How long have you been doing what you’re doing?

“We have been up in the lab assembling and we got you all now a trembling”, for the past 2 years now fine tuning the Defiant family and what we wanted to present, as well as amassing our catalog. Really hard decisions when you have so much killer artwork to choose upon.

How did you start your brand?

Easy, we just did it instead of just talking about it. Too many people out there just like to run their mouths about what they are going to do, “step up or step off ”, is one of our mottos.

How did you come up with the name Defiant?

Everyone told us we couldn’t do it, so we were essentially handed the name without anyone actually helping. And for those who doubted and were convinced we would fail, we don’t have enough middle fingers and laughter for you.

Where are you based and what do you like (or dislike) about living and working there?

We are currently based in Seattle. Not a big fan of 9 months out of the year being rainy and ugly skies, but the state is beautiful with everything you could ever want. We don’t allow any negative talk in our group so we choose not to answer the “dislike” portion, “this space left intentionally blank” is our official response. We are moving the business back home to San Francisco in the spring 2011, where we belong. SF has proven time and time again to be the most positive and progressive community that embraces the art and fashion environment with open arms and checkbooks. Exactly what we want and need.

What qualities set you apart from other T-Shirt making companies?

Seeing how there are so many companies trying to notch out a space for themselves, it becomes increasingly harder to set yourself apart from the others. So we rely on our core values of non-compromising integrity of every little detail down to our choices in blanks, colors, printing inks and techniques, placements, and the gender specific styles. We make art first, and then work backwards to adjust the art to apparel. We do art based fashion, so every piece is like buying a piece of art. We take extreme pride in every product we produce. You will not find anything that doesn’t meet our stringent quality control ever on a sales floor or any order. Your reputation is everything and you must protect it at all costs. It’s too easy to buy crap and try to pass it off as boutique quality just to make the numbers higher. I will always choose to spend the extra money and take smaller returns just to know that we have produced the absolute best possible quality product. Period!

What is your process for creating a new T-Shirt, do you screen print yourselves? Etc.

We do have a printing press in the Defiant Lab that we primarily use for creating samples and testing pieces, saves us time and money for production. For our final pressings we outsource to a couple different printers that we have developed intimate relationships with and that can cater to our finicky needs. There are thousands of printers out there but only a small handful can accommodate our many parameters.

What inspiration/influences do you draw from when creating new designs?

Inspiration can happen in a blink of an eye, we could be driving to get supplies and just start laughing about something, and that something morphs into something else. Then boom, you have a thought for an idea. Luckily we both have some form of turrets and blurt out the most absurd comical crap that just makes us laugh, and funny enough that’s inspiring. We also make a conscious effort to create continuing themed lines, so the art has more of a story than just one piece and it’s done, it takes on a life of its own. And if you have ever been to one of our shows you’ll know exactly what we mean.

Do you bring artists/designers in to collaborate on T-shirts? If so, how do you go about finding them and deciding to include them in your line?

At this time all the designs are done in house by our resident Ninja, aka Nick Beery. There is no way possible that we could bring in another artist into the fold just yet. Ninja is the hardest working man I have ever seen. We would need to have our own 200,000 square foot production plant to keep up with how much that man pumps out, and it’s all quality too. I don’t get it, I just enjoy it with my jaw dropped and try to keep up. He is an anomaly for sure. But in the future we will definitely be bringing other artists in for new Defiant creations. We already have a family as we like to call it, of artists and friends that we respect and want to work with, and that is the first place we will be going when it’s time for collaboration. If there are some inspiring artists out there that like what we are doing and believe they too would be a great fit in the family, by all means hit us up and let’s go get a beer and chat. It’s all about having a connection with the people you work with, and celebrating the life that the artists bring to this world.

What were you doing before this?

San Quinton. Kidding, it was more like Juliet. I was in the entertainment industry for about 18 years doing every job from front of house sound, to production management to producing my own events. It was a natural progression from growing up on stage playing in punk and heavy rock bands. But after you reach the pinnacle of income in that industry, you can either become an owner of a business and deal with feast or famine, or accept not being able to pay a mortgage and have a savings account. So I decided to follow a dream of another route I have been magnetically pulled towards for years. And I can’t even begin to describe how much I love creating something out of nothing, every day is something entirely new. For a guy with ADHD, this is the best possible scenario.

When are you most productive? Do you come up with your best ideas while you’re just hanging out or in a full-fledged business brainstorm session?

We are the most productive just working together and hanging out laughing. We really do have a great time together and that is very conducive for productivity, and we’re obsessed with perfection so we are always working. We have never actually sat down and tried to force a brainstorm session, absolutely no need with all the natural flow of ideas. We have a backlog of ideas that we can’t even get to yet, and at times it can be overwhelming with just the simple choice of what to do next. Not a bad problem to have if you ask me.

Is there any direction you hope to take your line in the next year or so? Are you planning on doing anything differently?

Our only plans in the next year or so is to concentrate on exactly what we are doing and stay focused on the quality of production, and following our own trend reports on what our customers like or don’t like. It’s my feelings that if you spread yourself thin across multiple platforms you inherently suffer consequences in quality, if you mean to or not. The only way to create a long lasting brand that your customers can rely on, is being reliable, and never dip below that bar of standards the public has come to expect. It’s not rocket surgery, it’s called commitment!

Five songs you can’t stop listening to right now?

I Cut Like A Buffalo ~ The Dead Weather, 99 Problems ~ Danger Mouse, Plastic Surgery Hall of Fame ~ Schoolyard Hereos (My absolute favorite thing about Seattle), TimeBomb ~ Old 97’s, & EVERYTHING Mars Volta. And that list changes all the time. Some days you’ll catch me listing to Hayseed Dixie and next song will be GBH, and the next The Heavy followed by Billy Joels Glass Houses album. I love almost all kinds of music, and that is why you will see our videos that we produce of Ninja working, is all set to music. You can really inspire any emotion, feel, look and mood with the simple choice of the right song to accompany any visuals. And I have a blast doing them, great excuse to play around.

What do you like to do when you’re not developing and distributing awesome T-Shirts?

I like to dream of being on a beach somewhere in the southern hemisphere with my feet in the sand, a beer in my hand and my kids serving me like some sort of roman emperor….

Also, I like to spend any off time with my family, it’s the reason I have such passion about what I do. I try to be an inspiration to my kids to show them they can be anything they want to be just by putting your head down and pushing through any obstacle life can throw at you. It’s important to be positive and present in your family, it’s the only one you’ll have!

Any last words or shout outs?

A big shout out to our families that have been moral support even on the worst days when we are not our friendliest. To all our personal friends that put up with our neurotic schedules and absence when we are obsessing in the lab and are supposed to be hanging. A HUGE Big Up (Magazine) Shout out to Devon of D-Structure, he is the most fantastical, diabolical, kick ass host a new company could hope to meet. Thank you Devon, from the bottom of our demented hearts.

Very Best,

The Defiant Duo