The Bronx Brand
Founded by the Bronx-based husband-and-wife team, Mike and Tiarra Hamlett, The Bronx Brand is a streetwear apparel brand and digital platform showcasing creatives in the Bronx. We sat down with Mike to learn more.
“So, I thought to myself, Why would I want to leave the Bronx?”
Where does your story begin and what’s the inspiration for The Bronx Brand?
I grew up in Morris Park/Van Nest. Growing up, we moved around a lot. Like many kids growing up here, my idea of making it was moving out of the Bronx. I thought to myself, Once I established myself, I'm gonna move somewhere else. Eventually, after my wife and I were married, we thought about moving to Bridgeport [Connecticut] and starting a life there. At the time, we were going to a church in the heights [Washington Heights] and started to notice the influx of white people. I started thinking about gentrification and why people from other communities continue to come into POC areas. Then, I started thinking about why everyone moves to New York. What is it about New York City that makes people want to come? Why is it that New York is such a draw for people? That became interesting.
If you look at the people who come from the Bronx and our biggest export, it's hip hop which is global pop culture. People like Ralph Lauren, Swizz Beatz, Al Pacino, Big Pun, Kerry Washington, and Stanley Kubrick are all from the Bronx. These are not just people who did little things in their industries. They were top tier, and they all lived here at different periods. It's like, Woah, it's not a coincidence we have this concentration of talent. You have Cardi B, A Boogie, French Montana, and so many others–even outside of hip-hop.
So, I thought to myself, Why would I want to leave the Bronx?
People are doing whatever is necessary to come here and stay here. When people from Europe go on vacation, they come to New York. When we go on vacation, we go to Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and all these places–and they want to come here. I thought about how I didn't want to overlook any of those things or take them for granted. And on top of that, I wanted to build a platform for discovering people and helping push them along their path and journey of trying to make it. There are so many people that are doing stuff here already and doing phenomenal work. For us, we wanted to help support people through apparel, our online magazine, and things like that. We had to push this forward so that in 20 years those people can be in the same regard as Ralph Lauren and Swizz Beatz. That's the whole mission of the brand–to showcase and be a platform for Bronx creatives.
What moved you to go into fashion or streetwear?
I've always been into fashion, but a funny incident started my love for clothing during High school. In 2006, I was at this old church with a teal, muted blue T-shirt, some jeans that were not the right fit, and beat-up timbs [Timberland Boots]. This kid, that I thought was my friend, just cooked me [to roast/make fun of] in front of everyone. There were a whole bunch of girls we were all talking to, and I was like, That's how you're gonna do me? After that, I got a job, and my whole paycheck would go towards buying clothes and collecting sneakers. I told myself, This will never happen to me ever again. When I began applying to colleges, I was only interested in going to engineering school because I was like, Hey, if I can get a job making $70K as an electrical engineer, then I'll be straight. I got into the school of engineering at NYU and quickly realized that engineering wasn't for me.
I went to the high school of American Studies, whereas most students at the school of engineering studied at Brooklyn Tech. They really spoke techology–I did not. I had to work much harder than I did in high school to learn this stuff, and it just wasn’t fun for me. What happened was that I didn't take school seriously. I had poor time management skills and ended up failing the basketball team I had joined at the school. After failing with the team, I was like, Well, I don't want to be here anymore. So, I ended up dropping out after the first year.
I was 19, reading an article in Ink Magazine about Johnny Cupcakes, and was like, Wow, this guy made a multi-million dollar business just kind of as a joke. He started printing t-shirts, and it blew up. I thought to myself if I build a business around fashion, something I like, I could take that somewhere. That's when I started my first apparel business. I had no experience and was not knowledgeable about any of these things, but I was intentional and willing to learn. That first business failed, but I learned a lot of lessons that helped me when I started thinking about the Bronx brand.
We launched the Bronx Brand in July 2015 along with the website.
Mike Hamlett Jr. in front of a Crash and Tats Cru mural
What was that startup year like, and what was different from the first apparel business that failed?
LOL. We lost money and didn't make our first sale until December. But, I learned that more important than having a good product and design is having marketing.
The way that technology is now compared to when I launched my first business is different. I learned screen printing in my first business, but the way that we were producing was too much work. Today, you don't have to make things from scratch anymore. You can sell something before you produce it. Ten years ago or so, you really couldn't do that.
Initially, with the Bronx Brand, we used a fulfillment company and promoted on Instagram and Facebook what we were doing. We did all of this without actually having a cost associated with production. We only spent on the website and any marketing that we did. Over the years, we've been buying more equipment, trying to figure other things out, and just building while keeping our costs as low as possible. We don't want to create anything with low quality but try keeping costs as low as possible to do more.
