Duke R
09/13/03, 12:26 PM
To start off, you need to know the word “core.” Now, you can’t look this word up in the dictionary and find its true meaning. No, the word “core” that I will be using is a slang term. It means, true to ones beliefs, holding strong, and independent. It is about being hard, and not selling out. It means to know where you come from and to be proud of it. Ok, now that you know that, let’s move on.
If you happen to live in Orange County, you will know what I am about to talk about. If you don’t, you might have to look a little harder in your home town to find this phenomenon, but it’s around. Here in Orange County we have a growing number of independent clothing companies. These clothing companies keep things core, they aren’t about selling out or making lots of money. It doesn’t matter that no stores want to carry there bullshit t-shirts, fuck those stores, they’re not about that. No, these companies (I use the term in the loosest possible sense) are about keeping it real, they’re about bros and babes. Like I said, Orange County seems to be the breeding ground for a lot of these guys.
For some reason, these clothing companies want to stay core. I personally don’t know how clothes can be core, but then again, I don’t have a clothing company. They don’t want to sell a lot of clothes, that would be selling out. And they don’t want their stuff sold in stores (also selling out). If you’re successful, you are pretty much a sell out. Bet you didn’t know the clothing industry was just like the music industry, did you.
So, basically it all starts when, one day two bros are gnoshing on some grub, and one bro says to the next, “Dude, we should totally start our own clothing company.” The other bro is confused. After all, what do they know about clothing companies? But, his colleague convinces him, over several natty ices, that they know plenty about clothing companies. They know what they like, and they know what other dudes like, so why not go into business for themselves. Brilliant. You probably have several dudes like this in your home town, or hundreds if you live in Orange County or the Riverside area.
So right about now you are probably thinking that you, too, would like to start your own clothing company. Perhaps you could be the next Famous Star and Stripes or the next Volcom or the next Big Dogs. Besides, those companies aren’t keeping it core anymore, they’ve sold out. So, here are a couple easy steps to starting your very own clothing company:
1. COME UP WITH A COOL NAME. A cool name is essential. Try using a cool word, like Sullen or Eden. Don’t worry about what the word means, it’s not important. Another idea is to integrate the name of the place where you live (this keeps things core). Like Double OC or American Hero.
2. MAKE A DESIGN. Next, you need to design a logo for your company. Don’t work too hard, designing is for ****, and you’re no ***. Instead, just use one of the fonts you have on your computer, or if you know how to use the internet, download a font that looks cool (mimicking other products is cool and core. Go to fontfreak.com). If you want, you can even come up with a little symbol that represents your company. Stars are good, everybody likes stars.
3. STICKERS. Stickers are super important, even more important than actual clothes. Take that design you made and send it 123stickers.com or stickerguy.com, you can get a thousand stickers for around two hundred bucks. Once you get these stickers, start sticking them everywhere. Places you like to eat, the parking lot of other clothing companies, the back of your car, everywhere. Don’t worry about the fact that you don’t have any clothes yet, remember, stickers are more important than actual clothes.
4. MAKE SOME SHIRTS. Go and buy some Hanes or Fruit of the Loom t-shirts. I know what you’re thinking, but they won’t be Hanes t-shirts once you’ve put your design on the front of them. Now, screen the name of your company onto the front of these shirts, don’t be too fancy, just the name of your company will do ya. If you really want to, you can throw your symbol on there, too. As long as your symbol uses stars, I can’t stress this enough.
5. GIVE OUT SHIRTS TO YOUR FRIENDS. When I say give, I mean charge them cost. We don’t want to go in the hole for this. Anyway, have your friends wear your shirts to bars and parties and stuff. Make sure your friends are core, you don’t want **** wearing your gear.
6. STRICKERS. Once again, stickers are super important. This time, make really big stickers to put on the back window of your truck and your friends trucks and your girlfriend, I mean bitch, sorry bro, on her truck. Basically, everybody’s truck needs one of your stickers, or a couple if your friends are really core.
7. BEAT PEOPLE UP. A lot of people forget this one. In order to keep things core, you need tough guys to wear your shirts. You know that guy at all the parties who stands by the keg and beats the shit out of ******s and wears, like, a XXXL t-shirt and who everybody calls Big (insert name here). Yeah that guy, make sure he’s wearing one of your shirts.
8. SPONSOR BANDS. To let everybody know how core you are, you need to sponsor somebody, and bands are a good place to start. Bands love free stuff, they call it “schwag”. So, find yourself some bands. The best bands are the bands that sound like Sublime. Ideally, you’d want Sublime to wear your gear, but that guys dead, so instead find the next best thing. You want a band that can play at parties (a core band). A band that Big what ever his name is can beat **** up to (he needs a soundtrack). Something mellow, but not too mellow. It’s got to be punk rock too. Once you find them, give them some free shirts and tell them to wear them all the time. If they have trucks, give them some stickers.
9. KEEP THINGS CORE. The final and most important step. Around this time, if you’ve completed all these steps, you will be tempted to start trying to sell your clothes in stores, or to branch out and come up with some original ideas or to actually make your clothes instead of just buying Hanes beefy tees and screening your companies name on the front. Do not do any of this! If you do, you’ll be a sell out. Keeping things core is essential. If you slip up, and try to sell your stuff to stores or run ads in magazines and then nobody buys your stuff, don’t feel stupid. Just remind yourself, you’re core and you don’t want **** wearing your gear anyway. If people liked your clothes and wanted to buy them, then you’d be no better then those other clothing company sell outs.
