NY vs LA
Courtesy of: Slash Magazine

When did you start?

Born in 1975, started Nuflo in October 1999.

Why did you start?

To make the world that much more interesting. To prove that not everything has to go along for the same ride. To expose issues that would otherwise be tucked under the rug. To pay the bills and keep the light on.

How many people are on the team?

2 designers, 1 writer, 1 photographer and a dedicated worldwide street team.

What were you doing before this?

Hunting, gathering and experimenting with fire.

Who have you collaborated with?

Digital Gravel, Spiked Punch Clothing, Left Field NYC, BKLYN Start, Beautiful Decay Magazine, Repellent Magazine, Elemental Magazine, Vice Magazine, Si*se, Evilmonito, Metro.pop Magazine, WYWS Magazine, Robots Will Kill, Flavr, True, Flagship, Krudmart, Studio Distribution, Immortal Technique, Viper Records, Retard Riot, Halcyon, The David Chapelle Show, MTV2, G13, Alife, Boro 51, Shutzmarket.

What's next?

A manned space station on the Dark Side of the Moon. Death to Wacko-Jacko, The inevitable systematic elimination of all non-capitalist nations, a weird glass needle building downtown to make us all happy, a Big Mac to stuff our mouths with, plastic surgery and a new Hummer.

What is the name of your clothing label?

HunterGatherer & Green Lady

When did you start?

HunterGatherer in 2000, Green Lady around 1994/95

Why did you start?

Originally just as a way to mess around with other ideas we had graphically. Clothing provided a kind of democratic medium.

How many people are on the team?

Gary Benzel and I have designed everything from the start, and we've had a lot of different people who have helped out in other capacities over the years. Currently, Stu Weiner has worked with us for the last 3 years and Sasha Hirschfeld works part time with us.

What were you doing before this?

We do a lot of different things... Print design work, Animation and Television work, Silkscreen work... Gary runs a shop called Igloo in San Diego. It's kind of been like that for a long time... Varied, but with a focused mentality that extends over a few different mediums. That's the idea, anyway.

Who have you collaborated with?

Clothing wise, we mostly do our own stuff, but have worked with Nixon, Burton / Analog, Nike, Adidas, 2K. As for Design and Film / TV type work... Wieden + Kennedy, MTV, MTV2, VH1, Sundance Channel, Nickelodeon, Luaka Bop, Ogilvy, Arkitip... A lot of people.

Where can people find your clothing?

Mostly at smaller stores in bigger cities. There's a list on our website.

What's next?

There's plans for a sort of 10-year scrapbook of some of the clothing/product designs in book form for ‘04. We just moved the studio from Brooklyn to Manhattan , so are still settling into that. We've been spending a lot more time shooting and working on the video/film end of things recently as well.

What is your clothing label?

Indigo People is an imaginary person. I have created clothes for him or her to wear. It's a personal experience that is for sharing. It's also a fantasy. In each collection I act as a narrator telling my story.

When did you start?

Year 2000

Why did you start?

I needed a new wardrobe and I planned on making it just for myself but life inspired me at that moment and so I decided to make it for sale.

How many people are on the team?

Now, 4 active force + a supporting team. Thanks to this team that keep Indigo People going.

What were you doing before this?

I opened a clothing boutique back in the early 90's but was tired of being a buyer and wanted to design my own.

Who have you collaborated with?

For the collections; My lover, my past and our future dream. For special projects; once with my artist friend, Fuchsia, she make accessories for S/S'03 runway show. I have developed some prints for collections with other artist friends as well. For recent work, I have collaborated with KT Auleta for Zing magazine Fall 2003 photo story based on Jean Cocteau films.

Where can people find your clothing?

Men's and women's at Opening Ceremony and Steven Alan New York; Men's at Bloomingdale's, Soho New York; Women's at American Rag in LA and San Francisco, Vice Fashion New York. We have done specially made clothings for private clients; just contact us at info@indigopeople.net

What's next?

Design a living space of our own.

What is your clothing label?

Commonwealth Stacks

When did you start?

January 1st, 2000.

Why did you start?

I had some ideas floating around in my head.

