XXL Sits Down With The Dynamic Duo Behind SOCIETY Original Products

XXL got the pleasure of going behind the scenes to sit down with Society Original Products  Founder / CEO Marcel Angol and Co-Founder / Marketing Director Brendan Boyd. Society Original Products for years have been making tremendous strides within their industry. Angol and Boyd open up about owning a brand, what it takes to maintain a genuine aesthetic, branding, the journey and marketing. Take a look into the SOCIETY Original Products brand.

XXL: Where did the SOCIETY Brand journey beginning? 

Marcel: The journey for what ended up becoming Society began in the mid 90s. I was around 16 or 17 yrs old and I was heavy into art and drawing (as I still am today) that was when I started seeing these really cool graffiti character tees popping up here and there.

The more I saw these tees the more I was intrigued because the artwork on them looked just like my drawings. It slowly started dawning on me that I can probably put my drawings on T-shirts and make money too. The brand that inspired me was Eckó Unltd.

A coupe of years later I decided to seriously pursue a career in design and fashion. I made a makeshift plan for myself that involved internships, a little bit of school, paying dues, and paying more dues to get myself into the industry. Lucky for me I followed through with my entire plan.

While attending college for a visual communications degree I started a line of tees under the name "Marcel Angol brand clothing"

I designed a few different graphics for the brand and sold it to a bunch of my friends. That lasted for about a year before I decided to change the name so the brand would appeal to a wider range of people.

I came up with ®SOCIETY (written backwards) for my new brand name when I was looking through one of my black sketch books. I previously drew out the word on the back of one of my characters jackets to emphasize that society was indeed backwards. I am very much into typography also so the layout of the word backwards really stood out to me. Aside from that, I was looking for a name or logo that was different than everything else out there, so I figured a backwards logo was as different as it can get. I designed my first society T-shirt shortly after that.

B: The Society Original Products journey for me began, when I met Marcel around ‘05-’06.  He had already started a brand of his own, we had a lot of similarities and shared a lot of passion for being a part of the industry.

 XXL: Three words to describe yourself & your craft?

Marcel: a different brand

B: Competitive, resilient and passionate.

XXL: What is some advice you would give to a young brand in developing their marketing?

Marcel: I would tell them that their marketing needs to be relevant for their times and generation. Conventional ways of marketing and business itself is constantly changing and evolving with our civilization. So break the rules, do something new that has never been done before.

B: Best advice that I can give is to take chances, but take your time.  Do your research and get a sense of the industry before you just jump into it; internships and shadowing are important, learn the basics of running a business.

XXL: -What do you feel are the most important parts of Marketing?

Marcel: Making sure the messages you are putting out there are crystal clear.

B: Connecting w/ people, being consistent, branding and being out there for people to digest and experience.

XXL: Five people that have inspired the Society Brand? (dead or alive)

Marcel:

Marc Eckó.

Greg Selkoe

Nigo

Ralph Lauren

Michael Cera

But the list goes on and on.

XXL: What is the importance of lifestyle & branding?

Marcel: You can only sell a T- shirt for so long until the next "cool" thing comes along. But you can create and incorporate a lifestyle and a brand that people can grow with and be a part of forever.

B: Lifestyle is important because it’s tangible and real part of whatever you are doing/selling.  It’s the core essence, if you are selling a lifestyle; you are selling an experience, something that people can feel apart of.

Branding is important because it’s what makes products and company’s synonymous w/ people, it’s the bridge and the consistency of branding on products and w/ companies creates trust and loyalty in people.  It’s the reason why people love a product and trusts a company’s slogan.  It’s the reason why people chose one product over another, that branding strikes a cord within the mind of the customer that may last forever.

We would like to thank the good folks of Society Original Products for this interview. Be sure to check them out at: Societysop.com - @Societysop