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Q1 How did you get into fashion design? Where did you study and what was your major specialization?
Fashion design was never really my goal, actually. I started going to school for a degree in graphic design, imagining myself doing illustrations, magazine layouts, album art, etc. But somewhere along the line I became really interested in getting into tshirt design. |
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I suppose I just hit a point where I was tired of wearing the same thing everyone else was, and the logical way to solve that, as an artist, was to design something fresh myself.After only a few semesters pursuing the graphic design major, I dropped out of school completely and began really focusing on tees. The funny thing was that since I was working on that so much and producing so much design work, I ended up getting a lot of graphic freelance work on the side anyway.
Q2 Who is your customer, and how do they find you?
My customers are just about anyone and everyone, male and female, from all sorts of different countries around the world. The find me online, where I'm often featured on fashion or pop-culture websites and blogs. I've also been working recently on attending tradeshows to interact with customers face-to-face, which has been an incredibly rewarding experience. The range of customers that my brand draws really amazes me! |
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Q5 What are you working on right now?
Speaking generally, refining my brand. One of my primary goals is to make every part of the shopping experience at Linty Fresh unique and special for the customer. For example, right now I'm working on some customized packaging for my orders. |
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And I also recently started including lollipops in my mailers, which have been a huge hit! I’m also working on branching into new products and getting involved as much as possible with the production end. I want to understand every step of the process and fully as I can so that I know what all the possibilities are. This allows me to generate new ideas and keep everything, well... fresh!
Q6 Could you tell us your dream project that you would like to do?
Wow, I have so many... But I think one that's in the foreseeable future is a mobile Linty Fresh shop. For awhile I've had this idea to get an old retired mailtruck (or even better, one of those awesome milktrucks from the 50's!), make it look like new, and get it custom painted to match my Linty Fresh color scheme. Then I'd build some custom shelves for it and a little countertop in the back, and drive around selling tees out of it. I think it would be one of the greatest things ever! |
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| Linty Fresh began as a small online boutique (lintyfresh.com) in early 2006 when Eric Terry, an aspiring tshirt artist, decided to take on the risk of starting his own line. The initial few designs were pulled from his "reject pile" – shirts that had been submitted to other design contests and competitions but had never won. Eric liked them, however, and fortunately for him, so did a number of growing fans around the world. Within a year he was out of old designs and began creating new pieces, gradually refining the look of his brand as he progressed. Ironically enough, other apparel companies eventually started coming to Eric to design for them, but as Linty Fresh picked up steam, he made the decision to keep his work exclusive to his own brand. Conversely, Eric is still the primary designer for Linty Fresh, though he's collaborated with one other artist for a recent tee and is open to the idea of new collaborations in the future. By and large, though, he prefers to keep it all in house, and continues to explore fresh ideas. He currently releases new products on the first of each month. |
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Q3 Let's talk about your design. What do you think is the most important element in your design? And how do you get the idea for the collection?
At this point, I would say consistency. When I first started Linty Fresh, my thought was to just create as many cool shirts as possible in whatever style I felt like. And that worked out ok. But, the more I got into the industry, the more I realized how flooded it was with other small shirt companies doing the same thing. So I decided that in order to stand out and make a success of it, I needed to focus the look of my tees and really create a brand, something that would ultimately be able to transcend the medium of shirts and spread into new products, which is what I'm working on now. As for ideas, I seem to come up with my best work when I'm just having fun with design. I find that if I go into my working mode with too many specifics, I feel stifled and cornered. But if I just enjoy myself and experiment with shapes and colors, something usable generally comes out of it. |
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Q4 If you could create a dress for anyone in the world, who would you choose?
Ha! Never been asked this one before... But I'd have to say Bjork. She's got a wild sense of imagination when it comes to music and fashion, and it'd be interesting thinking up something to match that! |
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Q7 Do you have any current fashion obsessions?
I'm afraid that my current wardrobe is incredibly plain! I guess looking at graphic tees all day has me feeling sort of saturated in that department. So to answer your question, I'd have to say blank American Apparel jersey tees. One reason is that I like to see the AA colors in person before deciding to print on them, and the other is that they're so comfy! What can I say, I'm a simple guy...
Q8 If you could rewrite your history a bit and take on a totally different career or lifestyle, what would it be and why?
Probably none, actually. The more I put into Linty Fresh, the more I realize how perfect this job fits my personality. I love art, and I love coming up with ideas and creating fun things. I really couldn’t ask for anything more.
Q9 Favorite place for drinks?
My place! Nothing better than having a home-cooked meal and home-mixed drinks with good friends!
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Q10 Would you like to add anything for the Japanese fans?
I love your country! I was there on vacation last year and was just blown away by the culture, the attention to detail, the art, everything! As a matter of fact, a lot of the stuff I'm producing now has a strong influence from Japanese styles. Plus, I'm half Japanese myself, so it's my heritage, too. Hope you guys like my stuff! |
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