Interviews
INTERVIEW FOUR: Nikos, owner and creator of Phantom Global.
(September 2, 2019)
To start off, who are you and what is Phantom Global? Well, I'm just a 15 year old kid with a love of entrepreneurship and I've always loved art and music, whether it was drawing when I was younger, to singing, to producing - I've never lost my love for art and music, so when I first saw brands like Lyrical Lemonade, Half Evil, Ransom and FTP, it really made me get into researching streetwear and I fell in love with the idea of me making something people would hopefully love and want to wear. It wasn't until I talked to Dylan (of Worldwide Youth) that I realized that the people who own these fascinating and fire brands were no different than you and I. It took me a failed launch and a lot of time and research to land on the name Phantom Global. I wanted something that no one had and that I actually enjoyed. I'm used to referring to my brand as Phantom but its true name is Phantom Global.
What inspired the name Phantom and what about the name holds value to you? While making the name, it was definitely challenging to find a solid name that had meaning and wasn't used. I loved the word Phantom because of the meanings it could have for someone, whether it's a ghost, some sort of hero/villain, or I've even heard it reminds people of Danny Phantom in a sense that it's someone's other side or different way of feeling. I was also inspired by Worldwide Youth because he told me he wanted it to incorporate everyone around the world as I wanted Phantom to be. I wanted everyone to know Phantom and get a new meaning of who and what Phantom is.
It's obvious that a lot of your work and your drive comes from inspiration. You've spoke of Dylan from Worldwide Youth, but who are some other inspirations and how have they impacted you as a creative? My first would have to be Cole Bennett especially. He inspired me when I first saw Red Roses in October 2017 when I seriously picked up my love for what he does and who he is as a person (He's very humble and caring, shout out Cole!). Another would have to be XXXTentacion because I love how he never cared about what anybody else thought about who he was and what he was doing. His line 'BAD' is strictly from him and what he liked and I know he wouldn't have changed it to anyone else's likings if he didn't mess with it. I have a lot of inspirations and people I look up to. GloupJake is like a brother to me and really inspires me and reminds me to keep chasing my dreams, and shows me nothing but love and humbleness (shoutout Jake!). I look up to my dad because he started with nothing and built his business to what it is today by himself. There's so many people, but quick shoutouts to Sam of Half Evil, Jonny Ransom, and all of the Lyrical Lemonade team!
Your very first release just sold out. What went through your head when you found out you hit this major milestone? To be honest, I put in countless hours, and my first brand I ever dropped had about 1/3 more followers and made only a single sale (2 including my dad lol). I knew I had to put a lot more time and effort into this one, but I only thought I'd sell not even a fourth of the stock. I sold half of it in the first 5 minutes. I'm beyond grateful for anyone and everyone who likes the brand. I'm only putting out designs and things I would wear (I'm very picky too *laughing emoji*). It feels crazy knowing I have some sort of fan base who genuinely likes my clothing. There's more to come!
To close this out, what can we expect in the future from Phantom Global? You can expect nothing but the best from Phantom. I'm going to make sure my brand will make high quality designs, clothing, support, everything. I want Phantom to be more of a group and a movement than a following. Most importantly, I want everyone to know you can literally do anything you want in the world. You're literally capable of anything you put yourself to work for. One thing you'll notice about the people who are at the top, whether that's rap, clothing, or acting, they never gave up, which is why they are where they are today. If you got a phone especially, you're at an advantage to people 20 years ago. We have the world in our hands. Don't put it to waste. (And shoutout Vital Studios! <3)
You can keep up with the future of this 15 year old phenomenon on his social media linked below.
INTERVIEW THREE: Nick Hunt, owner and creator of Absurd.
(August 14th, 2019)
Originally, in 2017, Nick and I had done an interview for my freshman year English career project. For extra credit, the objective was to speak to somebody from your profession about what they do, the strengths and weaknesses of the job, and any additional questions. My profession I had chosen was fashion designer/graphic designer. The following three images are slides from that project.
What is absurd and what inspired the idea of creating the name and brand? Absurd for right now is my personal idea of what I think cool clothes are. Everything I make is what I want to personally wear. The name came from when I started doing art and graffiti, and I chose a word from the type of style I was doing. It was weird, so the name was fitting, plus the name is super simple and short. Just absurd.
Are there any graffiti artists or artists in general that draw your attention? Any personal favorites? Mostly just [Jean-Michel] Basquiat. I loved his work in middle and high school. I wish I had my old stuff. I'd throw out all my notebooks and papers out once summer hit.
Is there any specific Basquiat piece that you love? There's this white hardcover with all of his pieces/notebook drawings that are amazing. Mans died too young. Don't do heroin.
