Atty Clothing

Meet local designer, Ryan Atkins of Atty Clothing, our featured designer for January. What kind of products do you create and where can people find them? At the moment I’m designing skate-oriented tee shirts and hoodies but I want to expand the line to include accessories like hats, socks, and a women’s line.  My only design requirement is that it has been fun to work with and it has to enhance the brand in some way.  I’ve been mocking up skateboard decks which are super fun to design and I can’t wait to see them for real.  As far as where to find my products I’m contacting skate shops around the area but my main goal for now is to get into Zumiez.

Where did the name Atty Clothing come from? The label is named after my last name Atkins. While I was working at the Volcom store in North Bend there was another Ryan who worked there as well and he suggested that everyone should call me Atty so things wouldn't get confusing.  It was perfect because up until that point I was trying desperately to come up with a name and Atty reminded me of a blink-182 song I was listening to a lot at the time entitled "Waggy."  The planets just kind of aligned for a split second and gave me the name

What inspired you to start doing what you do? My love of music lead me to fashion, and that combined with my love of design lead me to where I am now.  I also found it hard to find brands that I really identified with so I figured I’d make my own. 

What's your background and have you always been creative?  Are there other artistic endeavors you're involved in? I’ve been a pretty creative person my whole life. I got pretty serious about graphic design when I was in middle school and developed my skills throughout high school. During college I kind of forgot about all that until my second to last year when I started to get interested in fashion. By my last year of college I was pretty much checked out and focused entirely on developing a brand that I could have fun with from a design standpoint. The first label I came up with I called Evil Empyer after a Rage Against the Machine album but with a trendy spelling. It was fun but not really something I liked a whole lot.  It wasn’t until I started working at a Volcom outlet store in North Bend that I stumbled upon the name Atty and it totally reminded me of a blink-182 song and it was perfect.  After I had the name it took about nine months to really develop the vision into what I have now and I’m pretty excited about it. 

As far as other creative endeavors I’m really into music and have been playing guitar and bass for about five years. Lately I’ve been playing the drums and trying to figure out how I can make a career out of doing that and fashion. 

Where do you get your ideas for your designs? My designs are informed by the way I remember skate clothing back in the 90’s as well as the way certain types of music makes me feel. In general, I want to portray a sense of youthful confidence that I feel is lacking in popular fashion today.  

What type of equipment do you use?  Do you make all of your pieces yourself? I do all my design work on the computer and then send it off to a printer in Wallingford. 

How do you see expanding your line in the near future? I want to keep the brand concise and focused but also be able to offer a complete look. I really want Atty to evolve into more than just a tee shirt brand and be able to offer things like socks, hats, woven shirts, shorts and pants, etc. I already know that I’m going to call my shorts/pants “Barkers”, after Travis Barker (drummer for blink-182) who has been a big inspiration to me.

Whose work do you admire? My three big influences are Famous Stars & Straps, DC Shoes and Volcom. There are aspects of each brand I really identify with and I’ve tried to reflect those things in my brand. Specifically I like the confidence and attitude of Famous, the simplicity and power of DC, and the rawness of Volcom’s early designs. 

What advice would you offer new designers entering the market? The advice I’ve been giving myself is suitable for anyone and that’s simple; never stop dreaming. The hardest part of this whole business is just keeping your vision in focus and seeing through all the resistance. You just have to stick your neck out there and go. Most of all you can’t leave success up to fate; you have to make it happen yourself. 

What is your vision for your business and where would you like to be in five years? I’m not designing something I see around me at the moment, but something I want to see around me in the future. There’s too much depression in the world today and I think people buy clothes that reflect their inner feelings. I honestly think my brand is a little out of place at the moment but in five years people are going to be happy and confident again and they’re going to want to buy things that reflect that confidence. That’s when I’ll be on top. 

Any other area of fashion you'd like to delve into? I want to create a group of labels that all relate to one another in spirit but bring a unique style to the table. I find I express myself most completely if it’s through more than one brand and that’s because one brand is boring. Having several related labels would not only make it more interesting from a consumer standpoint but it would make more business sense.

What current trend would you like to see go away? Whatever trend tells people to buy clothes from Value Village and American Apparel. I actually developed a whole socio-economic theory as to why people identify with American Apparel so much and that’s helped me to develop a more complete understanding of my brand. It’s not that I don’t like American Apparel, I just don’t like that the trend tells people v-necks and overly tight pants are cool.

If you could have one item, new or vintage, what would it be? I never think about that sort of thing so I’m not really sure. 

What item did you wear to shreds growing up? I literally wore my first pair of gray Volcom cargo pants to shreds. I still remember buying them from Zumiez even before I could fit into them.  I also have an old Volcom long sleeve tee that I’ve had for years and I think that’s technically in shreds. 

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