NL: What is the mission of your company?
The Mission is to “Power Your Imagination….”
Through our threads we hope to inspire others to look at their lives f
orm an alternate angle. Our designs are tailored to inspire people to be creative, use their imagination, and to strive to be original not because it makes them better than others
, but because it makes them better FOR others and themselves. Like Andre 3000 so eloquently stated…”we just trying to put a little paint where it ain’t”.
NL: How did you come up with the designs for the female apparel given that you are 4 guys?!
The design ideas usually start with a brainstorming session…from there we write down all of the ideas and then go through and pick a handful that we really like…after that the design team does as many mockups between the brainstorming and our next scheduled meeting. The real magic comes from our design surveys though. For the Greek inspired clothing, we solicit responses from members of the organizations that the shirts were inspired by. For the actual line, we solicit a number of women from what we believe to be our target demographic to complete our design surveys.
NL: How did the four of you meet and when was the concept of AOI born?
Well, all of us went to North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC. But I‘ll give you my perspective on how we started. In 2008 I (Derrick Beasley) organized
a few of my Frat Brothers one of them being Boone (Donald Boone) to make a shirt to cele
brate our school’s homecoming and our chapter of our Fraternity (Beta Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.)…The shirt read “BE. Is Classic”. There were only about 6 of us that actually bought and wore the shirt, but that Saturday morning of homecoming, everyone wanted to know where they could get one and why they were not told. From there I knew it would at least be something that I would do the next year. Meanwhile Boone and Matt (Matthew Green) had had previous conversations about somehow making paraphernalia for Black Greek Lettered Organizations cool and more fashionable. Therein lies the foundation for the original discussions about forming a official company.
Boone brought into the fold his brother Dor (Dorian Boone) who contributes a wealth of calm and maturity as well as creativity to our group. Late spring 2009 I received a phone call from Boone about the prospect of starting a company. In short I was like “hell yeah!” After several conference calls between the four of us spanning the length of the summer we officially organized in the form of an LLC in September.
This is the short version. There is a much better worded version on our site/blog…shameless plug.
NL: Who is your target demographic?
In short…young, progressive, open minded, professionals. We design for people who aren’t defined by their fashion, but whose fashion is an extension of their lifestyle and beliefs.
NL: Does AOI offer any services in addition to the apparel?
Services?…well, more like opportunities. Through our Power Your Imagination Initiative, we are planning to engage individuals, nonprofits, corporations, etc who approach their focus in a creative way that positively impact lives.
With that being said, we are looking for individuals, organizations, etc who are looking to have the creativity of their brand POWERED by us. There are a few ways that we can do this…through social media outlets, collaborative events in which we can bring our demographic to that of the collaborator and of course OUR CLOTHES! Again this is the abbreviated version. If you look to the “Power Your Imagination” post on our blog there is a detailed explanation of how we plan to provide opportunities.
Right now, we are looking for inspired individuals to help us inspire others…please contact us, we love to build with motivated individuals!
NL: Now that AOI has done its official launch, what can we expect to see from you all in 2010?
2010 is going to be the year of face time for AOI. We plan to do a number of events where we set up shop and interact face to face with our target. More specifically, look to see at least 3-4 major events from AOI with a range from collaborations with nonprofit orgs to Cookouts…Its going to be a good year for us, I can feel it…
NL: Where can we find AOI apparel?
Of course you can find it at www.ArtOfficialShop.com.
~ Naturally Leslie rocking the Storytelling Tee at the AOI Launch Party~
Thanks to the fellas of ArtOfficial Intelligence. I love seeing such positivity, creativity, and a heart for community coming from young people such as these men. Be sure to check them out over on their blog and on their very own channel on You Tube channel.
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