So upon arriving at Warped Tour, I took the tour of booth and came across the Stheart booth, while it was anything crazy over the top they had a ton of products prominently displayed. While looking over the products in their booth I decide to purchase their Classic V-Neck. Im not a huge fan of logo tees but for some reason I absolutely love the STHEART logo and type. After perusing their booth I met Aaron, whom owns and runs STHEART, we exchanged contacts and setup this interview and the rest is history!

Website: Stheartclothing.com

So when and why did you decide to start STHEART Clothing?

The first tees I ever printed were back in the summer of 2005. Yes, they were horrible and I have no clue as to why I chose the clothing industry, haha. I guess it just seemed really cool! It was something I always thought about doing & figured I’d give it a shot.

Lets get this out of the way. I have to be honest when I first saw the name STHEART, I thought it was Saint Heart, but now I know Im wrong! How do you pronounce the name and where did you come up with it?

Haha, I get that all the time! So many people ask for the correct pronunciation. It’s fairly simple, just say “start”. My older brother was actually the one who suggested it way back when & I loved it. It’s simple, yet effective. The word is a combination of “start” & “heart”, it’s all about the beginning of something new & following your dreams. Basically, do something with your life & make sure to give it your all!

So do you do all the artwork or do you hire artists to create your line?

I have done all the design work up to this point. Between doing the shirts for every line and setting up files for the website & myspace it gets pretty hectic. I have two designers helping with Stheart’s fall line. I’m pretty excited to add a few shirts to the mix that I haven’t done myself, and they look pretty awesome so far!

It seems the hot trend right now is very loud illustrations and colors on tees, I have noticed that you guys have a very good balance of simple designs as well as very loud designs. Was this a conscious decision and where do you see future STHEART lines going?

Honestly, my favorite shirts to wear are the simple ones. When I began the company a few years ago, all of my designs were cartoon-ish & colorful. There’s always a time for change & I’ve been loving the bold & straight-forward designs lately. I think keeping both aspects of art in our line is really important, everyone has their own taste of style and in the end I want to make something I love as well. You’ll definitely see Stheart venturing more & more into the bold aspect of art with future releases, but the loud & colorful designs will still have it‘s contribution.

I actually had the pleasure of checking out your booth at Warped Tour! How was your experience and what did you take away from it?

Warped Tour was so much work, yet a lot of fun! Waking up at 7am, setting up our booth/tent, then working until 9pm everyday was rough (not to mention the driving aspect). The two and a half weeks we did this year was a great learning experience. For the most part everyone was super helpful. Everyone seemed to work together & help out when needed, it wasn’t all just a competition on who’s the best or can sell the most. I couldn’t be more pleased with the response I received this year, definitely surpassed my expectations. Look for Stheart to be on the entire tour next year!

I have really started to see a lot of bands wearing STHEART clothing. Im sure you get a ton of requests from bands for sponsorships and I’m sure a lot people are wondering how to get sponsored and what you look for when sponsoring.

Of course. I never really sat back and looked at the direction Stheart was headed into the music industry, things just kind of happened. Stheart seems to now be a part of the indie music culture. With that being attached to the name, I get requests daily about sponsorship. I currently have 15 bands on our roster & couldn’t be happier with the ones I’ve chosen so far! The guys that are a part of the team really represent Stheart well from wearing it live, in promos, and just telling people about it. As far as how to become a member of the stheart family, just put yourself out there & do something original. When our sponsorship program opens up, I personally go and seek out a new band to wear the threads. It’s all about timing & making sure we’re both ready. Again, never be afraid to put your name out there, email: support@stheartclothing..com

I wrote an article awhile back on the importance of taking professional pictures. I just came across a bunch of promo pics for your summer line and I must say these are some of the best looking product shots I have seen! What was your thought process with that shoot and can you give any advice about shooting a clothing line?

I have to give 99% of the credit to our photograper Joe Gall! I really emphasize a lot on our photography, I mean, image & the way you present your work is everything. I try to give some advice for every photoshoot, but I let Joe do his thing for the most part. Joe does an amazing job at capturing what Stheart is about. I’ve always made sure to present Stheart in a professional manner & to do so you need great photographer check out www.joegallphotography.blogspot.com

From what I have seen lately STHEART really looks to be gaining some steam! What are your plans for the future and where do you hope to see STHEART going in the next year?

There’s a lot to look forward within the next year. It’s hard to process it all at once, I’m just going to keep focused on getting our customers what they want. Expect to see some new ideas & even bigger releases! I do plan on setting up at Bamboozle, the entire Warped Tour, and as many other events I can to continue spreading the name. I haven’t put any emphasis on any retail stores/outlets yet, I’ve still got some decisions to make with that.

Do you guys have any sales or discount codes our readers should know about?
Yep, go ahead & use the code: iatt809 to get 15% off your entire order! Expiration: August 31st

The new fall line is a perfect example of the new slightly more grown up look of GK. Introduced for the first time are cut and sew items such as cardigans and button up flannels. These items really show GK trying to further their customer base while remaining true to their style. Aside from the new cut and sew pieces you are going to notice a lot more toned down color schemes that coincide with more of a fall look. By toning down color schemes and introducing more mature looking cut and sew pieces I really feel like GK is doing a great job at introducing new products while not alienating their current customers.

Overall I am extremely happy with the new line. The prices are fairly reasonable and the designs are spot on. I am really looking forward to more cut and sew pieces from these guys. Now we just need a sale to coincide with the launch!

Favorite Piece:

The GK Cardigan – $34.99
Very effective simple design, I can definitely see rocking this during the fall season.

Least Favorite:

The only design I really wasn’t feeling was the Stand and Unite shirt. Overall the design is extremely simple and lacking. If this was released for a lesser known brand and it would probably remain unsold.

Overall Grade: A-

Check out the full line at: GlamourKills.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!!