Introduce yourself
What’s up everyone my name is William H Holla! I’m a 23-year-old designer & founder of Poshsway.
When did you first start getting involved with fashion?
Man, when I was 15. In 2009 I started out making handmade jewelry. I would make bracelets, necklaces, macrame bracelets, and earrings. That was my first introduction to creating something of my own.
How did Poshsway then come from making jewelry?
Through creating the jewelry, I created Poshsway in October 2009. I made a bracelet for myself and the specific bracelet I made was pretty popular and a lot of people in school liked it and wanted one. After the fifth person asked, I started to sell pieces for $10 and the clientele grew and grew.
After two years of creating jewelry, it was my Senior year and I started making content. I made a visual documentary and I made some t-shirts to go with it. The shirts were kinda wack as I look back, but it’s whatever. But yeah, 2011 is when it transitioned into a clothing company.
Although you started the brand in 2009, when do you think you actually put out your real first collection?
In February 2016 I put out my first collection You Can Be Infamous Too! The concept came about with celebrities and talented people overall, sometimes people can come in the business with the talent and notoriety, but they may have a situation happen where they mess up and then that situation overshadows their talent. I.E Janet Jackson Superbowl incident or Brittney Spears going bald moment. It’s sad that celebrities nowadays can become more famous from their downfalls rather than their talent.
And your second collection?
Careless For Fame was a play on words. You could be careless with your fame or you could care less for it. You think of Ralph Lauren, he doesn’t really care for fame, he’s about his craft. The reason he has his fame is because he’s very talented. On the other hand, you have someone like DMX, who was pretty much careless with his fame. He didn’t care for it. Basically, the collection was about you can either go left or right with your fame, it’s all up to you to decide. This collection was a big collection for me. I guess you can say it got me some good exposure.
Your latest collection is titled Beware, what inspired this concept?
After Careless For Fame released, I felt like I was being limited and marginalized. I heard chitter chatter about how I was only able to throw images on the back of clothes. And that’s not what the collection was all about if you looked at the entire design of the pieces. Some people didn’t think it was fresh. So since that collection, I’ve been on this journey of creating bigger & better pieces. With Beware, the collection revolves around some frustrations that I’ve been having currently in life and within the industry. I feel like this industry can be pretty much pretentious and it’s weird. You don’t get the love that you feel like you deserve because you’re a young person putting in a lot of work.
Beware for me was what I wanted to see within the industry and the world. I was like fuck it, I’m just going to do it. I don’t really have any guidance or too much mentorship and so I felt like I should just go ahead and do things myself. People should be able to look towards me and Poshsway for guidance. The collection is about showing young millennials about what you may go through when you’re taking things to the next level. This is what you need to be aware of. Beware of perverts and people who want to take things from you. Beware of how people abuse power and have all this money and respect but take advantage of it. The green is represented throughout the collection because it represents envy and you should be aware of envious people. I wanted to take the role of being a leader with this collection. I can lead and carry the responsibility of telling people what it is and what it isn’t.
I see one of the tees is based on the 48 laws of power by Robert Greene. Is that one of your favorite books?
A teacher bought me The 48 laws of power. That book was very interesting. It showed me how life worked. When I was younger I didn’t understand how life worked and didn’t like how people hid behind power and used different mules to get things done. I didn’t respect them for that or understand. However, after reading the book it showed me how the game really really works. I think it was for good or for worse. Some of the stuff in the book I think is very manipulative and evil, but I do believe there’s a lot to gain in the book. Especially around how to get power and use it. The book definitely changed my life.
What you’ve learned over the years with the collections?
I’ve definitely learned that it’s not step 1, step 2, step three. It’s definitely, step 1, step 1.5, step 2, step 2.5, step 3. There’s a lot of steps especially being on the ground level at all times. I’m finally starting to develop a team, where before it was just me handling everything. I had to learn that there are so many steps to produce a collection on an independent level.
This week, you have a film screening & pop-up shop for The Foster Project… What we can expect?
Well everyone that has RSVP’d can expect to see the new version of Money & the Murder that Alex & I worked on. It won’t be released to the public so it’s specifically for the people who attend. Along with Beware being available everyone will be able to shop the new Poshsway Homeware release before it hits the Poshsway website. We’ll be serving free Boxed Water. That’ll be cool too cause I’m a vegetarian so that’s another new focus for the brand in 2018. I have a few more surprises as well. But just expect for Poshsway to be really subservient January 18th because I really do appreciate the consistent support from everyone.
With 2018 just beginning, what do you want to accomplish in these next 51 weeks?
I want to accomplish taking Poshsway into a more formal and serious level as a business. I officially have a COO now. So we are really sitting down and talking about how to run the business and do it well. I have a head of sales now too. So now that I’m doing temporary stores. I’m able to see which products are selling the most. Before I would do pop-ups and we’d sell out merchandise, I would just think that I did a good job. Now I’m really analyzing our numbers and data. This year will be about upping the business while growing in creativity. Me & my creative assistant & consultant are really focused are creating to the best level we can with all the resources we have at our disposal. There’s no such thing as the ceiling. It’s constant creating.
Quick Five
Favorite designer?
Ralph Lauren.
Favorite Chicago brand right now?
Poshsway
Favorite piece you dropped?
I’d have to say the Baby Adena sweatshirt.
One ‘trend’ to leave in 2017
People putting ebonics on t-shirts. Meaningless shirts have got to go. If your shirt doesn’t have any meaning or cultural significance I don’t understand why it’s on a shirt.
What do you want to see more of in 2018?
I know this sounds cliche, but I really want people to be themselves, even if it’s uncomfortable. Just be you, because being you is what’s respectable.
You can shop & visit the website to learn more about the brand Poshsway @ www.poshsway.com
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