| Fibre Clothing |
| Creative Crux |
| Written by Libby Ballengee |
| Wednesday, 04 March 2009 00:00 |
 As creatives, we tend to think of everything in terms of design… our work, our homes, our personal style, our observations of architecture, media, and advertising. For everyone else, design isn’t necessarily such a noticeable aspect of day-to-day life. One way that design becomes largely accessible is through the medium of fashion, most frequently through t-shirts. That is what inspired the creators of Fibre Clothing, an apparel line that features “proactive, wearable design.” This upstart company was started by four local Daytonians: Jake Sloma, Ryan Clark, Andy Nick, and Tom Immen. They wanted to get their work in front of the larger public, and what better way than through t-shirts? Fibre released their debut line of shirts this past spring, which featured five original designs. For many of us, starting a company and marketing your creations is both an exciting and terrifying endeavor. I wanted to learn more about the experiences of this group, and what, if anything, they would do differently…  LB: What have been the surprises you’ve encountered when applying your designs to a t-shirt, from a design/composition stand point? Since the t-shirt is a 3-D object, that has to encompass a figure with shape, and does that affect the way you create your designs? Fibre: Our first series of t-shirts are pretty tame in comparison to the types of prints other companies that have a larger fan-base and revenue are putting out. We didn’t have to worry too much about our graphics, as the placement of the art was relatively “safe.” One thing we had to consider was how different t-shirt sizes would interact with the designs since it is an expensive process to produce multiple screens of the same design at different scales. LB: As a start-up company, what promotional endeavors have been the most effective? Fibre: So far, word of mouth and support from our friends and families. T-shirt blogs are a great avenue for reaching a little larger audience. Most bloggers are eager for new content or to be the first to blog about really cool new designs. Andy over at Hide Your Arms does a really good job of photographing the “unboxing” of shirts you send to him for review. This is where some dandy packaging can really help your brand. You don’t get the same sensory experience from buying a shirt online as you would going into a brick and mortar store, so any good tee company will try to compensate for that with cool little extras that you don’t necessarily expect. They could range from cool sticker packets, well-designed hang-tags, mini-postcards or even what the shirt is wrapped in. It’s a win-win for both parties, the recipient gets some cool extras and the company may get some extra promotion depending on where those extras end up or who the customer tells about your product. LB: One of your shirts supports the Save Darfur campaign, which I think is really cool! Will you continue to create shirts in future collections that support and brings awareness to other global issues?  Fibre: We believe in raising awareness for global and social issues. It is just one way we can use our skill to make an impact. There are so many worthy causes out there it makes it hard to pick just one, but we have some ideas in the works for our future series. LB: Have you ever created a design intended to get a point of view or message across, and it wasn’t effective? What happened to cause the loss of translation? Fibre: Yes, sometimes we forget that we are creatives and can find meaning and significance in the most obscure elements. So it is important to find a balance between something aesthetically pleasing and the message you are trying to convey. That way even if the message is lost you are still left with a pretty kick-ass shirt.  LB: What would be the most useful advice you would give to other creatives who are considering starting a side business, particularly while maintaining another full time job? Fibre: It’s way more involved than you think it would be. The fun part is designing the shirt and seeing the finished product. It’s a whole other story when you have to market it and sell it, especially if you don’t perceive marketing as a fun past-time. So you need to be careful to not get burnt out, especially if you are putting in 8-10 hours a day designing, you need to ask yourself if you are willing to put in the extra time after work to do more work. There is a fine line between a hobby and a job. LB: Can you please share a few of your individual and/or collective inspirations? Fibre: A few of us are really inspired by Scott Hansen and his simple style. His work has a lot of depth and he is a master of creating iconic images. Not to mention we love the way he works with color. Mostly we are inspired by whatever we see around us. We are very visual people, as most creatives are. LB: What has been the most gratifying aspect of this endeavor? Fibre: For me it was having one of my co-workers tell me that they saw someone wearing one of our shirts riding the EL into work. It is really just about producing something that someone else likes or values. LB: Any other information, useful tips, or funny anecdotes you’d like to share? Fibre: Yeah, learn from your mistakes. The best way to learn something is by doing it, even if you fail miserably it is worth the experience. No matter what, you will take something away from it. I couldn’t agree more. For more information on this company, visit fibreclothing.com. About the author: Elizabeth "Libby" Ballengee is a professional photographer living in Dayton, Ohio and an active member of DCS. If you have any questions or comments about this article, or would like to suggest topics for future articles, please email Brian Ward. Disclosure: Fibre Clothing has donated products to DCS, without compensation or expectation of anything in return. Ryan Clark, a partner at Fibre Clothing, also serves on the DCS executive board. Ryan did not request the publication of this interview, nor did anyone else at Fibre. |
| Last Updated on Saturday, 17 July 2010 11:19 |
Subscribe
