Some of our shirts reflect on social and socioeconomic issues that have affected the communities which we come from. A sense of enlightenment has been conveyed through some of our shirts to serve broader purpose. For example, "Toy Soldiers," even though there are small plastic army men on the shirt, the premise is "Don't be a Toy Soldier, know what you fighting for."

We attract the trendsetter. People who aren't scared to dare, people who are edgy and move masses. It is important for us to stay ahead of the game. This may apply to fashion forecasting, sales, lifestyle whatever as along as we are not complacent. Change is Good!

Chilly-O is very fond of beauty in a person. Whether it is physically displayed or beauty in the heart, Chilly-O is all about being sexy and desired.

DRENCH: How do you contribute BMX into your design, yet still maintain that urban feel to Chilly-O?
Chilly-O: It’s not all not all inclusive, Chilly-O doesn’t belong to a group. It’s a universal sound. We’re not completely urban, or completely BMX, or skate. We don’t cater to groups, we have a universal appeal across the board.

DRENCH: I know you have an international base in London. How far has Chilly-O expanded outside of Atlanta and London nationally and internationally?
Chilly-O: We’re in Japan, China, and Greece, but in small quantities. We’re also in NYC, Chicago, Philly, South Beach, Pittsburgh, St. Louis. We expanded strictly through word of mouth, and Chilly-O is in 90% boutiques.

DRENCH: Would you still consider Chilly-O an “underground” label?
Chilly-O: Most definitely, people don’t know how to get it. It’s getting somewhat mainstream, but the popular still don’t know how to get it. Everybody in the street knows our reputation. They know Chilly-O. At a trade show in Japan, I had some stripped overalls. Soon after, it was duplicated. I took a regular industrial brand, that has nothing to do with streetwear, and turned it into a style. That’s how trends get started at trade shows. Then, nobody had this on.

DRENCH: What has been some of Chilly-O’s biggest accomplishments?
Chilly-O: Becoming a cohesive team and a business and a competitive entity. That’s our biggest forte. We’re able to contribute our ideas to the broader community so we can make whatever movement transpiring cohesive and validate it.
DJ Drama
I feel that we’re a strong reputation for the Southeast, which is generally looked upon as weak in fashion. We’re a strong hold in terms of representing the Southeast.

DRENCH: What about the cover of XXL with DJ Drama wearing your line?
Chilly-O: That was definitely a major accomplishment to be in line with DJ Drama and Grand Hustle, and also to be embraced by the Purple Ribbon family. That’s probably one of the biggest achievements ever in life to be embraced by a member of OutKast and their family and vouched for and stood up for. It shows a sense of alignment and a sense of passing the torch, you know?

DRENCH: The Chilly-O promise is to always, “keep it exclusive”. How exactly does Chilly-O keep it exclusive?
Chilly-O: We implement something called “mass exclusivity”. Mass exclusivity is a trend going on in business, that gives the ability to showcase in front of the masses, but still keep your integrity. For example, say facetiously, Delta partnered with Chilly-O: If you sit in these few seats, then you get Chilly-O hand towels and key-chains. Delta is a big conglomerate, big cooperate type situation, but it’s still exclusive, because you’re still getting these products that the average individual just can’t get, unless you’re at the right place, at the right time. Yeah, that’s mass exclusivity.

DRENCH: As far as the clothing line goes, what separates Chilly-O from any other label out now?
Chilly-O: I think that our bold concepts is what got us over. We were one of the first to take the novelty slogan, like dialogue shirts, urbanize and make it cool to where it’s a real popular trend amongst a lot of streetwear brands, that you see now, and even urbanwear brands. When we first got into the game, streetwear culture was really green, really nature-based, kind of like following suit along with the LRGs and things of that nature. I’m talking about really, about four and a half years ago. I felt like fashion, back then, people that wanted to individually to express themselves, the only way I can see to do that is the have personal statements on shirts. Then you got these cities, to where there’s a lot of tension, where people don’t really speak to each other, like in the South. So, you can vicariously make your statement without having to directly talking to people, by saying stuff like, “I’m fucking genius”. We came out real hard, in the beginning, because of how street and gutter everything was. We came out with stuff like “Ride now, fuck later” and also stuff like “In life there’s no U-turns, so don’t look back”. We also came out with “Egomaniac”, which is the shirt that Big (Boi) wore in the Sleepy Brown and Pharrell video (“Margarita”), thanks to the ladies over at Envy, the stylists, and Big making the choice to wear it. “Egomaniac” is not the person wearing the shirt, but it’s actually talking to the people who are egomaniacs. It’s says “be confident” in real small and real humble on the shirt, and there is a crown on the back, like “be a king” don’t be an egomaniac.

Now, talking with brothers, like before I even started , like with Clark Kent, who is a great man in the industry. Working with Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z, he started out as being a dance DJ, producer, largest sneaker collector in the world, constant trips to Japan, worked and consulted for Nike, sitting down and talking with guys like that, have given me jewels to make this happen. You asked me a while ago, what is our biggest achievements. Our biggest achievements is the ability to stay consistent in the flow. That’s the challenge of most businesses.

