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Designer of month- Proper Gnar
Other | Tuesday 5th February 2013 | Osh
Latosha Stone heads up this fresh new streetwear brand. Based in Greenville, Ohio their garms are heavily influenced by skateboarding and their colorful tees and bold prints will definitely grab your attention. We got the lowdown on the background of the label, summer releases and their goal to inspire others.
Firstly can you tell us a bit about how the company started off and what made you get into streetwear?
The company started off with an old friend and I. We'd been friends in high school and after we graduated just kind of grew apart. Then a few years later we ended up getting jobs at the same boring factory making minimum wage. We got tired of it pretty fast and had dreams to do something better. We both drew, were both into fashion and skateboarding so I took my tax return a few months later and started Proper Gnar.
We have just come across your garms and love them! What is the inspiration behind the brand?
I mostly just make clothes that I want to wear and hope other people want to wear it too. I feel like the area I live in is just dead when it comes to clothing, or really anything cool in general. And 5 years behind the rest of the country, so I kind of set out to change that.
You are based in Greenville, Ohio what other fashions brand are you into right now?
I really like Joyrich, Petals and Peacocks, Dope Chef, Drop Dead, Rip n Dip. Brands that set trends instead of follow them.
You’re quite new in the game, how you finding it all so far. There is a lot of love out there!
It's fun, it's interesting seeing all the different brands out there and what they're doing. Getting into streetwear is a lot harder than it looks, the market right now is just so over saturated. I get to meet lots of cool people, and opportunities to do things I've never done before, so it's all good.
What do you hope to achieve, what is your main goal?
It'd be cool to own my own store, move away from here and just travel and create. Leave something behind for my daughter. To get people with the movement and to inspire others.
Have you a favourite piece or print?
Lately my favorite is the Trill tee. I find myself wearing that one most often. I like the gnarly heart crop top also.
You say that “We dig music and skateboarding.” How important is this to you and how much does it influence your work?
Music influences it a lot, even though whatever I come up with is unrelated, almost all of my ideas are culminated while listening to it. My personal music taste kind of comes across in Proper Gnar's ideals with how I listen to almost all genre's of it, and my designs fit in with more than just one group of people. In life I was always the girl that had mostly guys for friends, so if I wasn't on the board myself I was around someone that was, filming or taking pictures. Just that whole lifestyle, and having fun, is a big part of it. Which is where the "gnar" part of the name comes from.
What should we be looking out for right now? I see you have some new Iphone cases?
The spring line which includes a several tees, crop tops, and sweatshirts will be dropping in a month or so. You'll also notice in our new drops more attention to detail, like custom labels, packaging, and tags, and things in general just being more professional. We're more of a brand instead of just someone who designs t-shirts.
What is the most exciting thing you are looking forward to this year?
This summer we'll be releasing a lot of custom headwear. I'm so stoked for the 5 panels and patterns we'll have going on. More pop up shops and getting into more stores. We also just applied to be on Warped tour, I hope we make it.
For more information check out www.propergnar.com or follow @propergnar
Words by Tab Taylor @tiptoptab
