INTERVIEW: The Early Hours

I'm here with the unique brand "The Early Hours" a clothing brand that holds more than what meets the eye. Check out the interview below as we get a closer look at the brand is really all about.

Purchase "The Early Hours" gear HERE



What was your inspiration for this seasons designs?

The Early Hours consists of two different lines, the Red Cup Red Line and the White Cup Purple Line. American street life and culture, not street-wear, is our biggest influence and inspiration as far as imagery goes, but as far as clothes we are heavily influenced by Southern style and companies like Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren Polo. Everyone in America can relate to the Red Cup in one way or another. The white styrofoam cup, doubled-up, is a nod to my Texas roots, in particular chopped and screwed music (RIP to Robert Earl Davis Jr and Chad Butler), although now it is becoming popular around the country in various new styles of hip-hop. We will continue to release various colorways inthe two lines. The Red Cup line is intentionally "frattier", or I like to say "more southern", and the White Cup line will appeal more to people who are typically into street wear.



Why the name "Early Hours"?

As I mentioned before the brand is influenced by street life and culture. I have a special place in my heart for graffiti in particular and the lessons it has taught me. I'm a college graduate but I believe that the most important things I've learned have come from real life experiences, not sitting in a class room. Obviously there is a place for education and it is very important, but you don't learn how to live in there. You learn how you want to live and what you believe in from real experiences. The Early Hours is a brand for people like myself, who aren't scared to leave their house and explorethe world for themselves instead of taking what other people say for fact. In my opinion, the most valuable lessons come in the early hours of the morning, when the police and your parents want you to be home tucked tight in bed. It's the most unpredictable time of day where anything can happen, and you have to learn to adapt or you will get swept under the rug. However, if you can handle it, it's so rewarding in it's beauty and chaos.

Whats the message your brand is trying to give or portray?

I love the fact that everyone can relate to the Cups in one way or another. I have gangsters, drug dealers, preachers, and parents wearing my clothes, not just party kids. The most important thing to me is not to exclude anyone who wants to be a part of and wear The Early Hours. We are not a graffiti clothing line, we are not a hip-hop or streetwear line, we are not a frat or Southern style line. We make quality clothes, and that's what matters. It doesn't matter to me if you believe in something else than I do, or you live your life a different way. I realize, being a graffiti writer, I have a very particular lifestyle that most people can't relate to, but that doesn't mean we can't get along. The Cups are symbols of the things that pull us together from all different lifestyles to create the culture that is becoming America. We shouldn't be fighting the diversity but celebrating it, with a cup in each hand. My friends come from all walks of life and that's how I like it.

What can we expect in the future seasons?

Everything. The sky is the limit as far as I'm concerned. I like to take it slow and expand a little bit at a time so that I am sure the quality is as high as possible on each new product. Short term, we plan to continue releasing a few different styles for each cup (tank/tee, polo/tee, etc) per season in a few different color ways, supplementing the lines with some printed tees as well. I'm hesitant to bring out too many printed tees too early because I don't want to be labeled as a t-shirt brand. However the logo tees are really popular because of the popularity of the stickers, and I will continue to have those printed in new colors as well. I love when I get free stuff included in a purchase, and so I want to continue to give out stickers and koozies with the Red Cup shirts. All White Cup shirts also get free stickers for now and I want to include something like a "The Early Hours" lighter as soon as I can. Longer term we are looking forward to making pants, shoes, accessories etc. Eventually the brick and mortar store will have two sections, one for each line, with a simple, clean TEH initial embroidered line to connect them.



What got you interested in the fashion game?

Growing up in Texas I was always wearing polo's or button-down's and khakis, but I didn't feel comfortable in them. I moved to Madrid and had a brief stint with some wacky-ass gear, until I moved to Chicago and was painting more and more graffiti. I donned the writers-uniform - Nike's, NorthFace, New Era's. It still wasn't me and I couldn't find what I was comfortable wearing. I became interested in finer clothes again, but I was not making enough to afford what I wanted - Brooks Brothers is classy as shit, for example, and you pay for it.

