Brainstorming: Tan & Solomon ideas

So we haven’t posted in quite a while, but we’ve been busy! Getting a clothing line off the ground is so much more challenging than I ever envisioned. For the whole 2009 summer, we were brainstorming ideas.

For the most part, our design aesthetics are pretty similar. We both love aspects of prep, grunge, hip-hop and (parts of) the 1980’s.

Leu’s ideas are probably a bit more eclectic, while mine are a bit more structured. But we both love brands like J. Lindeberg, G Star, Diesel, Rock and Republic, Rag and Bone, Mike and Chris, Sass and Bide, Theory, and Tom Ford.

Getting all our ideas down on paper was the challenge. We discovered that we both need to motivate each other, so we started scheduling regular meetings at a Caribou Coffee, to get all our ideas on paper (or computer).

-daniel

TRADEMARK & LOGO!

We’ve officially filed for a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We are now waiting for the “all clear”. It’s pretty exciting to think that our line is shaping up, from a just a thought a few years ago, to steadily building some momentum!

We’ve been working with a web developer on our website. We actually met him while we were in high school; he was a foreign-exchange student from Ukraine! Through the magic of Facebook, we’ve reconnected, and he and his team are now developing our site. Living in Ukraine makes things tricky, so we’ve learned to heavily rely on email and the occasional Skype conversation. Tentatively, we’d like a “condensed” version to launch for Holiday 2009… stay tuned.

Here is the logo we've agreed to use… They are starting to take shape!

-Daniel

Let Us Introduce Ourselves...

We’ve decided to start a clothing line. Leu and I met while we both worked at Macy’s buying office in the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. For years we’ve been talking about starting our own line… it originated as just ideas for clothes discussed over random work happy hours. Then this summer (2009), we started getting serious about the idea. So we hired a graphic artist and a web developer and got to work. Leu pretty much handles all the clothing design ideas and development, while I work on creative.

We’d really like the clothes to represent Minneapolis and “feel” Midwest, while still pushing the edge, trend-wise. We’d like for TAN & SOLOMON to be bigger than us; it would be great to connect with local artists, musicians and actors to push Minneapolis arts forward.

-Daniel