Today we’d like to introduce you to Blair Caffey.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Blair. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
At the core of the Honor Roll, we wanted to provide a narrative of progress and excellence that we had yet to see communicated in Streetwear, Lifestyle, and Americana fashion space. I know those are three really large categories, but that speaks to the depth of Honor Roll and the categories that we cover. When I (Blair) was in undergrad at Albany State University, I had the opportunity to go to Chicago for a summer internship at ESPN Radio. It was around that time, circa 2008, that I was becoming more aware of the streetwear segment of fashion. What was so appealing to me was that all the brands around at that time: The Hundreds, Crooks and Castle, Benny Gold, etc., were speaking to a very specific audience and were telling very specific stories. This was a huge deal for me, because in contrast to mega urban brands like ROCAWEAR, Sean Jean, and Enyce; these guys were having a personal conversation with me through the product instead of blaring ideas over a blow horn to a stadium full of people. I wanted to have that personal conversation with people, and I believed that developing a brand would be the best way to do it.
As I began to sift through a bunch of ideas for the brand, I would share some of them with Darnell (Co-Owner) and he would give me feedback. Darnell and I grew up with each other, and he always embodied a high level of authenticity and honesty, so getting his approval was crucial. I shared with him a number of brand names, but the one that stuck the most was “Honor Roll”. The name itself originated from the fact that we had never been on the honor roll while in school, for a slew of reasons. Regardless of that fact, there were a lot of lessons that we were learning from being outside; such as the value of integrity, hard work, and maintaining the spirit of perseverance. We knew that these were in essence, the same character traits that any kid would need in order to make the honor roll in school. So consequently, if you applied those same values to anything you focused on, there wouldn’t be much that you couldn’t accomplish; hence being on the Honor Roll.
Once the name was solidified, Darnell came onboard and we spent the next two years working through the logo, designs, and figuring out how we were going to introduce Honor Roll to the public. There wasn’t anything sexy about our initial efforts. It started out with us walking around Atlanta with a duffle bag of samples and a handful of Honor Roll Stickers. In passing out the stickers, if anyone showed interest in our logo, I would then break out the samples from the duffle bag and begin telling them more about the brand. Funny enough, that is how we got most of our initial sales. It was also through that method that I ended up meeting Chris (Co-Owner/Head of Marketing). I was at a Wale concert and as usual, I was passing out stickers to everyone who was in line. I can’t remember who the guy was, but he seemed really excited about the logo and the brand name and said I should meet a friend of his (Chris) who was heavy into streetwear, and was in Atlanta doing marketing. After connecting at the concert, Chris came to a pop-up shop that we had a few weeks later, and from there he naturally became a part of the company. With Chris becoming a part of the brand, he added a different level of taste to the overall aesthetic. If you have ever been to one of our release events, have attended our “Clothes Minded” panel discussions, or have seen us on Instagram, he is the person responsible for all of that magic.
Since we released our first collection in 2010, we have curated countless product releases and community engagement events. Over the past four years, we have made extensive efforts in growing our cut and sew segment of the brand. I’m certain that there is much more that I can say, but I think this is probably a good place to stop lol.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
So again, we’ve been in business for going on nine years now. None of us (Darnell, Chris or myself) came from a fashion background. On top of that, we were all pretty fresh out of college with minimal business experience. Needless to say, there were quite a bit of mistakes that we made as it pertains to production, effectively managing our finances and personalities, as well as being clear on the overall vision and direction that the brand was to go in. It was for sure some painful times for all three of us, but we wouldn’t change those experiences for the world. Going through all of those ups and downs provided us with an opportunity to gain wisdom and develop character that we probably wouldn’t have gained otherwise. Again, you have to remember, we didn’t come from the fashion world and a great deal of the start-up money for Honor Roll came out of the pockets of three inexperienced recent college grads. In spite of the odds and hurdles that we consistently found ourselves running into, we still chose to invest in ourselves.
To be completely transparent, initially the audacity to take such high risks and fight through the gut wrenching difficult times, was fueled by our own desires to succeed. But as we grew as men, what continued to push us to develop and grow Honor Roll was the conviction that this was a part of Jesus’s plan to develop something unique in us as well as for Him to do something through us to impact others. A big lesson that I think touches both of those boxes is the reality that success isn’t exclusively based on sales, public perception, or even self-perception. All three of those realities are fleeting and are subject to change at any moment. If we do what’s perceived to be a bad release, product probably won’t sell as well, which means our audience wasn’t feeling it, which then could cause us to doubt ourselves… not just as creatives and businessmen, but also as humans. That is of course, if our gauge of success is rooted in something shallow and incomplete. I know that may seem pretty extreme but those are very real realities for creatives and entrepreneurs. This is why we try to use the brand that we’ve developed, in all of its failures and success, to show and point people to where your identity and value should and shouldn’t be placed. Because of that very point, beyond the clothes, sales, and social media impressions, we take everything that comes with being in this business in stride.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Honor Roll Clothing – what should we know?
At the core, Honor Roll is a genderless Americana clothing group that has a strong bend towards lifestyle and streetwear culture. As I mentioned earlier, streetwear is definitely where we started as a brand, but as time has gone on we have seen how street culture has found itself blended in the contemporary fashion space. To me, that’s the essence of the Americana genre. If you think about brands like Perry Ellis, Nautica, or Tommy Hilfiger in the early 1990’s, they were an expression of what contemporary fashion looked like when being fused with Black urban culture. What we are doing as a brand, as it pertains to developing product, is right in that lineage while also maintaining the personal conversation that can be found in streetwear brands of the late 2000’s. For Honor Roll, that conversation is centered in the narrative of progress and excellence. We are always progressing to a specific place that we deem to be the pinnacle of excellence. But as many of us would know, once we accomplish one goal, our sights are quickly set on a new one. All of this brings us to the reality of the goal itself not being the prize, but rather how we grow and the things that we learn in the process being what’s most valuable; hence “Excellence is a Process”.
The three of us talk frequently about the ways in which we want to continue to grow the brand, and honestly, I don’t think there will be a time where we are ever “satisfied”. I will say, however, that we are definitely content and proud of who we have all become as men in this journey, and how the brand itself has grown and matured with us. To go from doing screen print t-shirts to sourcing our own fabric, producing our own samples in house, and working with American factories to produce our product isn’t something to sneeze at.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Not sure if this is necessarily a character trait, but our dependency on God has definitely been the x-factor. Outside of that, we would have, and probably should have folded, years ago. But like I mentioned before, the conviction that the three of us have, is this is something God has us doing that has never been able to be shaken, even in some of the darkest days. I will also say that us being willing to self-educate has been very important too. We’ve come across many people who had the ability to help and educate us, but for one reason or another didn’t. So for us, the only way that we were going to learn and grow was to invest in ourselves and to educate ourselves. The internet and youtube has been a life saver for us. Between that and actually taking courses, seeking out information in our specific areas, and going out and applying what we’ve learned; we’ve been able to gain wisdom that no one can ever take away from us. Lastly, I’d also say building a team has been paramount to our growth and our success. Being able to seek out and nurture as well as give opportunities to people who have been just as gifted and talented as the three of us has been a huge deal for our progress. Cultivating and compensating a brain trust of valuable people and talent will take you a long way!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.honorrollshop.com
- Email: info@honorrollshop.com
- Instagram: @Honorrollclothing
Image Credit:
Photo Credit: Danny Delgado | @ado.visuals on instagram
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