DRENCH: What’s in the plans for Chilly-O in 2008 and beyond?
Chilly-O: We wrote in our plan three years ago that we just wanted to stick to t-shirts. We wanted the market to build the brand, stamp the brand in people’s heads. We still have a long ways to go, but that was our overall goal. The future now is to paying attention to the quality, and diversifying the brand. Like getting into knit tops, fleece wear, denim. That’s the next tier. After that, is getting into more lifestyle kind of products, that we can use to continue to build the brand. Then eventually introduce something for the ladies. I don’t know if it’s still going to be called Chilly-O, but it’ll be something hot for the ladies. You got to take your time when understanding that market, it’s highly competitive. So whatever you put out there, it has to be right. We’re going through all of our bumps and bruises at Chilly-O, so when we introduce the female line, it’s just right. We can pay attention to the things that ladies like to showcase, in the way they like to dress, the way they like to live, and the way they like to feel.

DRENCH: If you execute it well, that could be a very lucrative market for you, because you know, women love to shop.
Chilly-O: Right, they’re still the number one consumer. I was reading some bit of reference material, and how the shoppers are. They classified the woman shopper in four components. But the trendsetter, is the one we want to address out of those four components. The artsy trendsetter. We don’t want to deal with the practical, conventional woman. We want to deal with the artsy, trendsetting woman.

DRENCH: Is there a tentative date for the women’s line?
Chilly-O: We were looking at doing some small sampling in Spring of 2008. Some small, mass exclusive type of thing, where we might introduce a “boyfriend, girlfriend” “male, female” edition to where we might do, when we ship, we might introduce a few limited edition pieces for the girl who wants to shopping for her man, or the girl who is shopping with her man, and wants a shirt as well. Like, limited time only. When weren’t going to do a full on campaign, unless the opportunity presents itself. I wouldn’t want to limit myself.

DRENCH: If this entire Chilly-O empire were to end tomorrow, better yet, if it never happened, what would you be doing now?
Chilly-O: Hmm....That’s a real good question. It’s cleaver, you know? I’ll probably be traveling. I’d probably be traveling just to learn the languages, when I say that, I mean learn different customs and different cultures. Then I’d relate it back to another business. You know, traveling raises your IQ. To make a long story shot, I’d probably be traveling, raising my IQ.

DRENCH: Where can we find Chilly-O locally or not so locally?
Chilly-O: In Japan, Zero-Traders and Baseline. In Atlanta, USA Boutique is the store that launched. We have a signature on the wall in there. Definitely USA Boutique. He brings an upscale appeal to our urban audience we started out with. P.Valentine, following him up, which is Sherlita (Patton) and Tracy (Valentine). Got to shout out to Sherlita and Tracy for believing in us, and Big (Boi). They sell contemporary fashion, on a boutique level. Then the husband and wife duo, down at Urban Fusion. Glad to see what they’re doing. They’re over in the Castleberry Hill District. They been holding us down. For when we start getting in and talking about diversity, you got to talk about 404 Audio. It’s a music boutique off of Marietta Street, who sells drum and bass, a rare international music. There’s a list of other we have. There is Fashion Industry, which is a new account, they’ve been doing real well with the product. Then you got Wish, who picked us , you know their reputations. They’re always mentioned in a majority of magazines and publications that cater to higher fashion. You can’t forget the girls at Envy, and Tease for giving us a try in the very beginning. The women of Envy. We’re in Michael K, in New York, which is in SoHo. We’re in Yellow Red Bastard, which is a magazine and a store in SoHo. We’re in pieces of Brooklyn and pieces of Harlem. Up Against the Wall just picked up the line. That’s our only west coast location. Then the Mid-Atlantic, Philly in Miami which is on South Beach. Philly in Miami is a specialty store, where they sell rare, exclusive items. Music and Clothes. It’s a lifestyle based mom and pop, but he’s on his way to becoming a boutique. He’s highly respected down there in the South Beach area. Number one, he’s probably one of two of the only black owners on South Beach that have real estate down there. A lot of the artists always make sure they stop in Philly in Miami when they go to South Beach. You got to mention the UK people, which is E-Urban Couture. They believed in our product early, and they been assisting with building the brand on very gratuitous, underground level. You know, Chilly-O is in the lifestyle of not just what we do, but others. We got an open mind, and we just want to see, especially two black kids from our neighborhoods, we just want to show the world that we can contribute something to society.

DRENCH: Do you have any advice to the up coming streetwear designers now?
Chilly-O: Yeah. (Laughs) Number one, believe in your product. Don’t let the hate be a factor. It can be very discouraging in the beginning, because it’s such a competitive market. Number two, do what’s with arm’s reach. There’s nothing wrong with it. Don’t forget to set goals, but grab what’s within arm’s reach. Understand that time is a factor. We live in the land of one-hit-wonders, and the facade that people get rich over night, but that’s not the case. That’s not the standard at least, that does happen, but that’s not the standard the way it’s being depicted. You got a lot of broke celebrities running around here. So, understand that time and hard work is definitely a factor that you got to be ready for. Last but not least, it’s a small community so don’t be scared to share, collaborate, and be neighborly. It’s a competitive environment, don’t forget that.

DRENCH: That’s very good advice. Now, anything else you would like to add?
Chilly-O: Nah, I just want to wish you all success. I like the name, the name is good. So, just blow the thing up and I appreciate for the opportunity.

DRENCH: Thank you very much and we appreciate your time.
Chilly-O: Alright, peace.