Rance Rob your Favorite CEO: Phenology Clothing is the New Jay-Z!

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I imagine myself in Brooklyn, NY circa 1995. I imagine that I’m on Flatbush Ave. and I get stopped by somebody selling tapes and CD’s and they ask if I wanna get “this one? You’d be one of the first to have it” I look and it’s some tape by a rapper that is dressed like a mafia cat. On the cover it says Reasonable Doubt and there is some dude named Jay-Z on it. I remember the name from a Big Daddy Kane record from ’94 so I cop it (skeptically.) I hear it. It’s another rapper with a flashy vocabulary but he can paint a picture. He’s nice on the M-I-C. Gripping lyrics and imagery run over beats. I didn’t expect too much more from the guy in the future because rappers come and go but it was a good experience and that’s the extent of it.

Now I fast-forward to 2009 and I see what has become of that unknown rapper whose tape I bought way back when. This guy has become the pinnacle of a culture. He transcended being a rapper and is more of a cultural icon. He has infiltrated the homes of everybody and even old white people are familiar with his face, if not his name. It took time and struggle but he got there.

I recently found a new “Jay-Z” so to speak. The internet age is all about connecting and having access to people, it’s made the playing field for everyone a little more even. I got an add request on my Facebook from a Michael Oliver. I added him eventhough I didn’t know him and kept it moving. I tend to throw Facebook “Deleting” Parties in which I get rid of people that don’t hit me back when I holler at them (I’m there to connect man, what can I say?) So as I was going through the list off “Deleting Party Invitees” I ran across this name Michael Oliver again and checked him out and saw a weird looking link: www.phnlgy.com. I clicked the link and realized what I was looking at. I had that “Reasonable Doubt” feeling.

Michael Oliver

Like the classic album, what I saw on the web was methodic and thought out. It was like the first time I hit up Johnny Cupcakes’ website, I saw something that had a reason behind it. It wasn’t just done to be done. This wasn’t a hobby; this is life to the designer. I realized that Phenology Premium Soft Goods –Limited Availability – Inspired by Struggle, in 10 years, may well be what Shawn Carter was by 2006…EVERYWHERE. So I want everyone to meet Michael Oliver the mind behind Phenology Clothing. Get at him now while you have the chance.

Give us the origin of Michael Oliver:
Michael Oliver: I grew up in Columbus, Ohio. I’m an 80’s baby. I was raised on the south side of Columbus which was a rough area, a lot of poverty and struggle. I grew up in a single parent home and we moved around a lot. Eventually my senior year in high school we moved farther east to a nicer area. With all the moving around though, I was able to gain street knowledge and book smarts. I was able to learn to play both sides of the game and see life from both sides of the fence. I think because if this I know how to relate to everybody pretty well.

What is the concept of Phenology?
A lot of people get it confused with the study of the brain which is phrenology. But Phenology is the study of biological things that happen naturally and organically. A good example is flowers and leaves growing, you know what I’m sayin’? But we flipped it and applied the same concept to fashion. It’s a brand that has a naturalness and organic feel to it. It can’t be fabricated man, it just is.

By definition Phenology is the study of a natural phenomena that recurs periodically due to climate change. So with us being the phenomena we look at it as the consumer studying us. Our fabric, our fit, our choice of colors, etc. and with every season our phenomena recurs in the form of our Collections. And also with that Phenology is doin’ our part to conserve the earth by making a conscious effort to manufacture earth-friendly products and garments. We specifically seek out companies that fit that mold.

So you’re a green company?
As much as we can possibly be; it isn’t necessarily possible to be completely green but we are working hard to do our part.

That’s hot man. I guess I should ask you this, how long have you been at it officially?

Oliver with the Goods

I’ve been designing for a long time; as long as I can remember really. Phenology was officially started in 2003. A lot of my time since then however was spent learning and getting to know how the industry works. When I jumped in the business there was so much to learn about every aspect such as production, distribution, networking, all the way to defining your brand. Even the little things like knowing how and where buyers and sellers meet and do business. And honestly I am still learning today.

In business we never stop learning right? I say laughing. Describe the day to day that goes into having a line of clothes?
What people don’t know is it’s a lot of work. It’s really me hands on 24/7. On a daily, I wake up and check emails, fulfill orders, I go check on production, make sure placement and colors are good on my garments. I’m also doing a lot of online networking like Facebook, Myspace, checking out different blogs, and I spend a lot of time researching other clothing companies. I like to keep up what’s new and then find my own lane. I also spend a lot of time designing and finding new ideas and inspiration. Then I get back into studying various manufacturers and resources I can use to grow the business. Plus fitting in the meetings and all of that, you know how that goes.

Ha ha yeah I do. I think that this term is so cliché but do you consider your brand to be a “hip-hop” clothing line?
We struggled with that for a long time because I’m inspired by so much. But I wouldn’t define Phenology like that. We’re a premium street-wear company. We put a lot of detail and work into our product. I try not to bottleneck us because we make clothes for everybody. But it’s not for one particular culture or race or even age group honestly. We want to transcend that. At anytime my line can be inspired by many things like the streets, drug trade, music, movies, comedy, there are many things that spark our designs and fuel the engine.

