BIZ OF THE MONTH: $HERBY

BIZ OF THE MONTH: $HERBY

NEW WEBSITE: https://sherbygang.com/

Can you tell us about your brand and what inspired you to start? 

$herby is a pavement designer brand that started in 2016 and focuses on 1/1 up-cycled pieces as well as limited releases of staple pieces according to season. I really intend all of this to be interpreted by what each wearers own individual mind sees it for so its kind of hard for me to put a concrete “this is what $herby is” statement together. The easiest way I would be able to explain how it started would be that I've always absolutely hated seeing someone else in public wearing the same t-shirt or clothes as me, like to the point where I'd fuck around and leave the function and go home and change my whole outfit.

So, stemming from that and kind of always being into fashion and very observant to what artists in the music world are wearing; I think that kind of pushed me to the point of wanting to learn how to screen print. When I first started in 2016 I did some trial and error stuff cutting the word $herby out on some thin plastic and tried stamping it onto a t shirt which came out awful, but I saw the idea was there and from there I started looking into the screen printing process and learned how to burn a screen and from there I kind of just kept printing tees and started moving into trying other types of clothes (jeans, jackets, sweatpants) and a lot of my friends were really fuckin with it as much as I was so it basically just started growing from there.

What piece are you most excited to drop this year and why?

I have a couple drops coming this year and I feel like everything is really exciting that is coming out because its all kind of based off of a staple piece in my own wardrobe that I basically tried to perfect and throw my own spin on it and add the $herby sauce to it. I would definitely say this spring drop I'm most excited about the sunglasses. I'm a SUCKER for sunglasses and have always found myself collecting them in any style I find that I vibe with. I specifically chose these ones for the first round because everyone looks good in a pair of heavy all black frames and lenses. You really cant go wrong with them in my opinion and you can dress them way up or way down and they somehow always fit perfect. So far my favorite part of this drop was watching different people try the shades on because its like right when they put them on and you see the facial expression that they're just as excited to rock them as I am and that is such a great fuckin feeling. I also remember the one summer back in like high school i was looking to make some quick cash and i ended up (allegedly) buying some super low quality bootleg dolce and Gabbana sunglasses and started selling them to all my homegirls so the shades are definitely bringing up some nostalgia for me. I definitely have to say the shades were moving with now are phenomenal on the quality and design side though and I'm really happy to have my logo on a pair. Then seeing that people are also really impressed with the design and are like “I need those!” is also a really great experience.

What makes $herby different from other apparel lines?

I would say the biggest difference right now is the fact that I'm still printing and embroidering all of this myself out of my apartment. With this website drop I embroidered around 97 garments and i screen printed around 60 or so. I've always found myself having a huge emphasis on quality of the garment and quality of the design so doing it all myself from the sourcing to the printing gives me full control. I kind of like the idea of the smaller range because it makes it more exciting for the wearer and it still kind of keeps that underground vibe. I see a lot of brands that are all over the place which is totally cool, but it's almost disappointing to me when I come across one of their pieces and the quality is just not there at all; a lot of those brands have storefronts and high price tags too. So I always wonder, "Why would they not put some of that bread towards a better quality blank that will age well and last longer?"

How has the Cleveland music scene been a part of your journey to get to this point?

The Cleveland music scene has been such an amazing part of this whole operation man. I went to school for audio production and music has been just as much of a part of my life as the clothes have. I feel like music and fashion go so much in hand together, so being able to be a part of both of them is super dope. Especially in THE CITY. I have so many artists that wear my clothes which is amazing, but through all the happenings I also have built really good personal relationships too and that is by far so worth its weight. I feel like there's such a steady rise in the music fashion and art world right now in Cleveland, and the energy is so fucking strong so getting to be a part of it is a dream to me. 

Who is someone you would love to collaborate with in the future?

I really want to work on collabs with all of the artists that I've gotten to know. There's definitely been some talking between a couple people and it will all fall into motion when the time comes. I actually have my first collab coming up this summer with another brand from the city (which I'll leave the suspense here by not naming), and I'm hyped to share it with everyone. 

What plans do you have for the rest of the year?

The rest of the year I'm just planning to get this website tightened up and make it an experience, just as much as the clothes are. I'm going to drop a couple staples each season so people have some new weather appropriate threads, and the plan is to keep adding the highly coveted 1/1s once a month. The staple pieces are a little more widely available, but it's all still going to be limited to a shorter amount of inventory. I'm really trying to utilize the website as much as possible and just overall have fun with this shit. For example there's actually a music player feature on the website (on some myspace shit!), with which I plan to feature a new artist every month. I think will help promote their art and tie in with the future collabs and alla that.