INTERVIEW: Jeremy Sullivan (UGHH.com)

 

Hey, tell us a little information about yourself.  Who are you and where are you from?

In short, I’m Jeremy Sullivan A.K.A. Sir Remington III and I manage UGHH.com out of Boston.  I grew up skateboarding in the 90’s, and this culture connected me to so much creativity in art & music.  Most of my interests can be traced back to this golden era.  The underground Hip Hop movement of the late 90’s led me to DJing, and little did I know this site called undergroundhiphop.com that I checked regularly for new music would be where I ended up working.

 

 

What is life like up in Boston, As far as music, fashion, and popular culture?

Packed into less than 50 square miles, Boston is such a unique city.  The never ending rotation of students attending the 100+ colleges alone makes for a lot of excitement.  But, besides all the colleges, sports teams & history it’s typically known for, the Boston music scene has always been solid.  The Hardcore and Hip Hop from the mid to late 90’s got a lot of people’s attention and there is still a lot of local talent.  More recently, Boston has seen a surge of local DJ’s running shit. Most nights you can find some local staples holding it down w/ a wide variety of sounds.  You can always check them w/ guest DJ’s at our monthly DJ event, Fresh Produce, which is running 3 years strong.

 

As for fashion, there have been a lot of boutiques opening doors.  Heavyweights Karmaloop def. have a strong presence in the city, as well as Bodega and Concepts.  What makes certain places stand out in Boston are the people behind them and their involvement in the local scene.  Everyone has their own experiences that shine through their styles of products & events.  We all do have many of the same interests and run similar businesses but it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re in competition…it’s great to see consumers interested in what we’re all doing.  We’ll always point our customers to other boutiques with purpose in Boston.  

 

 

Tell us a little about UGHH and the people involved?

Undergroundhiphop.com or as the kids say “UGHH” was est. in ’97 and is the one-stop shop for all Hip Hop related merchandise. We carry a broad range of products & thousands of titles, updated weekly, to satisfy all Hip Hop fans around the world.  UGHH has become the industry standard…we select all the best products available and put them all in one convenient store.  You still hear this notion of Hip Hop being a trend, but for anyone in the know, it’s obvious that there is so much depth to what Hip Hop is and we’re here to represent all elements of it.

 

UGHH is what I like to call a small giant b/c within our niche we are very well known, but our operation is pretty tight and we do things on our own terms.  There are only a handful of us cranking everything out over here…CEO, Quest created this beast back in college and along with many other things handles all programming of the site; You can catch Van Stylez VJing & editing all of our exclusive interviews when he’s not doing customer service for the site; a_ronious is the face of our store front and is also responsible for bringing in select products and putting the word out in our blog descriptions; Rain holds down our warehouse, which is no small task, and also finds the time to snap product photos and produce records – look for his upcoming albums on Brick Records in 2010; DJ Food Stamp, who has been down since day 1, makes all those buttery mix CDs we give away; As for myself, I’m always looking to refine what we’re already doing and add on where it makes sense…one of those projects I started back in ’05 was making clothing available on UGHH, which now makes up the majority of my work. Besides the people on payroll we do have many remote supporters via street teams, message board moderators & loyal customers who all play important roles to our success. 

 

 

What kind of brands does UGHH carry?

When I first started buying for UGHH I only carried graphic tees closely related to Hip Hop, but now that people know to check UGHH for gear, we’re expanding to a lot of lifestyle brands w/ slick outerwear & accessories.  Everything is closely tied to streetwear, but some of it is just more mature.  We also stock a good amount of limited headwear.  What you can always count on is that the brands we select have timeless designs and are at a reasonable price.  I would have killed for a lot of this stuff years ago and know I will be reminiscing on the styles in the future.

 

 

What are some of your favorite brands out right now?

