Entree Lifestyle Creators Talk Humble Start, Hip-Hop Culture and Fall Collection

It's a breezy, pleasant Friday evening in March in downtown Brooklyn's DUMBO section and inside this cozy multi-level suite that overlooks the Manhattan Bridge, the team from Entree Lifestyle is doing a bit of Spring cleaning.

"Please excuse the appearance, we just moved into this spot," admits Entree Lifestyle co-founder Henry Li about the once-vacant showroom that now homes a creative space featuring everything from a skating and gaming area, photography studio, basketball court, design lab and more.  "This whole space has done a lot for us," adds PR Coordinator, Reginald Elliott. “Because you’re inspired as you walk in, it’s like this is our house.”

See, within the enclosed space is where all the magic happens for Li, Elliott, Asaf Azaria, Chuck Gee and Mike Yeung; all members of the booming streetwear line.

Starting out in 1999 by friends Henry Li and Chuck Gee, who together printed designed tees in their basement to sell out of their parents' respective trunks, Entree has come a long way since then. After over ten years of rejection and missteps, the team is now watching their once-struggling clothing line become not just a brand but more of a lifestyle.

“There’s a lot of streetwear brands and clothes out there,” Reginald affirms. “There has to be something different. There needs to be a reason why [the people] need Entree.”  And that's just the case. Currently being sold in over 150 boutiques all over the world, Entree can now be seen almost everywhere and on almost everyone, including the likes of Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa, Paul Rodriguez, T.I., Jim Jones, Bow Wow, Waka Flocka Flame, Meek Mill, J. Cole and more.

“Honestly, we dreamed and believed it was possible,” admits a humbled Mike Yeung, the gang’s Creative Director, about finally receiving recognition in the fashion world. “We worked hard and fed [this brand] with every penny we made to keep it breathing.”

Henry, Mike and Reginald sat with XXL at their headquarters’ third floor lounge area and touched on a range of topics including their experiences coming into the fashion world, the importance of hip-hop in their designs, the meaning of Entree and more.—Ralph Bristout (@RalphieBlackmon)

XXL's Good Life: You guys started off selling Entree out of your parents' trucks. Tell us about that.

Henry Li: Well when I was young coming up, I wanted to be involved with the hip-hop culture through clothing. [I’ve] been a big fan of streetwear before there was even streetwear. [One day] me and Chuck [Gee] got together and started printing up shirts and selling them on some street hustle type shit.

Mike Yeung: Yeah, the beginning of Entree was just like, 'Hey, lets turn Chuck’s basement into a printing lab and turn his artwork into products.' We started selling a lot of shirts to the neighborhood kids, but it was mostly [like] 'I owe you,' or just like, ‘Here's five bucks.’ Given the little knowledge we had in this business, the crazy unrealistic ideas, everything completely went wrong, and next thing we know we were in debt.

Henry Li: None of us here [motions to Reginald and Mike] went to school for it or had prior experience. So I ended up literally going door-to-door [to stores] throughout the five boroughs, with or without a car, whatever I had access to and just straight up knocking and being like, Check me out. I would go to like 100 stores and 95 would slam the doors on me.

Those situations ended up fueling your ambition, didn't they?

Henry Li: Absolutely. The good thing about that was instead of getting discouraged I felt like, Now I’ll just come back again when I’m ready.

Mike Yeung: We did the only thing we could do, which is to keep trying. We’ve learned that you have to put your heart and passion into something and believe in what you create or no one else will. Don’t be afraid of failing, but be afraid of not trying.

That’s absolutely true. This story sounds like the counterpart to one of an up-and-coming MC hoping to get their music heard.

Henry Li: Right. That’s why I compare this to the music game because it’s kind of the same. My collection is my album and each shirt is a track. We’re cohesive with our clothes and they have everything to do with everyday life. Not just the hip-hop culture but music in general. We take everything that we like—from Reggie, Mike, Chuck, everybody—and somehow make it work. So that forms Entree, one whole big platter.

What is it about your clothing line that seems to resonate well with consumers?

Henry Li: We’re a streetwear brand but we’re a completely different kind of streetwear. When we first came into the clothing game, we were like outcasts, which was what we wanted. Everybody had naked chicks and guns on their shirts. Nope not us, we got some cute shit with teddy bears goin’ on.

Reginald Elliott: This is where the ‘Misunderstood’ motto works for us. Because pretty much like individually we’re all misunderstood. It’s not too hardcore for [say a] Chris Brown and it’s not too softcore for like a Jim Jones, ’cause they mess with our stuff, too. Everything [we design] is all original artwork. Even if we’re inspired by something we’re gonna switch that idea and make it our own. At the end of the day, we’re suppose to be all about originality because we come from that world of graffiti where it’s suppose to be all about original artwork.

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It must feel great to see people like Wiz Khalifa, T.I., Waka Flocka, Meek Mill or even a Paul Rodriguez wearing your gear.

Henry Li: Yeah that’s big, ’cause we can have a Mobb Deep and then we can have a Chris Brown [wearing our gear]. That’s like two extremes, they’re not even the same genre of music or demographic but it works. We’re honestly just [blessed] where we have like mainstream artists that are loyal to us and there’s always relationships.

Mike Yeung: The feeling when we first saw a stranger wear Entree was crazy, but seeing celebrities supporting Entree is indescribable. The first time I saw a flick of [Paul Rodriguez] wearing a shirt, I almost lost my voice! Just the fact that they even know about this small Brooklyn brand that started from nothing is insane.

