PERSONA Clothes, and Much More, Have Made This Man When you hear the word “fashion,” images of willowy models strutting down runways draped in women’s clothing comes to mind, but in reality, there’s also a sector of high end, impeccable clothing styles that are also available to men. Enter J. Lawrence Khaki’s Men’s Clothier of Carmel. Summer 2008

JULIE ENGELHARDT

For the past sixteen years this exquisite men’s store has been an anchor at the Barnyard Shopping Village, offering their loyal customers American luxury brands as well as top brands from Italy and Europe. Khaki’s has only had one owner during its existence, entrepreneur and visionary, Jim Ockert, who works side-by-side overseeing every detail of the store’s operation with his wife, Connie.

It’s not surprising that Ockert has done so well with his own clothing business for nearly two decades. Retail is ‘in his blood,’ so-to-speak. His parents owned their own store while he was growing up, so he was around the business at a very early age. Ockert’s career path has included performing as a professional drummer in a rock band and working in timber mills, but he eventually invested his time and talents in the clothing business. He honed his skills and gained invaluable knowledge while working in the fashion denim business, at JCPenney and for Nordstrom. Ockert said that while working at Nordstrom the idea of maintaining a career in the clothing industry really ‘clicked.’

“I had a dream of a better men’s clothing store and a newer, fresher approach to men’s clothing,” Ockert said.

Ockert says that Khaki’s was a success from the start, and there’s definitely no sign of its popularity ever waning. Khaki’s has been honored as one of the 100 Best Men’s Clothing Stores in America, and by MR Magazine as one of the top 25 men’s clothing stores. But besides being a savvy businessman, Ockert also has a generous, charitable side as well, and has done what he can to help others throughout the years, both personally and professionally.

Ockert has two grown children, Nick and Amy, who are doing very well in their own respect. Ockert dearly believed in making the family home an open haven for anyone who wanted to visit. Many of the young men who’d come to the house were kids who played sports with Nick.

“There were always guys at the house; it was a revolving door,” Ockert explained. “Some of them stayed there for awhile.”

He always took the time to spend with his son’s friends, especially when they were encountering difficult situations in their lives. Ockert said that if he weren’t in the clothing business he would love to be a coach, but admits he doesn’t have the training. “My version of that is, I do what I do, and people come my way,” he explained. A part of his benevolence comes from witnessing his parents giving to friends and the community, but they never expected anything in return, and neither does he.

Several years ago Ockert expanded his philanthropic efforts and decided he wanted to do something that would benefit both the Juvenile Diabetes Research Association as well as the Carmel Valley Youth Center. That was just the beginning of the highly successful Khaki’s Ferrari fundraising event which is held during the same week as the Concours d’Elegance. All proceeds go directly to the two charities; about 80 percent to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Association and 20 percent to the Carmel Valley Youth Center.

“We want to raise as much money as we can,” he said. “The interesting thing is we’re a store, a clothing store, and there’s no clothing store in the United States that tries to do this. We do it and we tie it to a cause. Anything that comes into the event goes directly to those two causes.” °