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

So when did you officially start Pig Cloth?

We officially started in 07 and it was actually my wife’s idea. We kinda came up with the name and started doing stuff with it in 07.

Speaking of the name where did you come up with it?

I play in a band called Underoath, and Spencer (singer of Underoath) kind of came up with it. I used to weigh like 215 pounds, and he called me pig. And it kind of stuck and everyone in UO still calls me pig, even though I’m not a pig anymore.

So you basically turned the name into a positive thing?

I mean it was never upsetting. We figured it would be cool to tie in the name into the line. We then had my friend Clark who designs for Johnny Cupcakes come up with the logo and it just went from there.

It’s no secret that your faith is very important to you and has played a major role in all aspects of your life. With that in mind is their a greater cause or purpose behind Pig Cloth?

My faith is definitely of great importance to me and everything I do. When we decided to put together Pig Cloth, I wanted to make sure that we had a purpose, and really wanted the brand to be something more than just a clothing line. We also made the decision to do very small batches of each shirt, we decided early on that we didn’t want to take a corporate approach on anything that had to do with our line.

You mentioned doing really small batches of each design. What made you decide to go this route?

Well, I think its neat that when only ten people have something and people ask where they bought it, and they can say that its not available anymore. I’m also really in to collecting sneakers. I have always loved when you can only get certain pairs. So making our line limited made sense and we just kind of ran with that whole thing and it stuck.

Between being in Underoath, The Almost and running your food blog, how do you find time to run Pig Cloth?

I have a wonderful wife who runs it for me, you It was really her idea in the beginning and its kind of her baby! She is an awesome girl, who is super gracious and holds it down. I know it’s stressful on her and I feel bad that I can’t be there as much as I should. People don’t realize how much crap goes into running a line. When we started we had a third party whom was shipping everything for us. But since we were doing such small amounts we weren’t justifying paying the money to the third party. Having a third party did make it easy on us, we used their address to send all of our clothing to and they would ship it out. But for those services we were paying 25%, which is a lot of money to hand over, so we decided to start shipping everything ourselves, but by switching to this process it has made running the line way more stressful on and demanding on us.

Why is that?

Well before you would just get a check. You would talk to your designers, your designers would send the files to third party and they would print it and ship it. But now we have to deal with printers, designers and ship the products ourselves which obviously takes up a lot more time and effort.

Speaking of designers, who does the majority of your designs? Do you personally do any?

Pig cloth loves having different people involved, In the past we have had “design contest” and anyone that wanted could enter as any designs as they wished and we would pick a few and print those. Right now we are working with an amazing Friend/designer Anthony Ryan and the last few designs and future designs are his. He’s so talented and we are very lucky to be working with him! We also have a close friend, Amanda, whom has worked on some previous pieces for us, as well as some some pieces for upcoming lines. Make sure to check out here Etsy page

I did notice that design contest on your Myspace. How did that go over?

Yeah we thought that was a neat thing, even though it gets kind of messy. We thought it would be cool to include people in the design process. The shirts are limited so it was super neat that a kid could go out and tell his friends “I made this”. For winning we gave each kid a voucher for some merchandise along with however many they wanted of their own design.

I was looking at the Pig Cloth site and it seemed like stock was getting pretty low. Are you guys preparing for a winter line?

You can expect to see a winter line in the next month or two. We usually do things late on purpose. We have been talking about which pieces we want to do but haven’t really hammered everything out yet. Actually Dusty, whom plays guitar with me in The Almost, his wife is a head designer at Urban Outfitters and she actually designed a dress and a necklace for us on our summer line. She is awesome and super talented and has been a big help.

So is it safe to say we can to expect to see some more cut & sew pieces instead of just tees?

Yeah more avant garde sort of stuff and I definitely think we are going to starting branching a bit away from graphic tees. I mean we still will have them, but we will be looking to expand more into other options.

Any plans for any denim?

Oh yeah! I we have been contacted by a few people about producing jeans but there is always the difficulties of selling denim online, but this is definitely something I would love to get into down the road.

So where can we buy some sweet Pig Cloth threads?

As of right now you can only pick up Pig Cloth online (pigcloth.bigcartel.com/) and at select Almost shows. Maybe in the future we will get together with some small retailer, but as of now I don’t know.

I find it so important clothing brands take the time to take pictures that properly showcase their clothing. Saying that I was blown away with how amazing your products shots turned out! Would you like to give credit to who was responsible?

Thanks, this guy named Matthew Alvarado emailed us out of the blue one day. We were about to hire a photographer, and he said “ill do it”. He is a great photographer and a great guy. Everything he did turned out incredible and we couldn’t have been happier with his shots.

So I heard the new Pig Cloth website is about to launch when can we expect to see the new site?

Very shortly, maybe even by the time this article comes out.

What are a few brands that you have looked up to over the years?

I love the Paul Frank Company; their high end stuff is incredible. I also love G-Star, it’s a Dutch denim company, and I absolutely love their jeans.

If you had to explain your own personal style what would it be?

Well I love old clothes, I don’t like anything new. I like old feeling clothes, thin shirts, cardigan sweaters and good jeans. I love Alternative Apparel, burnouts; the read deal 1980’s t shirts are the best, G-star and Lucky for pants.

So could you start about by telling us a bit about how Miles To Go go started?

I was working at a print shop in phoenix, acme prints, and had access to tons of print equipment after hours. i had been debating doing tees for a while because like most people, i really didn’t like the options out there for shirts. i rarely did or do ever buy graphic tees in stores. so, i whipped up some really basic designs, printed a few and just kind of eased into it all.

Very cool! So how long ago was that?

I think i stared about 2 years ago and i did the designs myself, mostly bad images taken from things, like marlon brando or some other simple, classic look. i really wasnt sure if i had intentions of really doing a line or not initially.

So when did you decide to take Miles To Go to the next level hiring out artists and really making the brand what it is today?

I started selling in phoenix at first fridays which is an art walk through downtown and they’d let you set up a table and hustle on the street corners. i had maybe 4-5 designs and was getting a good response and doing well enough to have more funding. i think my first commissioned piece was for my cost of ideas shirt from dave quiggle. i really dug his work and used t be a fan of his old hardcore band, disciple, so i really wanted to work with him. i knew i couldnt execute what i saw in my head and after realizing the possibilities of what a real professional could do i got hooked. i knew from the beginning, with naming the company after a robert frost poem i really wanted to keep the designs based off of literature as my theme. it may be nerdy but its what im into.

While we are on the subject of how you got your name I would really like to talk about your inspirations for your designs. I absolutely love that almost all your pieces are based off of poems, artists and figureheads. How did you come up with this idea and could you ellaborate on this?

Ive always been a heavy reader and luckily my pool to gather ideas from is huge. i really like my designs to be about something specific and i even try to put quotes relating to the pieces in the item write ups. so far ive basically been getting designs based off of books ive always loved and that list is endless. after i got the artwork for the guy on fire, based off of fahrenheit 451 i realized how the theme could work and would be a great launching pad for ideas. when the artwork got sent over it had my name in it and i thought it took away from the art and since then, i always tell artists they dont need to put miles to go into it unless it somehow works well into the design. im a bit older and dont want to wear tees with names all over it and i hope other people get that im focused on the art work more so than in your face branding.

I really think this says a lot about your brand and the idea of branding. To me it seems like a lot of upstart lines dont really have a focus or brand indentity. Do you have any advice for the upstarts out there?

As most people that have been in this field for a while(2 yrs with shirts, 7 with belts) you really have to figure out what will set you apart and spend a lot of time before you go dropping money. your friends stop buying tees after the 1st or 2nd shirt and you need good products. i decided that miles to go is a passion project and as long as im having fun and not losing money i will keep doing it. i love commissioning artwork and never fight the cost. im helping support a fellow artist and i feel like a patron of the arts and own something amazing, created for me. some companies want to be in stores like pyknic from the get go and thats fine too. theyve done a great job but their goals were and are much different then mine. i flirted with retail for a bit and did a trade show which went well, but i liked the idea of bein more exclusive. maybe johnny cupcakes rubbed off on me a bit over the years.

So you mentioned your belt company. Could you give us a little insight as to what that is and what you do with Miles to Go Belts?

With miles to go belts im basically like a shirt printer but with a different medium, using belts. bands or clothing companies will order anywhere from 5 to 1000 belts for their store or shows, etc. its how i pay my bills and im very thankful thats its been supporting me for years now. i just sort of stumbled upon the idea as a way to pay my rent while on tour. ive been very fortunate to work with great bands and inspiring people that keep me going and have taught me so much. im all word of mouth and its not a stuck up thing, its just that advertising hasnt done too much in the past. im fortunate that a lot of my customers are willing to give up who made their belts when asked.

Very cool! That seems to me like it would be a very competitive market

Merchandising in general is. thankfully i think im still the only person who does the kind of belts i make. the stuff i use is so tempermental is ridiculous but im used to using it by now. lots and lots of trial and error before it got going. the scene has changed so much though. my first big order i got from giving geoff from thursday a belt at our labels bbq one time and i could talk to people in bands because they did their own merch. now its all fulfillment companies and honestly, they dont seem to care quite as much and its a bit harder to get in touch with people about belts.

So lets get back to the shirts. You have worked with some incredible designers, Godmachine, Dan Mumford and Dave Quigle. What can we expect from you in the near future?

The future of miles to go is still up in the air. i fight with mysef daily about how many designs to do, blah blah. i have ideas for a few more new shirts and i hope to get the ball rolling on some soon. i dont do seasonal releases because im not catering to retail and when the artwork comes in, i pre-sale for 2 weeks and print. i love having a consistent look to my line and love the work ive gotten so far but i think the designs still vary enough to keep it interesting. i feel bad for those guys when i send over my briefs. i cant tell you how many times ive been told im very thorough with my ideas for a shirt. i send over as much detail as i can to help give an idea of colors, print size, anything to assist which hopefully isnt too annoying. Im sure most artists probably prefer that level of detail! Well we are really looking forward to what you put out next! also, some people have asked for logo shirts so i made two which will be up soon. i didnt print many, just putting them up for people into rocking brand names. im also doing a new version of the sirens which wont be limited and the colors will be different. i said i wouldnt reprint it but i really love the art and have to make more.

I also recently noticed that you have branched into kids size t-shirts. What was the though and inspiration behind this and do you expect on doing any designs aimed towards kids?

honestly, im going to be 30 in a few months and have a growing number of friends with kids who kept asking me to make tees. i grabbed some simple designs and printed them up and some people have been picking it up. one thing i didnt realize would happen was when i watched a little size 2 poison tree coming out of the dryer how much it made me melt with its overwhelming cuteness. i doubt ill make designs specifically for kids but i think its pretty sweet having a little kid with a shirt with a robert frost line on it…i have promises to keep.

Very cool! I love this idea and hope you continue to do a few more kids shirts. So before we go any , you said you were really into books. What are some must reads?

Oh, man. i love any vonnegut, palahniuk(except latest one), ayn rand, robert frost, poe, milton. my book shelf is taking up half of my room at this point. i recently finished atlas shrugged by ayn rand and its a really hard read but well worth it. i used to spend 45 mins on the train each way to school for years and no one talks so all i did was read read read. im also halfway through the god delusion by richard dawkins and its a great look at religion and atheism.

Makes sure to check out: www.milestogoclothing.com/