21Grams Exclusive Interview – SoJones Discount Coupon Code

Article written by: SoJones
Posted on: June 9, 2009

Use coupon code “SoJones.com” for 50% @ 21Grams
NOTE: 50% off discount good until Midnight PST on Jun 16th 2009. Otherwise 10% off.

[ SoJones.com ] INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND DESCRIBE HOW YOUR BRAND WAS STARTED?

[ 21Grams ] 21Grams was thought up by Shaun Bay and Andrew McCulloch on a hot day over a few cold beers. It had been a long time dream of ours to have our own clothing line, our dream came true with a few good ideas and a Rolex. We mention the Rolex as this is what funded the beginnings of our business. Andrew had owned the watch for a number of years and it was his pride and joy however after some agonising decision making he decided that some sacrifices had to be made in order to get this rolling, so in a way that Rolex is the foundation of 21Grams. Shaun is our full time designer constantly coming up with twisted ideas for our label to keep our constantly growing fan base amused. Andrew is a bit more behind the sense growing the business with his blood sweat and tears.

[ SoJones.com ] DESCRIBE THIS SEASON AND NEXT SEASON’S LOOKS. INCLUDE ANY SOURCES OF INSPIRATION (EXAMPLES: 80’s GRAFFITI, MUSES LIKE AGYNESS DEYN, 70’s DISCO BANDS, MUSIC VIDEOS ETC)

[ 21Grams ] This season we have tried to test the boundaries a little bit with our guns, girls and drugs theme, but without going overboard. We were a little nervous about going to far with our first release as you don’t see a lot of the sort of designs we do on the market today. With sex, drugs and weapons being three of the world most popular money makers we figured we couldn’t go wrong. Our biggest motivator was that we wanted to make the sort of clothes we wanted to wear but couldn’t buy. Our inspiration is simply mischief and mayhem.

Next season we plan to really cross the line haha. We are still running with the same sort of themes but to the extreme, half naked girls, drugged out panda bears and meat eating Mary Poppins.and these are just a few examples.

[ SoJones.com ] WHAT CELEB OR WELL-KNOWN FIGURE(S) EXEMPLIFY THE BRAND?

[ 21Grams ] Well I guess our style is a mish mash of skate, graffiti art and hip hop so if you could morph Chad Muska, Kanya West and Banksy that would be our celeb but we really don’t like to pigeon hole ourselves into one genre. If that makes sense haha.

[ SoJones.com ] ANY PRODUCT PLACEMENTS ON CELEBS, IN MOVIES OR VIDEOS TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR?

[ 21Grams ] The majority of our range is currently sitting on the set of two of the biggest New Zealand television sets “Shortland Street” and ‘Outragouse Fortune” so we are hopping to see it on some home grown tv. With the amount of movies being filmed in New Zealand now some of our gear is bound to show up on the big screen, and we’ve just been asked by an up and coming NZ hip hop group for sponsorship, we are in the middle of working out all the details but hopefully soon you’ll see our gear on stage!

[ SoJones.com ] ANY EXPANSION PLANS?

[ 21Grams ] Yes definitely! Andrew is hell bent on growth and sits up most nights emailing retailers around the world. We have just been taken on by a store in the UK and we are talking to a number of people in the US. We plan to grow by 4 new retailers a month for the next 12 months. It would seem logical to grow in New Zealand first but would much prefer to be more aggressive in the bigger markets. World domination is definitely the plan hahaha.

[ SoJones.com ] LOOKING AHEAD OVER THE NEXT YEAR OR TWO, WHAT THEMES/LOOKS/STYLES DO YOU SEE YOUR BRAND GRAVITATING TO?

[ 21Grams ] Well at the moment we are really loving the guns, girls, drugs and everything illegal and I guess we will just keep pushing the boundaries until we get sued, protested against or shutdown and then we will just push harder.

[ SoJones.com ] WHAT THEMES/LOOKS/STYLES DO YOU SEE YOUR BRAND MOVING AWAY FROM?

[ 21Grams ] Something we decided when we started the label was that we were definitely not going to do the typical “I love NZ” crap. It seems that almost every New Zealand brand has done this and we are so sick of seeing it. I saw a tee the other day that had a map of New Zealand on it with “born here” written under it, it immediately made me think we should do one reading “stuck here” haha. It is just so over done and we really don’t want people to buy our shirts purely because it’s a “New Zealand brand” , because it’s not, it’s a global brand, we just happen to live in NZ. We want people to by them because they are inspired by them, or, just plain like the designs.

[ SoJones.com ] WHAT HAS BEEN A SURPRISE FASHION HIT OVER THE LAST YEAR? (A PARTICULAR PIECE, A LOOK OR EVEN ANOTHER BRAND)

[ 21Grams ] A surprise fashion hit for us has been one of our own designs “Pill Freaks” this particular tee depicts a helicopter dropping a bunch of ecstasy pills over a crowd of twisted party  freaks. We both really liked the design when it was finished but we never realised it would be such a hit. We think our tees really show the dark horse in all of us.

Thanks for the opportunity guys, and till next time remember……..live ’til you die.

Use coupon code “SoJones.com” for 50% @ 21Grams
NOTE: 50% off discount good until Midnight PST on June 16th 2009. Otherwise 10% off.