Any brand with a creative director who goes by "Tiny Pants" deserves a closer look. Located at 230 Grand St. in Brooklyn, Love Brigade is a company founded by a crew of Brits-turned-Brooklynites, who have managed to turn their wholesaling company into a storefront operation and destination for anyone in the Williamsburg area looking for a shopping experience that combines urban sophistication with gritty charm. The hard working individuals behind this company undoubtedly have valuable advice to offer regarding some of the elements involved in beginning a fashion brand, and I was lucky enough to be able to sit down with the creative director -- Chris "Tiny Pants" Dang -- for a quick interview. His eloquent responses and pragmatic business sense provide much inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs.
LB: Tell us a little about the origins of your company. How did you get started; was there any business or brand that you all looked to for inspiration?
CD: The brand Love Brigade started when Alyssa [Key, CEO] was in fashion school in London. She and Jamie [Rockaway, VP] began working on a fashion label, which they then brought to New York, where I was. We continued to develop the brand and began selling it to other retailers, then opened an online store, and later started selling out of a small loft space. As we grew, we decided we needed a larger space and a better way to commune with the neighborhood, so three years ago, we found this space, which used to be a bodega, renovated it, and set up shop. All of our patternmaking is done in house, but we outsource to domestic manufacturers for the actual production because it is a priority of ours to support American businesses. Some of the brands to which we have looked for inspiration are Diesel, and a smaller brand called All Saints, the latter of which has actually become friends and mentors to us.
LB: What sort of advise would you dispense to a young entrepreneur who is about to start his or her own business?
CD: Do your homework! Make sure you have the money to accomplish your goals, and in the best scenario situation, try to make sure you don't owe money to anybody. We have had success because we have built our business on equity -- putting a lot of our own money into it instead of going into debt. We also have no investors at this time.
LB: How do you select merchandise for your store?
CD: We sell primarily our own Love Brigade branded clothing -- women's and men's apparel -- and we also stock a small selection of lower priced t-shirts made by local companies, jewelry by local artisans, and select vintage pieces. We consider ourselves to be a lifestyle brand, and our aesthetic could be described as "hipster chic:" edgy, utilitarian pieces for men, as well as fashion-forward and flirty pieces for women. Each season we develop three characters for both the men's and women's lines that we seek inspiration from and which will dictate the merchandise that we offer.
LB: Describe a typical day in the life of a small business owner.
CD: There are lots of e-mails and phone calls that are done on a daily basis -- as a product driven business we concern ourselves with marketing and public relations most of the time (our rolodexes and cell phones are our most useful tools!) The creative process really only takes us about a month per season, and the rest of the time is devoted to more business oriented undertakings.
LB: What have you found to be the most effective methods of promoting your business?
CD: We have gotten real results from staying local and making sure that our business has a special relationship with the inhabitants of our neighborhood. Williamsburg and New York City in general has many great opportunities for businesses to participate in local events, of which we try to avail ourselves of.
LB: What was the largest challenge you had to overcome in order to get to where you are now?
CD: Keeping open and consistent communication with the other owners regarding our vision and mission statement has been challenging, considering the fact that it is always evolving and changing.
LB: How long did it take before you began to see profits? Was there a "tipping point" so to speak?
CD: I conceptualize "profits" as not only sales volume, but subjectively, as a personal satisfaction with the way the business is being run and the way it is developing. That being said, the business is now at a point where we can live comfortably off of the profits. Beginning the business online I feel had a lot to do with getting things off to a profitable start.
LB: What has been a guiding principle that you have followed on your path to success?
CD: Maintaining a high level of honesty, not only amongst the owners, but between us and our customer base -- we want them to trust us to always provide a certain level of merchandise, in both quality and aesthetics.
LB: Do you have any plans for expansion?
CD: Well, the general idea is that we're always expanding -- we do plan to open stores in other cities. Our current mission is to completely dissolve the wholesale business and put all our focus on the retail end. We feel that we have become a strong enough brand that we don't need a middleman, so to speak, and want to work on selling our brand exclusively through our own Love Brigade stores.
Many thanks to Chris for taking the time out for this interview! I wish all the folks at Love Brigade much success, and I highly recommend this place as a great spot to check out numerous hard-to-find indie designer labels that hail not only from the NYC area, but from Italy, Japan, Los Angeles, and beyond. The store decor is another attractive feature of the business, with vintage furniture, quirky tchotchkes, and taxidermy galore.
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