Fashion Q&A: Acrylick Clothing Founder

People express their feelings through hip-hop, relate to hip-hop and before they know it, they make it their lifestyle. They start to talk, walk and breathe hip-hop. At this point, expressing oneself through music isn't enough anymore; the world must see which crew or block they represent without opening their mouths. That's the part where it's get interesting for fashion designers.

Clothing companies and rappers have effectively taken advantage of the capitalistic side of hip-hop. Ludacris' red Puma's will help you keep up a fashionable reputation, and it'll cost you a pretty penny to become part of Pharrell's Billionaire Boys Club line. And oh, you burned your G-Unit outfit when you found out who Curtis Jackson really was? No worries, The Game will lace you with a G-UNOT shirt. While tourists knock about the streets of New York in the famous "I Love NY" shirt, rappers go a step further by flashing "I Run NY" shirts. Heads announce their dissension on the current state of the genre through shirts saying "hip-hop was fun" or show their love by wearing an "I am hip-hop" shirt.

Although the past has shown that products sell better when celebrities are involved, there are lots of middle and small design companies that are much more creative, adventurous and talented than Nelly's Apple Bottoms or Roc-A-Fella's Rocawear. Los Angeles-based Acrylick Clothing Company is one of them. This crew of devoted hip-hop heads does more than designing original clothing lines to help you get through all four seasons or help express yourself. They release mixtapes through a wide network of DJs and musicians and were one of the sponsors that supported the Rock The Bells Festival among others. One of the founders, Van Truong, sat down with Ballerstatus and enlightened us about their come-up, love for music and how Acrylick Clothing Company strives to be positioned in the fashion industry.

BallerStatus.com: Tell me more about how Acrylick was founded and who the people behind the brand are.

Van Truong: Acrylick came to life in 2003. I, Van Truong, and my partner Michael Valenzuela knew each other in school through art/design classes. We came up with the plan to start a clothing line a year after graduating school. We saw that the majority of clothing lines out were not doing anything worth talking about, yet alone worth wearing. Our goal was, to start a line that is meaningful and worth more to ones eyes then being just a shirt with a brand name on it. People shouldn't be used as billboards for other companies; they should be advertisement for themselves. They should advertise their own personality and being within, by what they wear rather then doing it for the brand, and that is what we began doing.

We became known as the clothing company that makes fashion with a positive message. We put meanings behind every shirt/work/design we created. We believe that things should be some what universal. We don't believe in conformity of any sort. Each individual embodies their own originative spirit and should share it with others. What we are trying to accomplish is to have our clothing line to be universal. We want our clothing to be worn by everyone no matter what race, creed, gender, or status they are. The core founders of Acrylick Clothing Company consist of me and my co-partner Michael Valenzuela, also Acrylick's creative director. With contributions and sacrifices we grew as a company, as well as our creative drive to express the true essence of individuality.

BallerStatus.com: Where does the name Acrylick come from?

Van Truong: The name originated from the acrylic, as in acrylic paint. We wanted a name that would emphasize our work as being an art form, even though many see our work basically as t-shirts. The name Acrylic fit perfectly in our eyes, and we based our line around the concept we saw in that name. Acrylic paints are used in art. No matter what they are used on, they are seen, whether it may be paper, canvas, cloth, or wood. The paint will make its impact and the artist is able to make his or her impression no matter what their given. So Acrylick was derived from the medium acrylic paint. We use it to symbolize expression. We named our line Acrylick so people would see our clothing as more then something to keep you warm, it's a medium of expression, a tool to express ones own individualistic spirit, just like artists use paint. We added the "K" at the end to symbolize individuality. Why do we paint our cars different colors? A car is a car, but with that certain color it distinguishes one from others. No matter how you read or pronounce "acrylic" or "Acrylick" it sounds the same to you ears, but the addition of the K instantly adds a new uniqueness and non conformity, making "Acrylick" ours.