For me, I first discovered your brand through your appreciation towards video games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Halo 3. What impact have video games had for you in the past and present? What game have you been playing recently? What game are you looking forward to in the future? Video games are my first love. I've been playing video games since I was a young kid. I used to play Twisted Metal early on. My parents didn't mind me playing rated M games, so I was able to play the first Halo when it came out. I think video games are just a perfect stress free outlet no matter what. I'm loving everything I'm seeing in the future. The new Halo: Infinite looks promising (hopefully,) and so does the new Call of Duty. The new Cyberpunk too, wow. Just video games in general. Overall graphics will be fucking insane 10 years down the road, also virtual reality. Wow. Who knows when that'll be the thing everyone's going to be using casually. I've only tried it once for like five minutes. Super realistic it's scary. Right now I mostly just play Minecraft. That's probably the best game of all time (besides Halo 3).
Not too long ago, you were featured on Issue One of the Casual Fridays magazine. What did that mean to you to be apart of the cover as well as share your story with many other designers? My head tattoo was the cover for the first ever issue of the CF magazine. I was honestly surprised because at first, I was going to be the back cover of the magazine, since it's the back of my head. Ricky later hit me up and said he's putting me on the cover and I was shocked. I got so much love for [Casual Fridays.] They covered me making my own video game, which still surprises me that I was able to achieve that. I'm very thankful for them.
What are some brands that have caught your attention or that you've gained interest in lately? I think I enjoy the people who run brands personally, but I enjoy brands that have their own aesthetic, as well. Brands like felt (For Every Living Thing), H33M, FTP, Half Evil's $3 shirts are cool, and I like how Holiday only releases on holidays. That shit's tight. But I also love brands that do it themselves like Vienna.
Continuing forward, what would you like to change or improve upon with your brand? I would like to get more involved in gaming. I also want to do more cut-and-sew stuff/allover prints. Maybe some collabs.
What do you have in store for your next release, and what does the future look like for absurd? I plan on coming out with a new collection called, "Absurd Positivity," which is all about self love, self care, etc. and should be really fun. Really looking forward to 2020.
You can keep up with absurd's next adventure on their social media and website below.
INTERVIEW TWO: Andrew, owner and creator of Lost Appeal.
(July 12th, 2019)
To open this interview, you just had a pop-up in Durham, NC this weekend. How did that go and what was a standout moment during the event? It was sick man, I just did the first day of it today, still got tomorrow to go. People really showed love. Some of my homies I've never met in real life before drove over an hour to it and copped a bunch of clothes. Shit like that is why I keep going.
When did you start Lost Appeal and what was your inspiration to take the direction of clothing design? Well, Lost Appeal started out in 2011 as the name of my experimental/noise music project when I was a freshman in high school. I made music under that name for like 2 years and then stopped. When I was in high school, I used to run a blog and label called Operation Grindcore which was primarily focused on grind core/power-violence/extreme music in general. Around 2014-2015, I wanted to make a clothing brand and kept the Lost Appeal name. I got into "streetwear" in 9th grade when I discovered Fuct and Mishka. As far as the inspiration for the graphic style of Lost Appeal, it's basically just a culmination of different shit I'm into. The first couple drops under Lost Appeal were designed by tattoo artists. Tattoos have always been an inspiration to me, but around 2016, I just started doing basically all designs myself and wanted to take a more DIY approach to everything. Noise music definitely is a big inspiration to my whole design process, as well as movies.
In my previous interview with Jaecob from Vienna, I asked him how NC has influenced him as a person and a brand. What impact has North Carolina had on you as a designer and a person? I don't really know if NC has influenced me that much either to be honest. There really isn't any other brands out here that I fuck with (Vienna is fire though, and we may or may not have a collab in the works). I was born in Raleigh, but basically grew up after age 6 in the country, about 30 minutes away from Raleigh. There really wasn't anyone else out here that was into the same music/clothes/art that I am. I was pretty much a loner until I graduated from high school. I guess I still am in many ways too.
Aside from Vienna, is there any other brands you have your eye on that you would want to collab with or any brands that you have loved lately? I really wanna steer away from collabs with other brands honestly. Only brands other than Vienna that I would collab with are Mishka, Cav Empt, or Braindead. I'm honestly not fucking with 99% of the brands I've been seeing recently.
What's a turn off for you when it comes to designs/brands? I think a lot of brands lately are just using imagery/references for shit they know absolutely nothing about and feel like many brands have no substance at all. I still have a long way to go with what I'm doing with Lost Appeal and am not where I wanna be at all right now but I'm working on it. I wanna start doing more cut and sew and conceptual collections in the future. As cliche as it might sound, making clothes/designs is my outlet to express my emotions and shit, and probably the main reason I'm not dead yet.
