With the recent release of their Saturday Morning Cartoons collection in collaboration with Strictly Original, I had to get a few words from the creators. Read on to see what they had to say.
What made you want to start a clothing brand?
PANYC State was created when we were in college at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel in Philadelphia. We realized that it was tough for us to go shopping in the city and find good fitting, unique clothes that everyone else wasn’t wearing. With courses of study in business, digital design, and engineering we decided that we had what it took to design awesome t-shirts that fit our style and sell them to our friends who were also suffering from the same retail pain. We pooled our money to produce our first small run of shirts, and they sold out pretty quickly, so we decided to formally register the company, legitimize our hustle, and expand our product selections.
What’s the inspiration behind your creativity?
We say that PANYC State is inspired by the contemporary life which basically means that our designs are inspired by everything around us on a daily basis. Our designs are heavily influenced by trends that we see in Philadelphia, New York and other urban centers around the world. We design our apparel to be eye-catching, but we also focus on durability and functionality for our customers that are always on the run.
What are you doing to differentiate from other brands?
We started the brand by just producing screen-printed t-shirts but quickly realized how saturated that market is. After some long design meetings, we realized that the brand and our customer-base would be better served by us designing custom garments from scratch and manufacturing fully cut and sewn pieces.
What’s the best experience you’ve had with running the brand?
Aside from connecting with our fans and customers, we have really enjoyed meeting some really creative and ambitious designers in our travels. It is always great to collaborate and bounce ideas off of other passionate people whose sole focus is to create things that look great and make peoples’ lives easier.
What are some future goals of the brand &where do you see the brand one year from now?
Our main goal is to continue to design and produce unique apparel and accessory pieces that hopefully make our customers look great but also function well for their everyday needs. We have some big plans and announcements coming soon so stay tuned to our social media feeds @PANYCState.
If I’m in Philadelphia for one night only, a Saturday, what do I do?
That is a tough one because we all have different interests in the city, but after some discussion, we agreed on this: We will start by saying that we travel the city with our stomach, so you have been warned…For dinner, you’ll have to check out Ishkabibbles (yes it is a real place) on 3rd and South for the best Cheese Steak in the city. After dinner, go to one of (or both) the top beer gardens in the city, Frankford Hall (Frankford and Girard) or Spruce Street Harbor Park (Spruce and Columbus Blvd) for some great beer in a great outdoor social atmosphere. Finally, you have to end the night at Franklin Fountain (2nd and Market) for one of their famous fully homemade root beer floats or one of their other insane ice cream concoctions.
You can check out PANYC State and grab something from the Saturday Morning Cartoons collection by clicking here!
And don’t forget to check them out on social media:
