By James Kush, Co-Founder of Late Nite Supply
What's the best lesson you've ever received from a grandparent? For me, it was a lesson my grandad taught me when I was in middle school.
Back in the early 90's, Nike and Michael Jordan were the biggest things on the planet. All the "cool kids" in school had to have anything with the Nike logo emblazoned on it. If you didn't have the Nike logo adorned somewhere on you, you might as well be socially blacklisted.
Even back then, Nike crap was expensive. I begged my parents for Air Jordan sneakers, but they were way out of budget for our family. Even Nike t-shirts were mostly out of reach, save for one ugly brown shirt with a small green Nike "swoosh" logo embroidered over the heart. It was ugly as shit, but it was all my family could get me at that time. It wasn't the best Nike shirt available, but 12 year old me didn't know any better.
At least I finally had that coveted Nike logo plastered on my chest.
Fast forward to the holidays that year, and as we went to my grandparent's house for Christmas I proudly wore my Nike t-shirt.
Seeing my shirt, my grandfather in his wisdom asked me:
"What is that on your shirt?"
"It's the Nike logo!" I proudly stated.
"Nike!?", my grandfather replied. "You mean the shoe company? Why on earth would you want to wear a shoe company's logo on your chest? Do you work for Nike? Because you're giving them free advertising!"
His grandfatherly tone was not rude or mean, but full of wisdom.
And in that moment, it dawned on me. He was completely right. There was nothing "cool" about having a corporate logo plastered on my shirt.
Instead of looking "cool", I looked like a corporate shill, walking around like a human billboard, giving away free advertising for a shoe company to anyone who looked in my direction. Was this something to be proud of?
That moment forever changed my outlook on life. I determined never to be fooled into marketing some corporate brand's name and logo for free again.
Replace Nike with literally any other "brand name", Gucci, Polo, whatever crap that is popular now, and its the same situation.
When you buy and wear a shirt or any piece of clothing emblazoned with a brand name or corporate logo, you are reducing yourself to a human billboard.
Why would anyone want to do that? Wouldn't it be so much better to actually wear clothing that represents your interests in the things you love?
When I was a bit older in my college years, I played around with making t-shirts of my own. I'd use iron on transfers to make shirts with clever slogans, or band names, but I never sold any of them. They were simply a way for me to express my personality and interests to the world at large.
I always thought in the back of my head that having a t-shirt store would be a cool little business someday. With Late Nite Supply, that dream is a reality.
Late Nite Supply is fashion dedicated to underground dance music culture. We want you to express your love of house and techno and the underground way with t-shirts, hoodies and more.
Each of our designs were crafted to express our love of the music with cool and stylish clothing.
So, instead of giving free advertising to a soulless billion dollar corporate brand, why not advertise something that MOVES you?
And if MUSIC is what MOVES you, then Late Nite Supply is for you. We hope you find something that helps you express your love of music, nightlife, and a good time.