GQ: That’s a budget issue as well.
Walt Frazier: Well, people think I pay a lot for my suits, but I don’t. You know, you can get inexpensive clothes. Some guys are paying three, four thousand for a suit. I wouldn’t do that. The tailor is the guy who makes the suit and fits it the way you want it to fit. So that shouldn’t cost that much money.
GQ: Were sneakers a big deal in the 70s?
Walt Frazier: I was the first one to introduce a sneaker. The Puma Clyde. They came out with a suede shoe. The other shoes were canvas. It was blue suede with a white stripe. And even before that, when I wore my Converse, I had one orange string and one blue string in the sneakers. Nobody else was doing that.
GQ: And the “Clyde” thing—your nickname is a sartorial reference.
Walt Frazier: From the movie Bonnie and Clyde. What happened was, when I first started I wasn’t playing well as a rookie. So to pacify myself I used to go shopping. So I would go out buy clothes, go to my room, dress up, and look in the mirror and say, Well, I ain’t playing good but I still look good! And one day we were in Baltimore, and I’m looking in the window of a hat store. I see this Borsalino hat. Brown velour. But it has a wide rim. And like today, everybody then was wearing the narrow brim. But I never liked the narrow brim. So first time I wore the hat everybody laughed at me. My teammates. The guys on the other team. And I go hey, man, I look good in this hat, I’m going to keep it on. And as fate would have it, two weeks later Bonnie and Clyde comes out.