Two guys walk into a bar and emerge with a modern clothing line made the old-fashioned way.

Stepping in from Rivington Street in Manhattan, a visitor to Freemans Sporting Club encounters a hand-painted sign hanging from a nail on the whitewashed brick wall behind the counter that neatly encapsulates the brand’s modus operandi. “Made within 10 miles NYC. Made Local. Buy Local.”

More than a tight collection of suits, blazers, denim and chore jackets, Freemans represents a philosophy for an idealised way of life.

“F.S.C. was established to pay tribute to the vanishing art of American handmade goods, and the quality and durability inherent in something made by skilled artisans,” says Mr Kent Kilroe, 45, the brand’s managing director. “Every F.S.C. garment is just a few hands removed from where it began, and is made by a new generation of artisans, tailors and sewers – all picking up the thread of a rich New York garment-making heritage.” In fact, the vast majority of those products are made within 10 miles of Freemans’ Lower East Side store – the distance is indicated by mile markers on their clothing labels.

F.S.C. grew out of Freemans restaurant, the high-meets-low tavern serving haute comfort cuisine in an unassuming space at the end of a graffitied alleyway just off the Bowery. “We adopted the locavore concept in the restaurant because the chefs were interested in buying produce locally and getting to know the vendors,” explains Mr Taavo Somer, 41, founder of the Freemans portfolio and creative director of F.S.C. “So we began to think, if we’re applying this philosophy and sensibility to the restaurant, why not continue it on the apparel side?”

The clothing business began life organically in 2005 via a collection of friends shooting pool in a room above the restaurant. “Originally we started making suits that didn’t have a brand name for these friends of ours,” says Mr Somer, a jack of all trades and master of architecture. “There was a sporting aspect to the group so the staff in the restaurant nicknamed us Freemans Sporting Club.” It stuck. When the retail space at the top of Freeman Alley became available in 2006, they relocated there and opened their menswear store, installing an old-school barbershop in the back.

In 2013, their next-door neighbours moved out so the barbershop expanded to take over that space, making room for F.S.C. to bring its master tailor, Mr Enrique Vijande, in-house.

Each of the interconnected Freemans businesses works to support the others. Customers who come for a haircut often pop next door to buy a shirt and then arrange to meet friends afterwards for brunch in the restaurant. Mr Somer calls the alley an ecosystem and says the proximity of his ventures helps them to cross-pollinate.

“When we started it seemed very natural to create different businesses, different disciplines that would all co-exist,” says Mr Somer who grew up in rural Pennsylvania where his mother was a jam-making gardener and his father was an engineer who built their solar-powered house. “I’ve always believed in hybridisation and biodynamic farming where everything can work together in concert. That’s a much healthier way of being and that’s always been the model I’ve looked at.”

The cross-pollination has spread across Manhattan and far beyond. Ten years ago, the New York retail landscape looked very different and was dominated by super-brands and vast department stores. “We were pioneers in changing that,” says Mr Kilroe. F.S.C. was among the first of a new generation of carefully curated independent stores to offer men a clubby space where they would feel comfortable to shop and hang out. “We wanted to create something that reflected our tastes for a less feminine experience,” says Mr Somer, sitting in a battered armchair in the shop. “That also goes for the barbershop. Before this we had to get our hair cut in beauty salons while reading Cosmo and Vogue. So we created a space that was designed for us.”

Considering Mr Somer rarely ventures beyond Freeman Alley if he can help it, his influence is wide-ranging. For someone so determinedly anti-fashion – “We don’t see ourselves as a fashion brand at all” – he has spearheaded a remarkable number of trends that have gone global over the past decade. Barbershops, beards, lumbersexuals, taxidermy – you can credit/ blame Mr Somer for much of that. The New York Times dubbed him “godfather of urban woodsmen, high priest of heritage chic”. He’s “the patron saint of hipsters” according to New York hotelier Mr Sean MacPherson. “They follow him, and he rejects it. The more he rejects it, the more he becomes it.”

Mr Somer arrived in New York in 2000 as an architect. But he grew restless of his firm’s “cultlike dedication to minimalism” and quit within six months to begin working for Mr Serge Becker, a partner in numerous New York nightlife venues (La Esquina, The Box), managing the construction of a new restaurant. All the while during his late twenties, he dabbled in a bit of this and a bit of that: designing cheeky T-shirts with slogans such as “Let’s not ruin this with words” that sold for $88 at Barneys department store; and hosting rock’n’roll parties at a bawdy club in the financial district. It was while looking for a venue for a Halloween extravaganza that he came across the dilapidated shell of a space that would become Freemans – and he poured everything he had into making a success of it.

In the subsequent 12 years, Mr Somer has made a name for himself as a high-achieving polymath – he’s launched several other venues and works as an interior designer for hire. He has recently started a creative agency and furniture business. Plus he remains creative director of F.S.C. in which capacity he has designed an exclusive capsule collection of unstructured summer tailoring for MR PORTER.

With his “make more, think less” mantra, Mr Somer is one of life’s doers. His architectural training underpins everything. “For an architect there is a very linear process to design,” he says. “You just break it up into steps and work through them. Doesn’t matter if you’re working on a restaurant, a chair or a suit. If you have this method, everything becomes manageable.”