ShopFlick

fiftyseven-thirtythree

James Dawson

SF: What does your brand stand for? / What is the inspiration?

JD: If I’m successful as designer, then my shirts will initiate a dialogue. That’s the main goal. The topic of that dialogue can be varied but that’s the common thread. I work a lot from history. I tend to focus on either events/people that I feel need to be remembered ie. Anna May Wong, the assasination of RFK etc. These designs operate on 2 levels. On a content level there is a small group of people who have very strong attachments to these people/events. On a design level there are people who know nothing about the content and just buy it cuz it looks cool. Let me give you 2 examples. I sold a RFK shirt to a guy who worked for RFK and was at the Ambassador Hotel the night RFK was assassinated, he had a very strong connection to that event. I also sold an Anna May Wong Hoodie to a guy who knew nothing about Anna May Wong. I ran into him a couple of months later and he tells me he was wearing the hoodie in NYC and some guy approach him and started telling him all about Anna May Wong’s life on their train ride. That’s the part about initiating dialogue. Some of our stuff is political, but I wouldn’t say it’s overtly political. I have a shirt of a viet cong woman with a rifle, it’s super popular and I’ve yet to meet anyone offended by it. Personally I think it’s an empowering image, particularly for women. I also use some Japanese images, including one of the War flag of the Imperial Japanese Army combined with image of an innocent schoolgirl. It’s about perspective. We are at War right now, but who defines our enemies? Sixty years ago, the U.S. and Japan were busy trying to annihilate each other, now we are very close allies with a strong admiration for each other. Thirty years ago, an image of a Viet Cong woman with a rifle would cause outrage. Today, our relationship with Vietnam is open and amiable. We should be careful about who we demonize and to what exent. Leaders pit populations against each other by using fear. The fear mongering of the Bush administration lead me to look back at our past enemies to put some perspective on it.

SF: Who are your customers?

JD: Damn. It’s hard to say. It’s not always who I think it would be. I see people wearing our stuff all the time and I’m like, what the f***? It’s cool to see people who you wouldn’t think would like our stuff wearing it. I saw this lady once, she had to be in her 60’s, wearing one of our hoodies, that was kinda dope. I’ve sold “Let Them Eat Cake” shirts to super conservative looking straight girls. It’s all over the place, so I don’t think I can give you a specific answer. We use some historical images and I think sometimes older people have connections to those people or events. Most younger people are responding to the design and sometimes don’t even know what it represents. However, I suspect sooner or later there will be a dialogue about the shirt and then they’ll know.

SF: What’s new this season?

JD: The “X-girlfriend” tee, which is a series of appliqued Polaroids of X-girlfriends in various states of undress, each with a brief description of the X and perhaps where the relationship went wrong. The “Just Married” tee, which is an image of 2 girls making out with cans dangling off their legs (like the cans tied to the back of a wedding limousine) and “just married” spray painted above their heads. I designed this shirt in support of gay marriage. I was listening to NPR after the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage. There were all these people calling in who were adamantly against it and calling for a constitutional amendment, claiming it desecrated the sanctity of marriage. It’s ridiculous. I just wanted to give people a way to show some positive support. We also introduced the “Japanese Peace Girl” Tee, this is a burnout tee with a hand stenciled image of a Japanese girl throwin up the Peace sign.

SF: What items are people responding to most?

JD: The X-girlfriend tee gets lots of attention. Keep in mind it has some nudity, so take that for what it’s worth. The Schoolgirl Flag Hoodie is probably our most popular item. We sell out of it all the time. It’s super time consuming to make as each one is hand painted, but I think that’s a part of it’s appeal, what makes it so different.

SF: Are any celebs wearing your pieces?

JD: We have a bunch of stuff on Battleground Earth, starring Ludacris vs Tommy Lee. It’s on Planet Green TV, I haven’t actually seen it because I don’t have cable but people keep tellin me they’ve seen our shirts on there. Also, we did an Obama shirt that is not part of our line, just a side project to help support Obama. Spike Lee was wearin it at the DNC when he was on CNN.

SF: How did you get started in the industry?

JD: I worked as a professional photographer for years. I started making shirts for friends, as presents, just to do something that wasn’t photography. I didn’t know how to screenprint so I made stenciled shirts with spray paint. Later, I got access to a screenprinting studio through Hieroglyphics (The Hip Hop Collective). I knew some folks over there because of my photo work. So I taught myself how to screenprint. I started crankin out shirts in excess of my birthday/christmas present needs. They were all in piles in our office. That’s when Lo was like “this is bullshit, you gotta get rid of some of these shirts”. So she signed us up for the Capsule Design Festival in Hayes Valley. We sold most of what we had, and bada bing, we had a company.

SF: What is your must-have item?

JD: For me personally? I don’t have any must have items. I spend 90% of my time working in t-shirts and old jeans covered in paint. The last thing I actually bought was a tee that says “FEAR IS A LIAR” it’s from unspokn.com. That’s a good shirt.

SF: What are you wearing right now?

JD: It’s saturday, 10am – I’m still in my underwear.

SF: Is there anything else you would like to share with the Shopflick community?

JD: Ya, just a piece of advice. If you’re thinkin of going to see a movie, avoid anything starring Keanu Reeves…I’m f***** serious.