Honestly the same to be honest with you. It helps to express my ideas and as Cole Bennett puts it, helps to "let the creative juices flow." To run off your previous comment, where do you see the future of Lost Appeal? I wanna be able to survive and pay my bills just off selling clothes. I'm doing my first fashion show next month and have some really cool shit planned for it, so I would love to do some runway shows/art installations. I'm also working on some cut and sew pieces. I'm planning on booking shows more regularly too. I have a crazy show planned in September that I set up with Live Nation in Raleigh. The lineup will be announced August 18th I believe.
Big big things bro. Hope to hear how it maps out. Those were all the questions I really had. You were able to expand on a lot, so I appreciate you taking the time to express yourself and your brand. Thank you bro! I'm releasing my first 'full' collection next month too, so I'm super excited for that to drop.
You can keep up with Lost Appeal's next journey on their social media and website below.
INTERVIEW ONE: JAECOB HILTON, owner and creator of Vienna.
(June 7th, 2019)
To start off, what is Vienna and how long have you been running it? Vienna is my clothing brand and I started designing in 2015 but dropped the first piece in 2016.
What was the inspiration for the name? Mac Miller dropped a song on his SoundCloud under his Larry Fisherman profile. The name of the song was Vienna, and while I was listening, I typed it into Photoshop and it started from there. I think people worry too much about the name of a brand and I just want my designs to speak for themselves. You could put these designs under any name and it would still feel whole all around.
Speaking of Mac Miller, what are some of your favorite songs by him? BDE Bonus, One Last Thing, Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza, In the Air, and Poppy. Just growing up listening to him and watching his career develop was awesome. R.I.P. Mac.
During our FaceTime calls, we often hear your mom giving you advice and sharing love for your designs. How has she influenced you as a person and as a designer? I wouldn't be the person I am today without my mom. She taught me to have an open mind and not to hate. She's a great person. Her influence on my designs would be to keep trying new things and switching stuff up. If I show her a design, she can tell if I had something similar but that's pretty much it. She's my number one supporter honestly. Growing up, she would always say "I'd rather you make designs and make clothes" because she thinks it keeps me out of getting in trouble. I saw it was a good way to use my time, but I never looked at it like that.
Earlier this year, you had a popup for Charlotte's UsVersusTheWorld NBA All Star Weekend event. What was the energy like and what were some moments that stood out to you the most? It was really cool having my clothes on a rack and having my own table for people to see what I care about the most. It was great meeting 10Cellphones for the first time because I've been sending him clothes for the longest and he was just telling me how appreciative he was. It just felt real genuine and natural. I also met this talented videographer who makes videos for Swoosh God and Fatboy SSE. He came down from New York and I actually got to talk to Swoosh on FaceTime and all around was just another natural experience seeing someone passionate about what they do. Shoutout to Tysnapz. Another exciting moment would probably be the fight that ended the show early lol. Thanks to UsVersusTheWorld for giving me the opportunity to come out.
How has growing up in North Carolina influenced you and your brand? Honestly, I think North Carolina has no influence. Maybe seeing all the materialistic people gave me drive to make my own brand. The direction of my brand comes solely from the internet and all the brands, cool people, and different styles I see everyday. I think it's great to have little influences from everything around me and just keep art growing.
What are some recent brands that have caught your attention? Definitely Bugsex, The Good Company, Absurd, Dertbag, H33M, Misguided, FTP, and felt. Lately these brands have been really consistent and doing the right things with clothes in my opinion. However, there would be no Vienna without the brands "The Palisade" and "Rori." These brands were ran by my good friend Alex Rios. I really try to thank him as much as I can. He taught me all the little things and gave me the most drive to start my brand. I remember him teaching me about good presentation and sticking with designs that you personally think is cool. Shoutout Rios!
To close this out, where do you see the future of Vienna and is there anything you have in store for us soon? I don't know where this roads goes for Vienna, but as long as I stay true and consistent towards my brand, great things will come. I'm a true believer of hard work paying off and all around it just makes me happy to keep making clothes and want people to be happy wearing my clothes. I have my first collaboration with H33M! I'm super excited and can't thank him enough for giving me this opportunity to work with someone I look up to. All around everything I'm doing feels good. Also, after the collaboration, I have a summer collection coming up called "False Advertisement," and will be introducing women's clothing for Vienna for the first time so that's exciting.
You can keep up with Jaecob and Vienna on social media and his website as well.