Since I haven’t posted an interview on the blog since i’ve taken it over I decided to ask Chris Reagan over at Artifex Shirts, a new start up that is specializing in 100% organic cotton clothing, a few questions. I welcome any feedback about the interview or the questions asked, if you want to see different types of questions asked let me know and i’ll see what I can do. I plan to do more interviews as I believe it gives some great insight into starting up your own clothing line. Well enough of that now lets get to why we’re all reading this.
Artifex Shirts is a new start-up offering 100% organic cotton clothing with a goal of offsetting 50,000lbs of CO2 emissions. Also Artifex Shirts plans to help fund the production of a windmill facility in South Dakota. They are going to do this by donating $3 from every customer purchase of the Windmill shirt to Native Energy.
Now that we know a little bit about what they offer, here’s a few questions I asked Chris Reagan, one of the co-founders of Artifex Shirts…
What made you decide to start a clothing company?
After a few environmental lectures, I decided that I wanted to do something for the environment. But I wasn’t sure what to do. During my brother’s senior year in high school, he purchased a screen printing kit and made shirts for his friends. After some thinking I put 2 and 2 together. I knew how to build websites and he knew how to print T-shirts. But we didn’t want to just be another T-shirt company, we wanted to make a difference. That’s when we decided to go the organic route and to contribute a portion of our profits to Native Energy. A clothing company would become our vehicle for making a difference in this world.
What’s been the largest obstacle getting Artifex off the ground?
Starting a business is similar to swimming upstream….there never is a moment where you are able to relax. The moment you do, you begin to lose the progress you’ve been making. My brother is a sophomore at U Buffalo majoring in architecture and entrepreneurship. I’m a first year high school teacher in Boston. Finding free time to get together is tough…but this is what we love to do.
Is there any advice you can give others looking to start their own clothing line?
Starting your own clothing line is demanding yet rewarding. If you want to enter the clothing industry, don’t just print T-shirts — print T-shirts that you love. If you would not wear something you make, then you should not be selling it. The market is already saturated…you need to differentiate yourself from everybody else. Find a niche and run with it. Set a goal and follow it. Be open to ideas, but never lose site of that goal. Never do anything that will compromise it. But most importantly, do what makes you happy. If you love it, then somebody else will.
Do you create your own designs?
Yes, my brother Tim is the creative force behind Artifex. He has created - and will continue to create - every design we print.
What’s the most popular piece of clothing right now
Our most popular shirt can be found here: Windmill on Aloe, We are very proud of our Windmill design. Not only does it convey a strong message and is a great design, but we also donate $3 from every Windmill shirt sold to Native Energy, a company that uses that money to construct a windmill in South Dakota. We are glad to see so many people support this cause.
Where do you hope to take Artifex in say the next 6 months?
Our dream is to have our products carried in clothing shops and boutiques. March 11th will mark the first day a shop will carry our products…and we have a feeling there will be many more to come. But more importantly, we hope that by summer we will have a social project affiliated with every one of our T-shirts. That way, no matter which T-shirt you purchase from Artifex, we will donate a portion towards an environmentally-conscious project.
Thank you for taking the time to answer those questions Chris, anyone looking to pick up some of these T-shirts as well as a few other pieces of clothing head on over to Artifex Shirts now and make your order…