The margins for working with a fulfillment company are small, but if you can get to a place where you have good equipment, you’re in a nice spot to produce in-house and can afford to make some mistakes.
Besides Instagram and social media, how else were y’all marketing the brand?
In 2016, we started doing popups and stuff like that. One of the first big popups we did was down in Hunts Point for the Mi Gente Festival. We got a lot of feedback from people responding to us in person, and we appreciated it. That's when I met KayLove. What is funny about that popup is that we were screen printing on our kitchen table. I didn't have an actual press to do it, so we pressed too hard with the ink, and it came through the other side of some shirts. The shirts that came out messed up we sold for $5. I was just trying to break even, and it ended up working out. We ended up doing pretty well there, which is dope. If there was an event, we made sure to be there for a popup. We were trying to connect with as many people as possible, on Instagram and in person, going all in.
“Merch is sometimes the way in which artists make money off of the artwork they create. In streetwear, fashion is both the way we make money and the art we produce.”
How does the Bronx Brand separate itself from other brands doing streetwear in the Bronx? How do y’all stand out?
For us, I think, it's the collaborations. We don't want to make it only about what we're doing but who we’re doing it with while keeping the brand aesthetic. I like very bold lines, so when I'm reaching out to artists, I'm looking for that. We want to be true to artists and the work they create, but also the brand so that when a user is going through our site, they're not like it's all over the place design-wise.
I think for us, quality is our biggest thing. I don't want to make things for the sake of making them. I want to have streetwear that people really want to be in and wear constantly. Sometimes we go subtle with our designs so that people are able to layer the clothing and wear it outside of the shop or immediately after buying it online. I don't like the term merch because merch sounds touristy, and no knock to artists that sell merch, but artists are focused on other things. There's a big difference between merch and fashion. You may make merch to monetize on something, but also there's a very specific look to that. I think when it comes to fashion and streetwear, there's a little bit more care in the garments used and labeling.
Merch is sometimes the way in which artists make money off of the artwork they create. In streetwear, fashion is both 1) the way we make money and 2) the art we produce. These are not just phrases on a shirt for us–this is Bronxwear.
Early on, you mentioned getting married and starting a family. What has that been like for you as a business owner and entrepreneur?
My wife Tiara and I have a really good relationship where we understand where we're coming from in different situations. In our first year, that's when you kind of work out a lot of those things. We started The Bronx Brand about two years into our marriage and had a baby a few years later, so we already had things figured out. She understands that I come up with crazy ideas, and I'm always like, Hey, we should do this. Sometimes she's on board, but she's also like, Okay, well, you do it, and then you know, you let me know how it's going. So, I know I have to convince her. I know that no matter what, she's gonna do whatever she can to support me, and I have her back in the same way. So with a business, I think it always just depends on who that other person is, to be honest. I think those things definitely have to be worked out beforehand.
You gotta overcommunicate and not take things personally. Most times, when you're voicing frustrations, it's not that you’re frustrated with the person, but maybe the situation. It’s important to communicate that. It's not your fault that the baby is crying; It's not the baby's fault either.
I think that life is just about adjustments. Life is about growth and adjustments. I had no reference point on how this relationship should be before the business or afterward. It's just like, this is life right now, and you manage at that point. I don't want to say that life has to be this or l that. Life is, and you adjust from there. If you don't like how things are, you have the power and the capability to change them.
What has been the most rewarding or exciting part about doing the Bronx Brand?
When we were doing different events and popups, I met Crash [John Matos]. He's one of my favorite artists, and when I met him, he recognized our brand. I'm like, Oh wow, I can’t believe he knows our brand. He was like, Let's make something, and later, I met him at his studio to talk about a shirt concept. I was very excited to collaborate with him. It helped legitimize what we were doing, even more, working with a legend in graffiti from the Bronx. That was huge.
We ended up doing another collaboration later on, and then, in 2018, he invited us to the small business side at his shop. He was like, Hey, I had this idea for having a shop with different brands and clothes, Are you interested in being part of that? I was like, Yes, definitely. He called me in March of 2019 and was like, There's a spot opening up across the street from the gallery, and you remember that idea? How about we partner on it? I was like, Definitely, let's do it. We got the keys in April, opened up in May, and did that for a bit into the pandemic.
Many things have fallen in place over the years that we were very fortunate to be in the position to take advantage of. It’s all been very humbling and incredible.
What does the future look like for the Bronx Brand?
I'm hoping that people could come onto our platform, whether it's on the apparel side or the content side of things, and be able to get some income to supplement what they're already doing. I hope they see a path for themselves through us doing what they creatively love to do. That's the big goal.
I think for us, we're just trying to be the best streetwear brand that we can be. Streetwear is the way that we're growing this thing. Everything else is like gravy.