How many people are on the team?

Laura Leon and myself.

What were you doing before this?

Hanging out in record stores, taking Kraut Rock very seriously.

Who have you collaborated with?

The usual suspects and some unusual ones.

Where can people find your clothing?

commonwealthstacks.com

What's next?

Back to the record store.

What is your clothing label?

It's called Crownfarmer.

When did you start?

We started producing clothing in February of 2003 but Crownfarmer had been around for a couple of years before that.

Why did you start?

We'd been doing a zine under the same name for a while and wanted to make enough money to release something - like a book - of a better print quality than the photocopied stuff we were doing. The book idea is still in the works but the clothing thing kinda took over. It's really fun to work on.

How many people are on the team?

Team? It's just me and Richard E. Grant right now but we're trying to talk “The Dynamic Davids” [Cronenberg and Cross] into joining us.

What were you doing before this?

I worked at Girl Skateboards in the Art Dump, and I still do, but with my spare time that I spend on the project now I was riding my bicycle around LA. I had cable television for a minute there too.

Who have you collaborated with?

The first 14 tees that we released were designed by a bunch of our favorite artists including Don Pendleton, Tucker Nichols, Rob Abeyta Jr, Craig Metzger, Lori D, Marc Johnson, Michael Leon, Tony Larson, Kevin Wilkins, Megan Baltimore, Tim O'Connor, Andy Mueller and Tyler Reid. We're working on another artists' series right now with a few of the same as well as some new folks that we ran into.

Where can people find your clothing?

You can buy directly off of our web site (Crownfarmer.com) or from a handful of retail stores: Antisocial in Vancouver, Giant Robot in LA and SF, fourxfour in Hollywood and the Watari-Um MOCA in Tokyo .

What's next?

A quick nap.

What is your clothing label?

My project is called The Quiet Life. We're based in Los Angeles .

When did you start?

The Quiet Life came into existence in late 1997 while I was living in Chicago.

Why did you start it?

The Quiet Life came about after a few conversations that I had with my friend Craig. We kept discussing how interesting it would be if Ohio Girl Design ( my graphic design studio ) had a non-commercial extension of itself to release work that wasn't for clients - a project that was focused on releasing purely creative ideas that used the t-shirt as the medium for the message. Shortly after I designed the first series of shirts, Craig moved on to pursue his own goals. I've continued The Quiet Life on my own at a slow pace for the past several years. It's been more of an experiment and a personal design outlet than a planned company.

How many people are on the team?

My wife and I are the main players. I do the design; Jennifer helps with sales, distribution, production, and press.

What were you doing before this?

Before starting The Quiet Life, I was mostly doing graphic design, photography and film work through my studio Ohio Girl.

Who have you collaborated with?

Through The Quiet life, I've been really lucky to have worked with some great friends and good companies. My favorite Quiet Life design collaborations so far are the designs I did for 2K and Upper Playground. I also really like the “Draw a Maze Contest” that The Quiet Life hosted a few years back. For this project, I invited friends to submit a maze that they designed. We got amazing contributions from artists like Jay Ryan, Andy Jenkins, Don Pendleton, Geoff McFetridge, and Evan Hecox. We choose three of the favorite mazes and printed them on a limited edition run of Quiet Life shirts that was accompanied by a maze zine (that contained all of the maze entries). I had so much fun with this that I am thinking of doing another submission based project soon.

Where can people find your clothing?

Right now you can find The Quiet Life at boutique shops that support artist based projects or on our online store at thequietlife.com. (Email us at: info@thequietlife.com if you want help finding a shop near you.)

What's next?

The next big thing we are focusing on is the release and sales of the quiet life's spring/summer 2004 line. I'm also working on the designs and catalog for our fall/winter 2004 line. Through my design firm, Ohio Girl, I have a few music packaging projects going on, a logo/identity job, a few art collaborations, and one or two photo shoots. I am also just finishing about 15 boards for Girl Skateboards for Spring 2004, and will be jumping into the art direction and design of Lakai Limited Footwear's Spring 2005 line very soon. I also have a few group shows coming up this Spring and Summer.