MR: How was Skull Cashmere created? AG: Skull Cashmere is my baby. It was my idea essentially. When I saw brands starting to take advantage of social media, I wanted to add something really iconic and memorable to our brand that would look great in any editorial. I thought of the skull motif. We printed a few on 360 sweaters and almost overnight we were known as “the skull sweater”. It was a great branding and merchandising move. All we had to do was change the label in the garment and overnight our brand was born. 360 is the muscle and Skull Cashmere is the brand. They truly complement each other.
MR: What is it like working with your family on such a successful clothing line? AG: We’ve got a pretty unique family and definitely a bizarre situation that just happens to work. Business is 24/7. Business revolves around the family and the family revolves around the business. 95% of the time it’s great. Our parents are colleagues but they’re also family, so the lines are a little blurred. I wouldn’t speak to my dad like I would my boss and I wouldn’t speak to my boss like I would my dad. But we’re all really close. They’re more than parents or colleagues, they’re friends. We have a very reciprocal relationship and way of sharing knowledge. Alex and I are able to show them lot of things people their age don’t have the exposure to, like social media marketing for instance. Working with us gives them an opportunity to be young and notice trends again. We give them a fresh pair of eyes from our generation. Conversely, they have loads of business experience that they have passed on to us. This kind of flow makes the company work. Honestly, it feels great to be creating something together and to work so efficiently doing so.
MR: Are skulls a trend or are they here to stay? AG: People say they’re a trend but skulls have been popular imagery in fashion forever. Think about how many brands design with a skull motif in mind- Ed Hardy, Affliction, Alexander McQueen. I mean, if we have to bend with the market, we’ll bend with the market and make them subtler or sexier. We used a marijuana motif for a while but everyone missed the skulls. People talk about them. Our brand is a brand based around that image and we’ve attached it to one of the finest luxury items, a cashmere sweater. I kind of think we have set the bar. It’s not going to go out of style. ■
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OUR BRAND IS A BRAND BASED AROUND THAT IMAGE AND WE’VE ATTACHED IT TO ONE OF THE FINEST LUXURY ITEMS, A CASHMERE SWEATER.