From the 60+ solid brands we currently carry, some stand outs are 101 Apparel, Acrylick, Beautiful Decay, Bloodbath, Cardboard Robot, Conart, Dissizit!, Flud Watches, Free Gold Watch, Frank151, GoodWood, Imaginary Foundation, Listen, Manifest, Methods NYC, Novem, Official, Quintin, Rocksmith, Scifen, Secret Society, Society, Tank Theory, The Seventh Letter & all the Upper Playground brands (:Shinganist:, 12 Grain, Estevan Oriol, Fifty 24SF & superFishal).  We also have some new brands coming up I’m excited about and we look to keep adding new styles & brands.

 

 

What new upcoming events or releases are you currently working on?

Our most recent installment of Fresh Produce @ Good Life in Boston happened on Sat, 10/24 and we’re featuring Diamond D of D.I.T.C.  We’re also threw an album release party for Edan’s upcoming Echo Party CD/LP @ Good Life on Wed, 10/14.  You can always check out our front page for upcoming events & in-store performances. 

 

As for releases, check out our hat line called HATCH we put out w/ some brands last year.  We had them custom made so we could have full control of the details and the end product is amazing.

 

What would you say are the most difficult aspects or being in your line of work?

Well, it’s really a bittersweet situation because I get to work in what I love, but I’ve also made my hobby work.  A lot of times I skip out on things I would have never missed b/c I’ve been immersed in it all day.  Besides that, we’re always facing the challenges of a small business…there is never enough time to do everything we want.

 

 

The fashion and music worlds are often tied together…What music artists out right now are grabbing your attention?

Yeah, that tie is unbreakable, and so much of it overlaps.  Every song out there has a matching style.  Labels like Stones Throw delve into both sides of product, which always keeps me interested.  Their newest CD/LP from Mayer Hawthorne is no joke.  A couple other albums that have sparked my interest are the Tame One & Del collabo & the new Black Keys project.  I could talk about music for days…I’ll have to save the rest for another time.  P

INTERVIEW: Daniel Sears (The Czar Agency)

 

Could you please state your name & occupation?

 

Daniel Sears, owner of The Czar Agency (http://www.wholesaleczar.com).

 

How did you get into the industry?

 

I grew up skating & surfing, and I was always blown away by brands like Stussy, Fresh Jive, SMP, Fuct, and especially Powell Peralta.  I studied quite a bit of art & design, both independently and in school.  About twelve years ago, a friend of mine Adam Donahue got me a job at a very small t-shirt company called High Fidelity Dis Co. in Philly.  We’d bang out heat transfers all night, while I was at Villanova University.  It was a fun job.  One of the dudes from that company, a cat by the name of Dave Wurtzel A.K.A. Words, teamed up with Andy Hurwitz of Ropeadope Records.  Ropeadope was a small little record label started by Andy, ?uestlove and some other music industry OG’s.  They wanted to start a clothing line that was actually about something, and not just crap on a shirt.  So I submitted some designs.  After that a friend and I started our own t-shirt line called Flavor Country (you Simpson’s fans will get it) but it never really took off.  Then at one point Ropeadope Industries teamed up with a company called Banzai Apparel, an apparel company with roots in the tye-dye scene from WAY back.  Banzai came on the scene to help Ropeadope tackle the apparel industry.  So that’s when things really started picking up for me.  Banzai really dove into the music inspired scene, bringin’ on Ninja Tune, Blue Note Records, Duck Down Records, Definitive Jux, Daptone, The Roots’ brand Okayplayer, and of course Ropeadope.  Fortunately I was lucky to be at the right place at the right time.  That’s the beginning of the story.

 

What is the most memorable moment in your career to date?

