Radlands Clothing was founded by Sheldon Abba and Matt Gribben after a vision quest to Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Inspired by skate, music, art, and other creative forces, Radlands Clothing seeks to curate new dialogue and engage a wide variety of personalities and lifestyles. What originally began as a sustainable men's clothing line, Radlands recently teamed up with Linda Smyth of Topstitch Boutique and Fleather Fox to create an exclusive, one-of-a-kind women's tie-dye line. With the new women's line and their upcoming showing in the DesignPhiladelphia fashion show, I decided to interview both Sheldon and Matt to find out more information about their business:
Arcadia Boutique: What got you interested in sustainable fashion?
Radlands Clothing: Necessity and convenience. As a small brand you have to use what resources you have around you. Working with manufactures at the local level helps us keep better control of our production and also allows us to build a personal relationship with the people we work with. How awesome is that?!
Arcadia Boutique: What are some of the perks to being Philadelphia-based designers?
Radlands Clothing: Philadelphia is a great place to build a fan base. People really want to get to know the local brands and their advocacy of our brand to their friends outside the city have helped us to make an impression nationally. We also find a lot of inspiration from the people we work with in the city - Artist Tiff D'agastino, Topstitch and Fleather Fox's Linda Smyth, Decades' Brooks Bell, Concrete Polishs' Angela Mercato - the list goes on. Having a tight network of creative beasts is what makes Philadelphia unique.
Arcadia Boutique: What can we look forward to seeing in your pieces for the DesignPhiladelphia fashion show?
Radlands Clothing: Our pieces are made for rugged individuals that value the highest levels of 'OK QUALITY'.
You can check out more of Radlands Clothing's products at their website http://www.radlandsclothing.com/, and look forward to seeing them at the DesignPhiladelphia fashion show on October 10th! http://www.facebook.com/events/410760185655756/
xo Alex
