Recently, we did an interview for WWS Magazine. We were asked, “what separates your brand from others in the industry?” It was a question that we should have been able to answer right away, a question that every businessman should have the answer to on the tip of his or her tongue. We didn’t want to give the corny “our brand is different because we represent individuals striving to represent a lifestyle indifferent”…blah, blah, blah. We find brand descriptions like this to be often quite corny, and 99% of the time end up being words that don’t mean anything.

So we thought about the question, and asked ourselves…what does separate us from other brands in the industry? Any clothing company strives to be separated by the designs themselves, and in the past we have been able to produce some unique and extremely popular designs. Since our Roll That Shit shirt was released last year, we have watched it immediately become our all-time best seller. Our Stampeding Elephants shirt had a similar result. But still…other brands put out designs that we fall in love with, coming primarily from the 10 Deep and Mishka camps.

Finally, it hit us…What makes us different is exactly what we take for granted, where we’re from. Almost every brand that we “compete” with is based out of the fashion capitals of the world: New York, Los Angeles, and globally speaking…Tokyo and London. Most small, upcoming brands based in these cities easily can become a dime-a-dozen. In fact, most brand owners tell us that that is the hardest thing for them to do, show why they are different than every other LA brand. At the end of the day, being Midwest-based is in fact a blessing in disguise. It distinguishes us nearly every other brand out there.

My apologies for letting this post drag on, and there has certainly been a point leading up to the interesting part (videos). Sometimes people think of the Midwest as a conglomeration of states filled with corn, potatoes, cheese, and lakes. In all reality, the Midwest has been consistently contributing pop culture that everybody experiences on a day-to-day basis. The examples lie in the music that I hope everybody enjoys. There’s the obvious Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco from Chicago, but I’m going to delve into the music I love from Cleveland and Detroit. I know right…Cleveland and Detroit!?!?..Tomorrow, we’re going to be going further into the land that we humbly represent. Minnesota.