You’ve heard of Ed Hardy, Baby Phat, Ecko, LRG, Rocawear, Zoo York, Coogi, Kidrobot and so many other urban clothing companies. The urban clothing line has seen a skyrocketing demographic over the past few years and the number of new urban clothing companies has risen as well. Almost every year gives birth to a new company that takes over the industry and becomes a fashion icon and a must have for people anywhere from middle school all the way up to their early thirties. Well, if you’re wondering what that company can be you’ve come to the right place. Too Fresh Clothing, founded by Michael Naclerio, Anthony Patone and Joe Cuozzo in mid-May of 2010 has seen a rising growth in buyers since they launched their clothing line in early June. They are still in the “infancy stage” of the clothing business as said by Naclerio, although they do have a heat press, numerous large clothing racks, and a few desks to brainstorm new ideas. Naclerio, Patone and Cuozzo have set up a website for Too Fresh Clothing which is possibly one of the coolest websites I have ever been to. Once I followed the URL to their site, I was greeted by four neon doors which was pleasing to my eyes because I felt like I was in a club scene and it made me feel alive. You can check out the site here TooFreshClothing. I recently got in touch with Naclerio, and I sent him some questions which he was pleased to answer.
NYDtv – When did you get started in the clothing industry?
Naclerio – Getting into the clothing industry is an extremely new thing for my partners and I. We started brainstorming in about the middle of May. Started to first produce shirts at the start of June. Our company is still in the stages of infancy.
NYDtv – Why did you choose the clothing industry?
Naclerio – Choosing the clothing industry was one of the easiest parts of the decision process that went into the company. There was never any doubt in our mind that if we wanted to start a company it would be to sell clothes. I have always been into fashion and what is current and Anthony was getting real into it at the time. Very easy choice.
NYDtv -What would you say your style is?
Naclerio – We like to describe ourselves an up and coming urban clothing company. We may not have an entirely urban feel, but essentially were just trying to promote our clothing line to buyers between the age of about 15-25, people that are within our own age range.
NYDtv -Where do you make the clothes?
Naclerio – As of now we make the clothes out of one of our founder’s basements. We set up an office in his basement to start the summer which at first was empty. Now that office has a couple desks, a heat press, numerous large clothing racks, its coming along slowly although obviously a little tight on space. But every next big thing has to start somewhere.
NYDtv – How did you come up with the designs?
Naclerio – The designs on the whole I can’t attribute to be my own. Our company is comprised of three partners; myself Michael Naclerio, my high school best friend Anthony Patone and his cousin Joe Cuozzo. Anthony deserves most of the credit for the design thought process. Although we had brainstorming sessions, the majority of the ideas were his. On top of that, he has done all of the graphic designing necessary on the computer through the programs illustrator and photoshop. Additionally a shoutout is in order to my girlfriend Megan Coppola (Sophomore at F.I.T.) who did a good portion of the initial drawings that were necessary to have the capability of designing them on the computer. There were plenty of nights Anthony, Megan and I all sat around for hours drawing and thinking.
NYDtv -Is it just you or do you work with a team?
Naclerio – There’s three of us in the company. I’m Michael Naclerio a junior journalism major at St. Johns University in Queens, New York. Anthony Patone a business major at James Madison University in Virginia. Joe Cuozzo a senior business major at Scranton University in Pennsylvania. All three of us grew up in Westchester, Anthony and I were best friends in high school and Joe is Anthony’s cousin that’s how we all came together.
NYDtv -Where do you live?
Naclerio – We all live at our respective colleges now, Westchester when we’re off from school. Hopefully, we all want to one day live in the city as we run our storefront featuring our own clothes.
NYDtv -Is this something you are going to work on your whole life or is it a “side-job”?
Naclerio – This is a complicated question to say the least. The initial idea for Too Fresh Clothing came to Anthony and I at the start of the summer. We were sitting around bored watching Land of The Lost. We were talking about how cool it would be to start our own company which eventually led to clothing. I’ve always been into my fashion and Anthony had just recently gotten into the idea of fashion. We decided to start brainstorming and over the next few days it came to us. He mentioned it to his cousin and the three of us figured we would start messing around with the idea. At the start it was surely just a side project that we didn’t put much seriousness into, obviously we’ve been dreaming it’d take off and pay some bills one day but never though it could potentially become a reality. With each passing day and each connection we make with an outside source such as a hip/hop blog, an artist or a company of some sort we get a little bit more excited. We’ll continue to see how it develops, as the company slowly grows so too does our investment in the idea of it.
NYDtv – Who are your idols or fashion icons?
Naclerio – My personal fashion icons would definitely be higher end retail such as Marc Jacobs, Lacoste, even Jordan. As a whole, the company took motivation from brands such as; Billionaire Boys club, Alife, Playclothes, Johnny Cupcakes, Kidrobot.
So, check out Too Fresh Clothing, and buy a shirt for the average price of ONLY $13. I mean the quality of these shirts and the look, my favorite which is the “WTF: Way Too Fresh” are amazing. Once you start wearing shirts from Too Fresh Clothing, people will definitely ask you where you got it from.
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