 

That’s a tough question.  I guess it wasn’t really one big moment per say.  There wasn’t a day where Jay-Z walked in and threw me a briefcase of hundreds, and Slick Rick never asked me to make him a new eye patch of anything like that.  The most memorable time would probably when I saw my concept/idea of a Digital Showroom taking off.  I had this idea, born out of necessity of course, where I could have a site that acts as a digital showroom for buyers & shop owners from all over the world.  I was just trying to reach those guys who don’t or can’t make it to the trade shows.  Quickly I realized, “what is the point of doing tradeshows if it’s not cut/sew?”  I know apparel decoration pretty well, and if I see samples and evaluate the product, then there’s no risk for the shop.  Obviously I liked my idea, but when I created a blog to experiment, almost immediately I received great feedback.  Shops love not having to travel if they don’t want.  So that was really cool.  It wasn’t like the idea all occurred to me at once, it was a progression that took a great deal of time, an evolution.  That’s my most memorable moment, getting to see my idea not only pan out, but having it received with open arms was great.

 

What is your favourite part of your job?

 

Probably two parts really.  The collaborative part where I get to put in my two cents with brands on what I think will help them grow.  The real favorite is when we’re in the middle of a sales push for this order date or that.  When I check my inbox and it’s just order, after order, after order.  It’s such a good feeling.  Not because of money or greed.  But because it’s proof.  When you don’t work with your hands, you run the risk of not getting to actually see the value of your work.  Those emails in the inbox are tangible proof of hard work, and being on the right track. Love it.

 

What are your plans for the future? 

 

Always gotta keep thinking about the future particularly how to adapt and try to have an edge.  First priority is upgrading our site.  It’s pretty “rootsy” right now but it has been so easy, useful and very good to us.  In addition we’re branching out to offer more services such as product placement, brand strategy/identity, market research, and PR.  These services are going to be available on a consulting basis, and tailored for each brands needs.  One of the things I believe in is letting experts be experts.  In this industry, there are so many brands who have made it on their own.  I applaud brands that get far enough to create quality products to sell in fine retailers.  But when you want to grow and take it to the next level, you definitely want to work with people who’ve been down this road before.  So, we’re teaming up with some industry vets in those respective fields, look for an announcement by the end of the year.  The result will be an ability to not only open accounts for our brands but also assist with some of those services I mentioned.  After these changes occur we’ll be a little more polished, and as always looking to help our brands grow organically.

 

Thanks for taking the time Peter.

Facebook Group Description Change…

We thought we’d give everyone a sneek peak at how the Facebook group will be changed in terms of description.

CURRENT GROUP DESCRIPTION:

 

We offer brand name clothing such as 101 Apparel, 8103 Clothing, Akademiks, Alador & Smith, Billionaire Mafia, Blood Is The New Black, BNX, Buddhist Punk, Cheap Monday, Clae, Dirty Jax, Division E, Elvis Jesus And Co. Couture, Enyce, Freshnes, Fully Laced, Gold Coin, Good Wood, Heist & Co., Hidden Apparel, IM King, Loud& Obnoxious, Milkshake NYC, Peter Says Denim, Religion, Rokk Clothing, Single Second, Something Sacred, Subconscious Threads, The RockStar Society, and many more.

 

NEW GROUP DESCRIPTION:

THE BRANDS:

101 Apparel | 8103 Clothing | Akademiks | Alador & Smith | Apliiq | Billionaire Mafia | Blood Is The New Black | BNX | Buddhist Punk | Cheap Monday | Clae | Dirty Jax | Division E | Elvis Jesus & Co. Couture | Enyce | Freshnes | Fully Laced | Gold Coin | GoodWood | Heist & Co. | Hidden Apparel | IM King | Loud& Obnoxious | Milkshake NYC | Peter Says Denim | Religion | Rokk Clothing | Single Second | Something Sacred | Subconscious Threads | The RockStar Society.

 

I’m not too sure yet whether I should do it like that or for the brands we act as an authorized dealer for and for the brands we distribute.  I’ll think about it a bit more and post up the finished product before I change it on the Facebook group.  Any feedback or ideas on this is greatly appreciated.

101 Apparel Advertisement For The Goodie Bag.

 

This is the first preview for our advertisement for 101 Apparel, which we (The Goodie Bag) distribute throughout Canada.  More previews to come shortly, until then, feel free to check out their website at http://www.101apparel.com.