Welcome to the New Arkaik Clothing

Website: ArkaikClothing.com

When did you start Arkaik Clothing?

Arkaik was started in the winter of my junior year (of high school), so I guess that was 2007? But things didn’t really start getting serious until about six months ago.

What was the inspiration behind starting Arkaik?

Arkaik was more a self-realization than an inspiration. I looked at my enormous wardrobe and realized that 90% of the shirts in there were printed on super crappy tees with an incredibly thick print. I decided that there should be, and now there are quite a few, reasonably priced, well made tee shirts in the market (whereas in 2005/2006 there weren’t THAT many).

I believe that you guys did a bit of re-branding in the last couple months. What made you decide to go the new route and what changes did you make?

About five months ago there was a point when my ex-girlfriend, and investor, pulled out all her money, and Arkaik was pretty much left with nothing. As I was really only doing Arkaik for fun, I really didn’t see the point in continuing. However, over the summer, a lot of people, through MySpace, Emptees, and the bands I sponsor, basically refused to allow me to quit, and I decided that if I were to continue Arkaik, I needed to get more serious and actually make it legitimate. So I went back to the drawing board, found a super old design from a previous shirt, and decided to make it the logo and have everything revolve around it, thus the Mammoth skull logo and release was born.

Where do you see Arkaik evolving to next?

That’s really for me to know and you to never find out. Just kidding. But seriously, I have started taking things day by day, I found that when I try to look really far ahead, and plan out super sick stuff, I just get caught up and can’t sell my current stock. I’d really like to venture into cut and sew within the next six to seven months, as that’s always been a dream of mine, since I started Arkaik. Arkaik also has tentative plans to go on Warped Tour next summer, (along with our buddies over at class=”bloglink”>The Printed Mind and CherrySauce [You’re welcome for the shout out Levi and Mike <3]) but we’ll see how that all pans out!

It’s no secret that there are an absolute ton of t-shirt companies out there, what are you guys doing to stick out?

I tell everyone I meet; I don’t do Arkaik to make money. I really don’t, for me it’s never been about making a quick buck, and it’s definitely never been about getting famous (or whatever bullshit premonitions some people might have.) I really do what I do because I love it. I love interacting with people, I love making comfortable shirts with rad designs, and I love walking around and bumping into someone wearing my shirt-it rules. I try to talk to every single person I come across, whether or not they like Arkaik, and whether or not they are a customer, and treat them the same. I’ve had a ton of people buy shirts just because of the interactions we’ve had. So I guess that’s kind of what sets me apart?

What’s the hardest thing about running a tee company?

Time management. I’m a freshman in college. I’ve always had problems managing my time and making sure I get everything done. It’s even more difficult now since the majority of my business is online, I’m taking 18 credit hours, and I’m an assistant manager at my real job. But I think I’ve finally started to find a balance that works for my line and me.

If you could pick only one of your shirts to show of your company which one would it be?

Survival’s “T-Rex” shirt is definitely my favorite. I printed it in 3 colors for our “come back” line and I had to call the guys at Storenvy to get me another 50 within a couple of days. I think that it really embraces what Arkaik stands for, and no matter what color it goes on, it looks amazing.

Do you guys have any sales or coupon codes our readers should know about?

Being the very cliché young man that I am, I will make a code called “Trend” that will enable your readers to get… hmmm; I have power, 25% off. That is right, I will make it 25%. :]

Thanks a ton for the interview!!