Chace Crawford Reveals How Creating His Fashion Brand Gave Him a New Appreciation for “Gossip Girl” Days (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Chace Crawford has launched a fashion brand called American Dream Clubhouse, which features everything from polos to fun golf shirts

• The actor, 39, talks exclusively with PEOPLE about the line and how he found support through friends Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry

• The Gossip Girl alum also reveals how starring on the hit teen drama influenced his personal style, and which item from the line his character Nate would wear

Almost two decades after starring on one of the most fashion-forward shows on television, Chace Crawford is making his own mark on the fashion world.

The Gossip Girl alum, 39, recently launched his clothing brand, American Dream Clubhouse, a business venture he tells PEOPLE has been in the works since 2023.

After wrapping production for The Boys season 4 that April ahead of the SAG strike, Crawford tells PEOPLE he found himself searching for something to do “outside of the industry.”

Eventually, that search morphed into the creation of American Dream Clubhouse as he tried to create the perfect t-shirt to keep up with his active lifestyle. Though he jokes that he’s no “Johnny Fashion,” he wanted his line to be wearable, from fun printed shirts on the golf course to comfortable hoodies you could wear at the gym.

“The theme [of the line] is made to move,” he explains, adding, “I’m from Texas and I’m always on the go flying and whatnot. It’s like an active on-the-go lifestyle for people who don’t want to think too much about what they’re wearing.”

With all the highs and lows that come with being an actor, Crawford admits that getting the line up and running was an exciting new challenge for him.

“Now that I’m almost 40, I feel like I have a thicker skin being an actor for 20 years,” he admits. “It is just the name of that game is all rejection and you finally get a win. I’m used to uncertainty and being able to wrap my mind around uncertainty. In the business world, that’s a huge asset and I realized I like that side of it too.”

Throughout the creative process, he also leaned on his close friends, Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry. “I’ve known them for a long time since we were in our twenties,” he prefaces, noting that they’ve been “supportive friends” of both the brand and his career in general.

“It can be tough in the acting industry to make good friends and when you grow with people from your early days as an actor, I’ve been very fortunate enough to be able to maintain relationships because people move and you work and it can be tough and guys can be easy,” he says. “You just pick up right where you left off. And I think it’s so crucial as an actor to have that support and there’s no competition. There’s just all support, all love, and they’re there when you need them and if your schedules line up, you take fun trips and you just hang out.”

Coming from a fashion-centered series like Gossip Girl, Crawford admits that donning designer on the day-to-day when he was younger certainly influenced his personal style in several ways.

“Eric Damon, he was such a legend and I think he still is a legend,” he says of the show’s costume designer, who recently reunited with Gossip Girl alum Blake Lively for It Ends with Us. “He was the fashion expert on Gossip Girl. [As] I look back, I appreciate what he did more. I was always like, ‘Ugh, another peacoat. I look like I’m a sailor.’ But he really crushed it on the classic look like my personal style.”

“Back then, people weren’t into fashion as they are now,” he continues. “It was just all suits and tuxedos and kind of like, ‘Oh, what color tie are you going to wear?’ And now all these guys are just, oh my God, they’re crushing it. I can’t compete with that. I am not really a fashion-oriented person, even though I appreciate it. But I like Paul Newman style, Steve McQueen. I’m more into fit, comfort and longevity and authenticity.”

“Being in New York made me appreciate fashion in a whole new way. I didn’t realize it was such an expansive world,” he adds. “But I think for American Dream Clubhouse, we wanted to sort of bridge the gap of guys that are all over the country that don’t really either care or they just want it elevated, sophisticated. It was going to be accessible, but a little bit aspirational and just classic.”

Though he notes that his personal style is much more laid back than his Gossip Girl character’s looks, he does admit that there “is a little bit overlap for sure,” pointing out that Nate would definitely wear a few pieces from American Dream Clubhouse.

“Nate would definitely wear the coastal polos,” he says. “It’s got no buttons down there, maybe in a lighter color, the darker polos maybe for nighttime, for dinner dates, stuff like that. The hoodie for running, working out. As we grow, I want to do a good pullover sweatshirt or sweater, something elevated and then something for a more active situation as well. So whether it’s in New York at dinner or in Tahoe on the boat by a fire, I want it to spread and span both situations and worlds.”

Read the original article on People