Dusablé Lewis Jr interviewing a viral designer called wowzir known on social media for some of his bold designs and head turning statements. His clothing is very unique in each piece has a deeper meaning. Every design seems to really have a deep meaning instead of the random designs of fast fashion.
Director's cut of the interview:
You are an absolute sensation on Instagram with your viral designs such as. This is creativity on a new level. When did you start designing clothing and how did you get started??
Wowzir: I was two years into my 13 year prison bid and I saw a news segment about how much money Nike made in one year off of just the latest Kevin Durant sneaker sales and knew I could draw and design competitive sneakers so I immediately started.
Awesome, but I see you focus more on clothing these days. How was it getting started on shoes while incarcerated? I know it was probably next to impossible to get those type of materials.
I saw the difficulty Lavar Ball had making a quality sneaker with the proper respect to sports science and I knew sneaker development would not be easy. I want to get my resources right first because I saw that so much could go wrong.
Okay, still passionate about sneakers at least?
Yes, 90's retro is and will always be my main inspiration as a sneaker illustrator. Tinker Hatfield was my main inspiration before I even knew who he was. In this moment I am ready to push more bold visual though. Feeling like breaking the mold.
My largest success is going viral on Instagram for my illustrations because it started a bidding war between manufacturers in my DMs. This got me special accommodations for manufacturers. Now I can bypass minimum order restrictions. I don't even need to come with digital data. The factories build my designs off of just photos.
Do you have any advice for upcoming clothes, designers or anyone interested in the world of fashion? Maybe particularly about the manufacturing process?
Give as many details as you can. What you think is common sense maybe lost in context. Make sure your team is not sneaking in design elements. Everyone wants to be a fashion designer. Even the manufacturers. The people that build the digital data will also try to be creative. They just can't help it. You need to warn them before it even starts.
Any big clothing, companies or designers you would partner with?
Never. I will never work with any big shots. Only up and comers. I am going to rip the fashion industry apart so viciously that the price of clothing is going to fall in general.
Wowww that is a very bold statement but it's powerful and it resonates. Any workshops for young creators? If you have any ideas for that griiim.com Is an excellent launch pad for grassroots events. We handle everything from A to Z for free 🆓 when we partner with grassroots causes.
(Declined)
I understand you are a logo specialist, a logo designer.
Can you talk about when you started designing logos? Specifically Aunt, any word you have on logo design?
I am not knowledgeable in the industry mechanics. Everything I do is from instincts. I need people to introduce me to general practices. I would love to work with young or old creators. I wanna work with the underdogs.
And the other thoughts about logos?
The strongest weapon you can have in fashion is an amazing logo so I stacked them. I knew immediately that I would need a great logo to make this easy. The first thing I did after designing sneakers was capturing a competitive logo. I am logo driven.
I feel like logos can really encapsulate the bigger picture. patterns are awesome and all that but logos are very reusable. You can use them on a lot of different designs and the meaning sticks. Regardless, you can even swap the colors on logos. Oftentimes.
You have to leave a flaming hot logo when you are dead and gone along with rules and perimeters or who knows what will become of your legacy.
END.
Dusable Lewis Jr: this was an awesome interview! I learned some awesome insights into the world of fashion and I think I might be revisiting this article, this conversation, and this designer for advice in the future. This was very insightful. I'm happy that I came across this person and hopefully he continues to make awesome work.