Birmingham native Jermaine Ervin's menswear boutique is downtown by design. Two doors from Armour House, the shop windows of J. Ervin Collection are dressed up for the viewing pleasure of diners coming and going. "You might not need a suit today," Ervin says, "but when you need a suit, I want you to remember this shop."
Ask him to describe his personal style, and one era comes up immediately: the 1920s. Not the flapper caricature, but working New Yorkers. "The blue-collar workers – they were still dressing up. Everybody had a tailor, everybody had the dry cleaner they used," he explains. A relationship-based world, dressed properly, top to bottom.
That aesthetic didn't come from nowhere. His aunt worked for Vogue in New York, and childhood trips to visit her meant time around pattern makers and stylists — plus a front-row seat to her own effortless, ultra-confident preppy style. "She gave me a window into a world I was already interested in," he says.
Before he could afford the looks he liked, he thrifted them — cheap finds taken straight to a tailor to be reshaped into something closer to the vision in his head. His signature now is a bold peak lapel jacket, the wide 1920s shape updated with a slimmer modern trouser. He didn't make himself a plain notch lapel jacket until last year — and it remains the only one in his closet. "I've been kind of consistent in my style," he laughs.
That consistency comes with a firm philosophy: no boxes. His own preference is a clean pant break, hitting the top of the shoe with no puddle. But a client who's worn a suit a certain way for 50 years gets met where he is. "There's so much variation, and that's why we do custom — because it's creative, and when you kill the creativity, you might as well go to a big box store.”
The same logic governs ties: proportion over rules. Pants at the natural waist, tie landing right around the belt line. "It's all about proportion in style, from the top to the bottom, creating the whole silhouette and making it flow."
He has his own signature tie knot, a technique his uncle in New York taught him as a kid — one he later refined while sitting in front of a mirror until he'd found a version that worked with any collar. When his uncle passed away, the family asked him to tie his tie for the funeral. "That was a big deal for me.”
Menswear isn't Ervin's only calling. He preached his first sermon in San Francisco in 2017, at age 26, after years leading his church's youth ministry — and knew, in that moment, he would never stop preaching. Nearly a decade of travel followed before he and his family (wife, Bri, and kids Stella Jade, Beckham Grey, and Brooklyn Dior) felt called to settle down in Birmingham. They planted a church in Birmingham this year. As of today, the growing congregation of New Life Hoover meets across the street on 1st Avenue North at Memory Lane, the popular sneaker shop co-owned by one of his best friends, Tanarius Hayes.
Asked about the similarities between custom suiting and ministering, Ervin is quick to respond. "We're in the people business," he says. "It's bigger than me just selling you a garment. I want to get to know you." Whether it's a groom on his biggest day or a young person launching their dream career, the job is the same: meet people where they are, and help them be their best.
J. Ervin Collection is located at 2301 1st Ave N, Suite 103, Birmingham, AL 35203, open by appointment. Appointments can be booked through jervincollection.com or via Instagram @jervincollection.
"It's all about proportion in style, from the top to the bottom, creating the whole silhouette and making it flow."