldered suits, custom Levi’s and double-monk-strap shoes, but about making his clients feel comfortable, in every sense of the word.

“A lot of people cross our threshold,” he says. “One of the things they come here looking for is confidence. And bond. That was an intent of mine from the get-go. Being from a small town in Mississippi, I kinda feel like I know, or want to know, just about everybody in town.”

Mr Mashburn grew up in Brandon, Mississippi, and his grandparents were the main merchants in the neighbouring town of Pelahatchie, selling everything from clothes to homeware at their store, Collier’s Cash & Carry. His sisters, who are much older than him, were readers of fashion magazines. It was these dual family influences, he says, that made him fall in love with clothes. In college, he didn’t have the portfolio for a leap to Parsons School of Design or the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, so he did his time at the University of Mississippi. As soon as he graduated, he sold his old Camaro and moved north to be closer to the industry he knew he was destined to work in – he just didn’t know how.

In the meantime, he says, “I worked every job. I was a busboy, a waiter, a bouncellor – a bouncer who’s more of a counsellor because I wasn’t tough enough to bounce you. I could just kind of go, ‘Let’s talk over here. She didn’t mean to throw that drink in your face. She just was upset.’” In due course, it was Mr Mashburn’s ability to talk, sell and cajole himself into and out of situations that got him a job on the floor at British Khaki, where he met Ann, who was then working at Vogue, and after that, the job as the first menswear designer for a start-up named J.Crew.

“Ann calls me the preppy hippie from Mississippi,” he says, “And that was what was cool about it. J.Crew is a little preppy and a little hippie. It didn’t have a logo. It wasn’t Grateful Dead and it wasn’t too East Coast. It kind of ran the middle part of that, which was nice.”

After J.Crew, Mr Mashburn did stints at Ralph Lauren and then Lands’ End before he and Ann and their five daughters moved south in 2007. In the time since, Ms Mashburn has launched a women’s line and together they have opened stores in Washington DC, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles. At various times, depending on school, two or three of their daughters are working alongside the dozens of other employees and the team are starting to think more strategically. For example, the Sid Mashburn collection for MR PORTER, which launched this week, is the first time they have offered the brand through a third party. And, as much as they are looking outwards (for a store in New York, perhaps), they have things in a nice swing at home. Here’s how Mr Mashburn spends a typical day in Atlanta.

When he is not travelling, Mr Mashburn spends his mornings at home with the girls, their rescue cats, Charlotte and George, and their black dog. “I head downstairs, make an espresso, let the dog out, feed the cats and then spend some quiet time reading and praying to get my spirit right,” says Mr Mashburn. “Getting dressed is easy because I don’t have that many clothes, just ones I really like.”

Mr Mashburn is usually in the office he shares with his wife by 9.00am and in and out of meetings all day. “I have someone help manage my schedule,” he says, and he needs it. “I’m often running a bit behind. I talk too much and I can add 10 minutes to any meeting. But I like to work. I have the greatest job in the world and I love the details, maybe too much. I’ve been a liner note guy all my life. For better or for worse, I weigh in on a lot of things, but hopefully only where I can really add value.”

Navigating the retail complex surrounding Mr Mashburn’s store, which comes with its own café, is something of an endeavour when the designer is with you. He stops for a gab with everyone from the florist to the helpful staff at his wine shop, pulling aside passers-by, remembering their names, asking after their families and making jokes about conversations from several years back. “Be ready always,” he says. It’s a motto he lives and navigates his business by. “You never know who or what is coming across the threshold. When we first moved to Atlanta and opened our shop, I felt like the people here had this great attitude. Even in the throes of the economic downturn, it was like, ‘Today’s pretty good. I think tomorrow may be better.’”

A music enthusiast as well as a smooth talker, Mr Mashburn used to host his own radio show, The Sid Mashburn Radio Hour (WSID), on local AM radio station Voice Of The Arts. The station is no longer in business, but you can listen to many of the 58 episodes on Mr Mashburn’s website. He is still an avid gramophone enthusiast and often comes to find records new and old at Wax N Facts in Atlanta’s Little Five Points neighbourhood. The haul from his visit during the MR PORTER shoot? “I picked up Traffic’s On The Road album from 1973,” he says. “I love anything Traffic. I also love the cover.”

This bar is an Atlanta icon. It has a Mr Elvis Presley shrine and a Sinatra Room and it was where the Mashburns danced the night away at the company’s Christmas party. (Mr Mashburn is “the best dancer”, according to his wife.) During MR PORTER’s visit, dancing doesn’t seem to be on the menu, but the US Open is on TV, which leads us once again to discuss the rites and ritual of games (over Ranch Waters with mezcal). It’s no surprise Mr Mashburn is a fan of the bigger, brasher personalities in sport. Before long we are talking about the football and baseball star Mr Deion Sanders, whose gift for aphorism rivals Mr Mashburn’s own. Mr Sanders’ famous saying, it turns out, is well known to Mr Mashburn. “Oh, of course,” he says. “If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. If you play good, they pay good.” He hooks his suit jacket over a finger and throws it over his shoulder as if to say, “Need I say more?”