So, once you’ve done a couple of these steps (stickers are the only mandatory step) then you pretty much have a clothing company. Well, a core one anyway. Personally, I buy most of my clothes at Target. Target is not core. They are total sell outs, which makes me a poser ******.
If you happen to live in Orange County, you will know what I am about to talk about. If you don’t, you might have to look a little harder in your home town to find this phenomenon, but it’s around. Here in Orange County we have a growing number of independent clothing companies. These clothing companies keep things core, they aren’t about selling out or making lots of money. It doesn’t matter that no stores want to carry there bullshit t-shirts, fuck those stores, they’re not about that. No, these companies (I use the term in the loosest possible sense) are about keeping it real, they’re about bros and babes. Like I said, Orange County seems to be the breeding ground for a lot of these guys.
For some reason, these clothing companies want to stay core. I personally don’t know how clothes can be core, but then again, I don’t have a clothing company. They don’t want to sell a lot of clothes, that would be selling out. And they don’t want their stuff sold in stores (also selling out). If you’re successful, you are pretty much a sell out. Bet you didn’t know the clothing industry was just like the music industry, did you.
So, basically it all starts when, one day two bros are gnoshing on some grub, and one bro says to the next, “Dude, we should totally start our own clothing company.” The other bro is confused. After all, what do they know about clothing companies? But, his colleague convinces him, over several natty ices, that they know plenty about clothing companies. They know what they like, and they know what other dudes like, so why not go into business for themselves. Brilliant. You probably have several dudes like this in your home town, or hundreds if you live in Orange County or the Riverside area.
So right about now you are probably thinking that you, too, would like to start your own clothing company. Perhaps you could be the next Famous Star and Stripes or the next Volcom or the next Big Dogs. Besides, those companies aren’t keeping it core anymore, they’ve sold out. So, here are a couple easy steps to starting your very own clothing company:
1. COME UP WITH A COOL NAME. A cool name is essential. Try using a cool word, like Sullen or Eden. Don’t worry about what the word means, it’s not important. Another idea is to integrate the name of the place where you live (this keeps things core). Like Double OC or American Hero.
2. MAKE A DESIGN. Next, you need to design a logo for your company. Don’t work too hard, designing is for ****, and you’re no ***. Instead, just use one of the fonts you have on your computer, or if you know how to use the internet, download a font that looks cool (mimicking other products is cool and core. Go to fontfreak.com). If you want, you can even come up with a little symbol that represents your company. Stars are good, everybody likes stars.
3. STICKERS. Stickers are super important, even more important than actual clothes. Take that design you made and send it 123stickers.com or stickerguy.com, you can get a thousand stickers for around two hundred bucks. Once you get these stickers, start sticking them everywhere. Places you like to eat, the parking lot of other clothing companies, the back of your car, everywhere. Don’t worry about the fact that you don’t have any clothes yet, remember, stickers are more important than actual clothes.
4. MAKE SOME SHIRTS. Go and buy some Hanes or Fruit of the Loom t-shirts. I know what you’re thinking, but they won’t be Hanes t-shirts once you’ve put your design on the front of them. Now, screen the name of your company onto the front of these shirts, don’t be too fancy, just the name of your company will do ya. If you really want to, you can throw your symbol on there, too. As long as your symbol uses stars, I can’t stress this enough.
5. GIVE OUT SHIRTS TO YOUR FRIENDS. When I say give, I mean charge them cost. We don’t want to go in the hole for this. Anyway, have your friends wear your shirts to bars and parties and stuff. Make sure your friends are core, you don’t want **** wearing your gear.
6. STRICKERS. Once again, stickers are super important. This time, make really big stickers to put on the back window of your truck and your friends trucks and your girlfriend, I mean bitch, sorry bro, on her truck. Basically, everybody’s truck needs one of your stickers, or a couple if your friends are really core.
7. BEAT PEOPLE UP. A lot of people forget this one. In order to keep things core, you need tough guys to wear your shirts. You know that guy at all the parties who stands by the keg and beats the shit out of ******s and wears, like, a XXXL t-shirt and who everybody calls Big (insert name here). Yeah that guy, make sure he’s wearing one of your shirts.
8. SPONSOR BANDS. To let everybody know how core you are, you need to sponsor somebody, and bands are a good place to start. Bands love free stuff, they call it “schwag”. So, find yourself some bands. The best bands are the bands that sound like Sublime. Ideally, you’d want Sublime to wear your gear, but that guys dead, so instead find the next best thing. You want a band that can play at parties (a core band). A band that Big what ever his name is can beat **** up to (he needs a soundtrack). Something mellow, but not too mellow. It’s got to be punk rock too. Once you find them, give them some free shirts and tell them to wear them all the time. If they have trucks, give them some stickers.
9. KEEP THINGS CORE. The final and most important step. Around this time, if you’ve completed all these steps, you will be tempted to start trying to sell your clothes in stores, or to branch out and come up with some original ideas or to actually make your clothes instead of just buying Hanes beefy tees and screening your companies name on the front. Do not do any of this! If you do, you’ll be a sell out. Keeping things core is essential. If you slip up, and try to sell your stuff to stores or run ads in magazines and then nobody buys your stuff, don’t feel stupid. Just remind yourself, you’re core and you don’t want **** wearing your gear anyway. If people liked your clothes and wanted to buy them, then you’d be no better then those other clothing company sell outs.
So, once you’ve done a couple of these steps (stickers are the only mandatory step) then you pretty much have a clothing company. Well, a core one anyway. Personally, I buy most of my clothes at Target. Target is not core. They are total sell outs, which makes me a poser ******.