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Hey peoples , fun question, how much money you think these underground brands make???

November 25, 2006 @ 09:18 AM
yoyoyoyo

Post: 53

Join Date: Nov 2006

,,,how much money do you think these brands bring in,,,brands that have blogs to show you their daily basis,,,like THe Hundreds, Mishka, Orisue, or 10 Deep, 3sixteen,,etc etc etc,,,are all of them living off of this or is their a second 9 to 5 job ....?
November 25, 2006 @ 09:40 AM
nick

Post: 437

Join Date: Jun 2006

I have always wondered that also. I mean just by looking at the hundreds blog it seems as though they are pretty well off.
November 25, 2006 @ 09:48 AM

Inactive

most of these brands dont make as much as you think. not that they dont make money, but its definately not as much as youd expect. Imagine, they sell a shirt for 14 bucks to a store, 5 of that went into making it. so 9 bucks per shirt. Even if they sell 500 shirts in a season, thats only 4500 bucks, and thats not including employees or other expenses (tradeshows, etc)
November 25, 2006 @ 09:55 AM
Kicks & Hoods

Post: 38

Join Date: Oct 2006

Location: Kent, England

I expect it pays for their lifestyle. I mean you always see in blogs them heading off to Japan for business and buying art from the latest show their Hyping. Theres probably a lot or perks and freebies between the brands. I reakon they all live off it but i dont know by how much. I got a quote from a chinese company about making 100 all over print hoodies up for me and they said shipped it would be about $55 a hoody to give you some idea.
November 25, 2006 @ 10:09 AM
MeccaDon718

Post: 1595

Join Date: Oct 2006

Location: Shaolin, NYC

They probably don't make AS MUCH as we think but you can tell they do this because this is what they love, their passion not so much for the cash (well not all the companies but you can decide on your own which ones). Like someone already stated, there's a couple of perks that come wit it (getting a chance to travel different countries, freebies, encounters with other famous designers, etc).
November 25, 2006 @ 10:20 AM

Inactive

I think alot of them have supplimentary regular jobs.
November 25, 2006 @ 11:37 AM
rasclaaat

Post: 759

Join Date: Jun 2006

most of these brands dont make as much as you think. not that they dont make money, but its definately not as much as youd expect. Imagine, they sell a shirt for 14 bucks to a store, 5 of that went into making it. so 9 bucks per shirt. Even if they sell 500 shirts in a season, thats only 4500 bucks, and thats not including employees or other expenses (tradeshows, etc)



5 is a low estimate for how much it costs to make some tees. really depends on the number of hits, number of colors, all of that. but 5 is low.
November 25, 2006 @ 11:37 AM
rasclaaat

Post: 759

Join Date: Jun 2006

i think its prob about the equivalent of a 50-55,000 a year job


definitely not at first. maybe at the peak of an underground brands' success, yes
November 25, 2006 @ 12:06 PM

Inactive

You must realize that these guys are doing what they love, and they would never give that up for some 100k/year desk job.

In the end, we do not work just to see who can make the most money. These company guys have it made, even if they do just make enough to eat out at KFC.
November 25, 2006 @ 12:13 PM
JN3WMN

Post: 1303

Join Date: Mar 2006

Location: VA

i've always been curious about this as well.

it's a cool job to have regardless of how much they make though.
November 25, 2006 @ 12:54 PM
rasclaaat

Post: 759

Join Date: Jun 2006

^^ unfortunately "cool" doesn't pay the bills. you'd be surprised how little some dudes take home, even from brands that get hyped up on this forum on a daily basis. a lot of cats have other side hustles, and some cats just come from wealthy families and some cats are just on their grind...doing what they love and hoping that ends meet...i think how hard it is to actually make a good living at this is one aspect that eventually helps to weed out the less successful (ie wack) brands...not always though. If you can get enough money behind you you can take a wack brand to a profitable wack brand surprisingly enough
November 25, 2006 @ 08:00 PM
yoyoyoyo

Post: 53

Join Date: Nov 2006

HEY STEPPINGRAZOR, i wanted to ask you, since you do both, own the real and online versus store.,,..is it REALLY that profitable to run a online clothing store as many are doing nowadays,,,,especially when you read their news or blogs, saying they've done well enough to open a real live retail store,.
November 25, 2006 @ 08:11 PM

Inactive

they are just well off, i dont think streetwear pays the bills. it just gives u the sense of doing something u love, and knowing your good at it. like seeing a celeb in your idea/design, is all the pay they prolly need.

and anyways, i speak with Ray from Mighty Healthy quite frequently, and he has a desk job as a computer programmer. So streetwear obviously doesnt pay the bills.
November 25, 2006 @ 09:07 PM
TheFizixDotCom

Post: 300

Join Date: Apr 2006

Location: Reppin The 619/760/8...

some of these smaller brands do hold regular 9-5s (mighty healthy). brands like 10deep,orisue etc. are full time but live a modest lifestyle, up until maybe they decide to sell the brand to someone for that big paycheck. which most strive for whether you like it or not. but for now some want to make 30-50k a yr and have the satisfaction of not working for anyone. i know we at thefizix.com are striving for that. it seems that most people we do business with in the fashion world are in transition from their regular job to doing what they love. it went from a side business to something that you can possibly make a living out of. this is not an easy business to get into no matter what part of the culture you contribute to. for now we are grinding out our 15 hr workdays.
November 25, 2006 @ 09:13 PM
Diamond

Post: 3314

Join Date: Mar 2006

Location: Fairfax Village/Fill...

