What a ride.
I started Red Clay Soul in 2009, which means this little corner of the Internet has now been around for more than sixteen years. That is difficult for me to believe.
RCS began on a simple Blogspot site with a new laptop, a new camera, and a serious interest in Southern style, culture, and the outdoors. I moved the site to WordPress in 2011, did a major redesign in 2015, then again in 2019, and it has continued to evolve ever since. There have been redesigns, new platforms, new voices, new interests, and a lot of life in between.
Now, it is time for the next chapter.
Welcome to Red Clay Soul v5.
This is more than a redesign of the blog. It is an entirely new Red Clay Soul portfolio experience, bringing the blog, Substack, Instagram, Shopify store, and email newsletter together under one cohesive look, voice, and philosophy.
The intent is simple: to make Red Clay Soul more useful, more enjoyable, and easier to experience wherever or however you interact with it.
Whether you are reading a long-form post on the site, opening the weekly newsletter, joining a conversation on Substack chat, scrolling through Instagram, or picking up something from the shop, it should all feel like the Red Clay Soul ethos.
The same point of view. The same standards. The same hospitality.
The same front porch, just with a few more doors.
What Red Clay Soul Is
I have always been somewhat uncomfortable talking about myself because I never want Red Clay Soul to become a story about me. It isn’t, and it never will be.
I do not run RCS to collect likes, chase Internet attention, or manufacture an online personality. I do it because I genuinely enjoy the work, the subjects, and the conversations that come from it. Red Clay Soul has always been about the reader. For those who have been around for a few years, you already understand what happens here. For newer readers, it is worth explaining:
Red Clay Soul is a men’s lifestyle publication with a distinctly Southern point of view. We talk about personal style, classic clothing, golf, hunting, fishing, travel, food, music, watches, sports, culture, and the people and places that fit within that world. We talk about what to wear, where to go, what to eat, what to buy, and what is worth your time. The goal is not to cover everything. The goal is to cover the right things well.
I have always believed there is a meaningful difference between fashion and style. Fashion moves quickly. Style develops over time. Red Clay Soul has always been much more interested in the latter. The same principle applies to nearly everything we cover. We are interested in products that improve with age, places worth returning to, traditions worth protecting, places and experiences worth remembering, and people who care deeply about what they do.
Where It Started
When I launched Red Clay Soul, I was inspired by a group of early blogs and publications that treated men’s style and Southern culture with real curiosity and substance. A Continuous Lean, Sartorially Inclined, Southern Gent, A Trip Down South, William Brown Project, the Ask Andy Trad Forum, and Garden & Gun were all early influences. Many of those platforms helped establish a type of independent publishing that felt personal without being self-centered and opinionated without becoming cynical.
They helped shape the early voice of Red Clay Soul. The best part: most of the people behind those publications are dear friends to this day. I’ve been to their weddings, held their kids, played rounds of golf, and fished with those folks. Good people.
Over the years, the subject matter expanded. Style led to travel. Travel led to golf. Golf led to more outdoor content. Family, food, music, watches, and the occasional strong opinion found their way into the mix. But the underlying idea has remained the same: Share good things with good people.
An Honest Point of View
Red Clay Soul has always been a place for honest opinions.
That does not mean every review needs to be harsh or every opinion needs to be delivered with an edge. There is already enough negativity on the Internet. We do not do negativity for sport.
When I write about a product, place, experience, or brand, the opinion will be honest. But I still believe in the old rule: if you cannot say something constructive, there is often no reason to say anything at all. I take no pleasure in tearing down a restaurant, a hotel, a piece of clothing, or someone else’s work simply to generate attention.
If something is not worth recommending, I usually move on. There are too many good things to talk about.
One Red Clay Soul Experience
The biggest change with Red Clay Soul 5.0 is that RCS is no longer just a blog. It is a connected portfolio.
The blog will remain the home for evergreen guides, longer stories, product features, travel notes, interviews, and the archive that has been built over the last sixteen years.
The Substack will offer more personal writing, regular columns, deeper recommendations, and a stronger community element. It is also home to the RCS Back Porch (Substack Chat): the conversational side of Red Clay Soul where subscribers can share ideas, ask questions, and participate in the discussion.
Instagram will continue to provide a more immediate look at what is happening: what I am wearing, where I am going, what I am testing, and what has caught my attention.
The email newsletter will pull the best of everything together. It will be the most efficient way to keep up with new stories, current recommendations, partnerships, products, and conversations across the RCS portfolio.
The Shopify store will house ‘always available’ Red Clay Soul merchandise from our favorite brands, as well as special releases that reflect the same design standards and point of view as the editorial content.
Each platform serves a different purpose, but none of them should feel disconnected from the others. You should be able to move from the blog to the newsletter, from Instagram to Substack, or from a story to the shop without feeling like you have entered a completely different brand.
That is the idea behind 5.0. Not more noise. A MUCH better experience.
Built for the Reader
When Red Clay Soul started, we did not have to think much about mobile formatting, page speed, security, image quality, social platforms, newsletters, subscriptions, or the dozens of technical details that now sit behind a modern media brand.
Today, all of that matters. But: the technology should remain in the background. The reader should simply enjoy the experience. The design should be easy to navigate. The photography should look good. The writing should be comfortable to read. The recommendations should be easy to find. The various platforms should work together instead of competing for attention.
The goal is not to make Red Clay Soul feel more complicated. The goal is to make it feel more complete.
The Conversation Continues
Red Clay Soul has always been intended to start a conversation.
I enjoy doing the research, taking the pictures, testing products, visiting places, and writing the stories. But the response from readers is what makes the work feel complete. That response arrives through comments, emails, texts, ‘Ask me Anything’s’, Instagram messages, Substack conversations, and the occasional introduction from someone who has been reading for years.
Those interactions have led to friendships, trips, recommendations, partnerships, and more than a few stories of their own. The RCS audience has always been more than traffic on a website. It is a community of people who tend to appreciate the same things: good style, good stories, good places, good equipment, good traditions, and a life lived with some intention.
Red Clay Soul 5.0 is designed to make that community feel more connected.
Looking Ahead
Sixteen years is a long time to do anything on the Internet.
I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has read, commented, shared a post, sent an email, bought something, recommended RCS to a friend, or simply continued to check in over the years. There is still a lot of hunting and gathering to do. There are more places to visit, more people to meet, more stories to tell, and more conversations to have.
The platform may continue to evolve, but the spirit of Red Clay Soul remains the same. Enjoy good things. Share what you learn. Treat people well. And leave the place a little better than you found it.
Welcome to Red Clay Soul 5.0.
I hope you enjoy the new place.
All the Best,
JRS
