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Twitter: _Adns_
What’s up everyone my name is Justin, I’m 19 years old. Currently in college at Michigan, however I live in Illinois about 35 minutes outside of Chicago. My roots come from a working class rural environment in Michigan with a low income. Growing up I was really into Dirt bikes and stuff like that. As a kid I mostly remember being outside 24/7. Style wise, growing up I wore overalls polo, tommy and stuff like that in the late 90’s. I moved around quite a bit as a kid, we lived in Indiana, then near Detroit and finally settled in Illinois. As a kid I remember every year back to school shopping picking out new Nike’s or skate shoes and Polo’s. I used to try to get all blue suede SB’s or colorful air maxes or something to stand out. I remember I had the all Orange Polo with the green Pony and some orange Nike shox in like 2nd grade. Even from an early age I kind of wanted to stand out and be different with what I was wearing, I wanted to be noticed. What got me into clothing and fashion was honestly skateboarding. Coming from a rural environment I had gotten my first dirt bike at 3, a Yamaha, but living out in more developed areas the more I got older I found skateboarding to occupy my time and desire for adrenaline. The clothing and shoes, specifically vans and ripped jeans, black t-shirts, that’s what I was into from age 8 onward. I got older and adapted into more of an urban style. In high school one of my good friends and I used to mess around and make clothes using print offs from Walmart. As I went away to my first year of college, out of state, back in Michigan not knowing anyone I kind of found myself, who I was, and I really started taking my dream of owning a clothing brand, and one day having a store seriously. At school in my dorm I began making clothes and that is what inevitably turned into ADNS. The brand became a tangible idea in February 2016, when I posted for the first time on Instagram. I had set up a webstore and began putting products on the site. Its been about 6 months now since I started the brand. Since I’ve been able to come back home from school for summer and really start getting to work, I taught myself how to screen-print and just have been working on improving the brand and my aesthetic. ADNS, or Always Dream Never Sleep to me is my full time life. Im up late at night all the time thinking of ideas and ways to improve my work and myself in order to pursue my dreams. With the brand name I really wanted to stay true to myself and what my life is all about, as well as portraying to others that whatever you want to do is possible. Follow your dreams. Maybe for instance you want to go to the NBA, you cant take any days off, you have to be up late and rise early and grind to get to the top. Also, don’t ever forget, right now there are people out there working twice as hard as you are for the same spot in the world. The current fashion scene to me in a way is comical because the way people are trying to define themselves or stand out and be different. When in reality by trying to be different, that’s what everyone else is doing. I know you know what I am talking about with ripped jeans, flannels, and tan under tees with a pair of yeezy’s. Fashion yes is a trendy thing, however with todays social media, Instagram, etc, fads become oversaturated so quickly that it urks me. You can always spot and respect true style. Tom Ford once said something like, those with less money tend to have more style, even without more fashion. So to me, I think style is more important then what you are wearing, fashion is the brand or designer, where style is the individual’s art and sculpting of the clothes into their own body and life. Style is more important. The pieces I’ve dropped so far have I think corresponded to influences I’ve had growing up both personally and culturally. I think the things I make are a bit different than what is currently big or popular, but still are modern and relative pieces. For instance, with the two tone khaki and blue hats I dropped recently I really felt like I wanted to bring back the 90’s taste and hats I vividly remember my dad wearing growing up as a kid. Every collection or piece I drop has inspiration taken from somewhere; I try to make it personal and relatable at the same time. My last drop the “Insomniac” and “1995” tees I really enjoyed because being born in the late 90’s I remember listening to Nirvana all the time with both of my parents and have always admired Kurt Cobain’s style and rise to success in which he brought forth a new image and stayed true to his style even with money. That tee to me, the flow and color way on it really was inspired by him and I think that’s why I like it so much, it’s somewhat sentimental to my childhood. Also, my skateboarding background and the fact that I am young influence my creativity. I do enjoy movies like the movie K.I.D.S which really showed previous culture and the style in New York at that time period so I kind of twisted that into a simple and colorful tee. From this point forward my plans are to continue gaining knowledge, both in the fashion industry and in life. I know I am young and I am thirsty to learn and improve my work. When I’m not out living on a day-to-day or making stuff I am listening to the work of other’s. Knowledge is power and since I started making clothing nothing has rung truer to me. The work of some of the greats both in fashion and in the world itself has to be studied and respected. I see myself 10 years from now owning flagship stores in Chicago, New York, and hopefully LA. I want to continue to impact people with my message and make quality art that people can relate to and respect.
Check out some pictures from Justin’s clothing line
Chicago Creatives 