Reginald Elliott: [It’s] exciting. Another feeling that brings excitement [however] is when charity opportunities come up and we get to work with underprivileged kids that can’t necessarily go out and get new t-shirts. When we can, we donate them and they always get so excited. I’m more excited about that than anything.

That’s very dope. Let's play devil's advocate, here. People might wonder if you guys get love from the mainstream because you pay celebrities to rock your stuff.

Henry Li: We’re lucky to the point where we don’t have to pay someone to wear our stuff. I mean, ideally that works, but then it’s not. They’re paid, so [for example] if you pay me to wear something, more than likely I’ll consider doing it because I want the money. But, in a sense, your heart wouldn’t be in it. So even if you wear it, you’re not willing to tweet about it, Facebook it, you know. We have that. Sometimes we just go through our Instagram and we just see different celebrities wearing it. We’d have no idea. They probably went to a boutique, were out of town, their cousin had it and they wanted it or because they seen some kid that had it on the train and they’re like “I want that.” It just works like that for us.

How has hip-hop played a part in influencing your brand’s designs?

Mike Li: Hip Hop raised us. We’re all huge hip-hop fans. Music in general speaks a universal language; Hip Hop was a genre that was created from a small sub-culture that wasn't accepted at first. So, to see where hip-hop stands now, it’s truly inspiring. I thank hip-hop and the pillars of it for influencing not just the brand, but for everything we do.

Reginald, you’ve mentioned in previous interviews about wanting Entree to be the Ralph Lauren of streetwear. Can you elaborate on that?

Reginald Elliott: I don’t want to see this be an overnight success. I mean, that’s great financially, but it’s not long term. We’re trying to create a lifestyle here. So to me, like in previous interviews, I’ve said “We’re the Ralph Lauren of streetwear,” because, you know Ralph Lauren has never faded. He’s always maintained some type of stability in his collection so, for me, ideally that would be perfect, like from streetwear to cut and sew. We can be in XXL and then be in Details. I want to see like a George Clooney guy wearing a t-shirt walking around L.A. and then I want to see a cool kid like Wiz Khalifa just like running around with his friends looking crazy with a Entree sweatshirt on.

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What does the name Entree represent and symbolize?

Mike Yeung: Yeah, the full name stands for "Evolving Nameless Talents Refines Every Existence." We wanted to keep the letters 'ENT', which is Chuck's tag that stands for "Evolving Nameless Talent," which pretty much defines graffiti artists. You start out nameless, but your talents start to develop as you grow. The word entree means the main course of a meal, and we want to serve everyone in the world with our messages. Hopefully, through our products we can make a small difference and create something they can relate to. We want those troubled kids out there to know that they're not the only ones up at night, and that they can improve life itself by using their talents. Entree simply represents all those unknown, underrated and misunderstood individuals.

What’s a typical day for you guys?

Henry Li: Shipping—

Reginald Elliott: That’s like a big part of the day. [But] it varies. Henry and me, we’re both in marketing so, it varies. He does a lot of outside work like event planning.

Henry Li: A lot of meetings—

(After looking at his phone, Henry steps out for a meeting)

Mike Yeung: I'm usually at the office 'til like 11pm, and when I get home I stay up all night sketching designs 'til my eyes shut down. Once I wake, I usually find myself rushing to work vampire style to make sure the staff didn’t sneak out to go skate and order lunch before the lunch special ends [laughs]. My desk is full of post-it notes, reminding myself that even though I have creative control of Entree, the team is my backbone.

Reginald Elliott: I’m usually here in-house, having meetings with artists, stylists. I’ll be going to MTV, BET taking stuff and bringing stuff. Photoshoots. Me and Chuck are creating storyboards, then as a team we’ll work on designs. Pretty much everything we have is all a team effort.

How did the ‘Misunderstood’ motto originate?

Reginald Elliott: Three years ago, we used to kind of work with the “Young and Hungry.” We was like, 'that’s us.' We’re young, we’re so hungry and now we’re like a fad now. So, now we’re just at that point where we’re like, 'Okay we’re misunderstood. We’re underrated and still considered unknown.'  We still rock with those slogans on our hats and shirts ’cause we still feel like we have a lot to learn and still have room to grow, which is always good. If someone gave you an A, the next grade you’re trying to get is an A+. We’re on the right track.

What’s the deal with the famous smiling ‘Misunderstood’ Teddy? How’d that come about and does it have a name?

Reginald Elliott: [Laughs] ‘Misunderstood Teddy’ that’s our mascot.

Mike Yeung: The 'Misunderstood' Teddy character is you, me, and the person next to you. The suit is a reflection of the lifestyle that many people live. The teddy suit is no different than the suit you wear to work. The concept is that this economy requires us to put on a suit that makes us misunderstood from who we truly are underneath it. Doing what we are told because the things you love sometimes don't pay the bills but wealth should be measured by time and what you do with it. So shout out to the corporate kids that take risk to write graffiti still, to the dude that skates home in his suit after work, the underground rappers that stays true even if that means it won't land a record deal, and to anyone that doesn't let society change what they truly want to do.

Now that the Summer 2012 collection is here, what do you guys have planned for Fall?

Reginald Elliott: Our cut and sew collection is coming this fall, [that’s] a big deal for us. We had varsity jackets last season but now we’re coming with denim jackets, denim vests and also our first pair of denim. We had two button downs previously but now we’re coming with four button downs, we have beanies coming, sweaters—heavy knits. We’re starting to evolve. We’re gonna always maintain our streetwear side of it but then we’re gonna have our cut and sew side because, of course, we’re all trying to mature. We need to have stuff that we can even imagine putting the 28-year-old guy verses the stuff to put the 18-year-old guy in. This fall is going to be a big deal for us.