How did you get started?
F & C: We met through friends, and came across the fact that both of us were interested in fashion. We decided to fly with it and the next step turned out to be hand-printing tees at Claire's pad on a Saturday night. We've been growing since.
Were you always interested in fashion?
F: My mom's been in fashion for twenty-some years now…I guess you could say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but I like to think that she's not all the inspiration—after all, I used be that chubby kid who wanted nothing to do with fashion…she was still my mother then. I mean, I've been in New York my whole life—these things don't go under the radar.
C: Yes, to some extent, I always have been, but in the recent years I've paid closer attention to my look. With my older sister as a major fashion mentor, it's always a central interest.
What does FloC mean?
F & C: Our logo is a bird, like birds in a flock. We're letting them loose all over New York. It's a movement, a company or band of people.Oh yeah—and we're FLOrian and Claire.
What made you decide to use t-shirts with organic and recycled materials?
F & C: The better question is why wouldn't we experiment with those textiles—this should be the norm. Our "dictionary" shirt uses 7% recycled polyester, 7% organic cotton, and 12% rayon, a naturally occurring polymer in plant cell walls. The newest "compass" tee is 100% organic cotton.The quality of the shirts only gets better, the first shirt is one of the softest out there. Green's where it's at—we're saving this city one shirt at a time…
Do you think you will ever expand the line into more than just t-shirts?
C: We've been thinking about expanding to sweatshirts and other accessories, but t-shirts are our priority.
F: The thing about the tees is that they're so easy to wear year-round…more and more people are layering in the colder months, so there's been no real incentive to move outside of shirts. That said, there's been some discussion about some heavier for those who want to FloC regularly.
What influences your designs?
F: The best part about this project has been watching the city come to life in our designs. I'm hard-pressed to find something more interesting to do with my weekends than soak in New York and figure out how to get that down on the page. Everything that makes this city pop finds itself somewhere in our notes—we weed out the boring stuff and the shirts are the next part of the process.
C: Both Florian and I document our inspiration in our moleskins on the daily. We're always faced with having more designs than fiscally plausible at this point. Living in New York City, it's tough to avoid seeing such innovative stores, branding, clothing, art, and music—even everyday people stir my imagination. The tees are a product of these snapshots of our surroundings.
What designer would you like to collaborate with?
F & C: We actually just finished up two pieces with another young designer, Rocky Coulbourne of Coulbourne NYC. It's a little bit of a step in a different direction, taking a more modern spin on our usual look. Looking at other designers, we admire work from Rogues Gallery, Milton Carter, Our Legacy, and LOLANY.
Any last words?
F: We make a limited number of each shirt, for most it's 113: 40 and 73 combined, the latitude and longitude of New York City. Website's coming soon, we'll be sure to keep you cats posted with the updates on that. Claire and I can be contacted via e-mail listed at the bottom.
C: We are finishing up a project of mass producing a FloC sticker to throw up all over the city, and eventually even further. Keep an eye out for them!
FloC on the reals.
To contact FloC t's write to the email below:
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