I realized there is a huge divide between street/casual wear options and finer apparel. I see a trend of people becoming more interested in finer apparel but a lot of street guys don't know where to look beyond Polo. It's a great, fine brand, but these days you don't need that symbol to let people know you have taste - people recognize quality craftsmanship. They say everything is cyclical, and I think that we are returning to a time like the 20's, 30's etc where people take pride in the quality of their clothes, not just jumping on the new streetwear bandwagon. I want The EarlyHours to be a stepping stone of sorts into that world. The quality is great already if I do say so myself, and it will only continue to rise. People are certainly, if nothing else, more concious of where they spend there money these days, and they want something that is going to last. The Cups are not a trend, they are a part of our American culture now and the simple, timeless designs will transcend trends. Furthermore I want people to realize that you don't have to be a yuppy or a pretentious jerk to wear fine clothes, you SHOULD be wearing fine clothes no matter who you are and people have been fooled into buying tons of crappy t-shirts that they wear a few times and put in the back of their closets. So I guess you could say it came out of necessity.

Has Greek life or the South in general influenced your brand??

For sure. Although I went to an art school I was raised around State college attendees from the University of Texas and Texas A&M. I have no personal interest in Fraternities, but I understand why people join them and I have a good idea of what they are all about. Those guys love to party and socialize, and we get along even though my life has taken a different route.

Southern style has always been interesting to me. It has so much character that you just don't find anywhere else. To me it seems like people from the north look to Europe mainly for their influence, but the South has a history of their own clothiers and style that you won't find anywhere else in the world. Eventually I would love to have The Early Hours entirely American made, something most companies wouldn't consider because Chinese manufacturing is so cheap, but I would love to be a real part of American history.



What current trends do you want to see squashed??

I don't really concern myself with that, trends die on their own. Timeless, classic design is what interests me and I see a push toward that in both design and fashion these days. Old, hand painted signs, custom tailored designs, etc are making a comeback and that's interesting to me. I like "real" things - for instance, a hand painted sign is infinitely more appealing to me than something thrown together in photoshop by a salary-paid worker and then printed out. Technology is fascinating to me and will continue to change and influence the world, but in my opinion if it can be done by hand it should. That's why, for example, we sew in our tags by hand into every shirt. If it were feasible, I would have all the cups hand-embroidered but that would be prohibitively expensive and time consuming.

I guess I would like to see more people being proactive and involving themselves in the world. It's very easy to be complacent these days, there is endless entertainment through various channels. However, I like to see some balance in the creation vs consumption department, and I wish there was more of that.



Any accessories coming up??

I would love to have some BIC lighters made, but they are considered a hazardous material and difficult to ship. Until I have a more local base I'm working on some simple, clean boxes of matches. The brand is still young and that and the koozies are about as far as I can push the "accessories" right now. My main interest at this point is releasing a full line of quality shirts each season, and then I will begin to expand a little more. Baby steps keep me humble and I think it's in the brands best interest, so I stay honest and don't give into current trends.



How did you come up with the logo??

Originally I considered marketing only Polo's with the red cup to Frat guys as The Brolo. They are both symbols of Frat life and the connection just made sense to me, especially in an embroidered fashion like a Ralph Lauren Polo. When I decided that I wanted to pursue it as a brand instead of a single product, I knew that it would appeal to more people than just Frat guys. I talked about how I came up with The Early Hours name a little earlier, and the tag or logo for that phrase was the first design I sketched up. It's western-influenced text, from my Texas upbringing, but it is simple and timeless. The red and white were chosen to match the cup and they are eye-catching colors. The White Cup line has purple tags, and I will have stickers/tees with the purple logo later. The purple comes from two things, thefirst being the syrup that made the double styrofoam cup famous in Texas hip-hop culture. The second is that purple historically was the most expensive dye, so only the finest clothes were made with it for Kings, etc. Obviously today that isn't as relevant, but I like the idea.

How have you seen the Texas fashion seen come up over the years??

I've been in and out of Texas for the last 5 years so I've definitely been out of the loop. I don't wear them, but I love brands like Algierz that are totally based on Texas hip-hop culture. I'm really looking forward to being back in Texas and catching up on what I've missed and bringing my own flavor to the scene. If I forgot to mention earlier, I am moving to Austin at the end of summer. We plan to open a store eventually, but first I have a slightly different local plan that I will announce when it gets a little closer.


How can people stay connected with the brand??

Our original blog is over at www.FatCapsAndChrome.com. That's my personal blog, mostly with content I create, videos I like to watch, and some venting. You can find both Fat Caps And Chrome and The Early Hours Clothing Facebook pages, and we appreciate your "Likes" and support! If you want a more day in the life feed, check out our Instagram at FatCapsAndChrome or our tumblr at www.fatcapsandchrome.tumblr.com. I have some new videos coming out soon on our youtube channel at ...you guessed it http://www.youtube.com/user/FatCapsAndChrome/videos


Purchase "The Early Hours" gear HERE