Depends on the brand..... Some indpendent brands
make a killing, others don't.
November 25, 2006 @ 09:14 PM
SayWord

Post: 3410

Join Date: Apr 2006

Location: North Cacalak

Diamond, is your chevy riding high?
November 25, 2006 @ 09:49 PM
Diamond

Post: 3314

Join Date: Mar 2006

Location: Fairfax Village/Fill...

I am not sayin anything.
I just know that there are some brands that do
much better than u would expect.
November 25, 2006 @ 11:02 PM
The Dude

Post: 139

Join Date: Sep 2006

Diamond, is your chevy riding high?



lol, I think that most brands love the fact that they dont have a boss and they just do what they want so therfore they dont think about clocking in that much money.
November 25, 2006 @ 11:21 PM
Schooling_Foos

Post: 45

Join Date: Aug 2006

Most brand owners have other jobs. Hardly any indie brand makes enough off sales to make 50-55K. The ones that do it full-time have had people invest in them and they take part of that investment for their salary until the company blows up.
November 25, 2006 @ 11:50 PM
Giorgio1

Post: 689

Join Date: Jun 2006

Location: Los Angeles

isn't the hundreds worldwide? thats bank right there
November 26, 2006 @ 12:13 AM
Justin718

Post: 122

Join Date: Oct 2006

Location: Los Angeles

im sure a lot of these folks have a primary daytime job, and then this clothing thing as a side hustle. I work in the music industry, and basically, i know a lot of independent or small time rappers that still have daytime jobs.
November 26, 2006 @ 01:12 AM

Inactive

what also comes into effect also,is the head count. pause

how many people have their hands in the brand? how many people at the end of the day have to get a piece of your check?

but like nick said, some brands do better than we think
November 26, 2006 @ 01:40 AM
JN3WMN

Post: 1303

Join Date: Mar 2006

Location: VA

Diamond, is your chevy riding high?


well he's already said in a previous post that he makes his living off his company, so i guess it just varies from brand to brand.
November 26, 2006 @ 04:05 AM

Inactive

digital gravel is caking

stussy, supreme do very well
bbc, bape of course

of the smaller brands i think diamond , hundreds, 10 deep, crooks are some of the ones that make more $$

i appreciate that the money does see itself into the hands of the heads of these brands eventually , instead of onto the balance sheet of a company
November 26, 2006 @ 12:07 PM
muhfuhkuh

Post: 46

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: North Cakalaka, USA

Here's my calculations (based on the July 06 NY Times Magazine on the Brand Underground):

Hundreds wholesale = ~US$15
According to the article, their summer season shipped 10,000 pieces.

Assuming an overhead of $6 for shirt/printing, that's:

9 x 10,000 = 90,000

PER SEASON. That's just pretty much three dudes, every three months mind you. and, that doesn't count their website sales, which could easily bring in another 10-20k per season alone.

So, rough estimate, the Hundreds makes about 4-500,000/year after printing. Just shirts/hoodies cool

So, depending on how they do their salary thing, one could do 6 figures pretty easily.

That also doesn't count Public Label clothing, which I don't think was calculated in the 10,000 figure quoted in the article.

Of course, this is all guestimation.

The brands that really cake off this industry are the ones that are sold at Fred Segal and Lord & Taylor. Brands like Barking Irons or La Fraise that make millions.
November 26, 2006 @ 12:22 PM
SayWord

Post: 3410

Join Date: Apr 2006

Location: North Cacalak

I would love to read that article, why don't you do us all a favor and copy/paste the article here because we are either to lazy and/or don't have/want a NYtimes account
November 26, 2006 @ 12:24 PM
bobbyhundreds

Post: 376

Join Date: Feb 2006

Uh..! Don't forget to ...

MINUS employees/labor
MINUS shipping / customs
MINUS rent
MINUS bills
MINUS warehouse costs
MINUS putting money right back into the company for: next season's production, + other projects we're working on.

and of course, MINUS taxes.

Yeah, we're not taking home NOTHIN.

p.s. i don't even handle the bills so im sure ben can add something to the equation.
November 26, 2006 @ 12:27 PM
SayWord

Post: 3410

Join Date: Apr 2006

Location: North Cacalak

Hey, look at the bright side you get all the free gear you want....
November 26, 2006 @ 12:30 PM
bobbyhundreds

Post: 376

Join Date: Feb 2006

Hahaha..true.
November 26, 2006 @ 12:45 PM
muhfuhkuh

Post: 46

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: North Cakalaka, USA

Uh..! Don't forget to ...

MINUS employees/labor
MINUS shipping / customs
MINUS rent
MINUS bills
MINUS warehouse costs
MINUS putting money right back into the company for: next season's production, + other projects we're working on.

and of course, MINUS taxes.

Yeah, we're not taking home NOTHIN.

p.s. i don't even handle the bills so im sure ben can add something to the equation.


Well, yeah, of course minus all that pesky overhead stuff :D

But, aside from the shows, clothes, and h*es, there is money to be made, even if it's "just" an employee salary.

Full disclosure, I've only studied this industry for a minute, I'm not in it (yet); but when I do, it'll be because I want to express myself and be my own boss. The money is ancillary.
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