It’s like you as a writer; there can be a number of things that inspire you to write about a topic. It’s a release for you right?

Yeah… you’re right!
That’s the way the designs come. I’m glad that we carry that eye to design that way. There can be a cause or a thought that we can just plug into the line. You know how you may write something and post it. You don’t care if you get 10 or 100 views on that article; it was something that you needed to get out. We can release that angst or excitement on one shirt or a collection. The beauty is that we have that option.

You hit it right on the head with those points man. What was that moment that made you decide that Phenology had to exist? Were you in the stores and couldn’t find something that you specifically had in mind or what was that motivation to get this rollin’?
I knew it was time because around 2001 when I was a junior in high school I was always talking about having a line. But what I ended up doing was the custom pieces and got into that. You remember when the custom shirts and shoes were out with paint? Like the kind Cam and the Diplomats used to wear, I was doing that. The demand was high; me and my dude couldn’t make enough. We would be in his mom’s basement breathing paint fumes all night. I knew I was on to something. So I said to myself that “If I can do that lets see if I can do my own line.” So in 2003 Phenology Premium Soft Goods was born.

A big inspiration for me was FUBU. I remember how they kind of came out of nowhere. They built something and changed the lane of fashion forever.

I know man, I knew FUBU was going places when LL Cool J wore the hat with the big FB logo in that Gap commercial. I already knew FUBU existed but that was one of those moments.
Exactly man, that was huge. I knew they were in charge when that happened.

Phenology for the Ladies

Do you remember about 4-5 years ago when every celebrity had a clothing line or something coming out, mostly all of them got a rude awakening. People tend to think that t-shirt lines and clothing lines are easy. Tell us why that is not true?
The reason why it’s not easy is because people like what they like. You can put so much time and money into a product and people won’t feel it. It’s also hard because there are so many companies out there. Clothing is not something just to “get into.” You’re jumping into an ocean already and you have to stay afloat. What’s funny is that it doesn’t matter what you’re doing it has already been done before.

I’ve been at this for a lot of years and if you aren’t passionate about it you will fail, man. You can’t just think that you can throw your name on a shirt and voila it’ll sell. People jump on trends. It’s the nature of the beast. Like FUBU and Ed Hardy, people find a trend and jump on. Especially in urban fashion, customers are trendy. Outside of a few mainstay brands like Jordan and Polo there’s not much we’re wearing over and over. It changes every month and every season. What I do is not a quick flip and people have that perception.

But what I desire is to build that fan base you know? I want those die-hard, get a tattoo of the logo type of fans. I’m appreciative of everyone that just hits the website, leaves some feedback, or anything. Even if they haven’t bought a shirt yet I’m thankful for them.

That’s real…
Before we go man I want to say this. Earlier this month we had the Arnold

Rance Rob Endorsed!

Schwarzenegger sponsored “Arnold Classic” (famous worldwide in the fitness culture) here in Columbus. I went to check it out and was around the booths and decided to check out the area with the apparel. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Tapout clothing man but 2 of the owners were there signing autographs and taking pictures. It was Mask and Skyscraper, so I went up to them to meet them and they treated me like we were old friends. We took a bunch of pictures and were jokin’ around. I mean these guys did over $200M in sales last year and they were chopping it up with me. They didn’t have to do be that cool. These are multi-millionaires. They didn’t even need to be there. Then barely a week later Mask died in that car accident. I felt bad man, I felt that…

But he left that impression with you. You’ll remember that forever…
Exactly, that’s the way I feel about my customers. I’m appreciative that they took the time to just stop by phnlgy.com and order a t-shirt or just to be on there. It means that much to me.

As we got toward the end of the interview I asked him one final question. It was simply “Why should I believe in your brand?” Before Michael Oliver could answer I told him that I’ll take this one and answer it myself. You see, I wanted to do this particular interview in person because passion can’t always be felt over a phone. I wanted to see if that daring comparison I made to what some consider a musical icon that beat the odds was correct. I found out I was right.

Michael Oliver has an infectious spirit. Dude is genuine. I’d bottle it up and sell it if I could. He already did. It comes in the form of one of the best quality t-shirts that I’ve ever felt. I particularly copped one called “Nerdy Gangsters” because it related to my life. It spoke out for me as a transition that I made from destructive youth to constructive man. So I can splash on everybody and at the same time represent me. The way “Reasonable Doubt” spoke to a lot of rising hustlers, Phenology speaks to everyone rising above struggle.

Do you want to win a FREE Phenology Premium Soft Goods T-Shirt? All you have to do is Click Here and check out the styles. Then in the comments section of this article tell us in 160 Characters or less why NOBODY can rock a Phenology Premium Soft Goods garment like you. You have to SPECIFICALLY mention the name of one of the shirts in your comment. Good Luck.

Rance Rob is a fan of business so much that the company that he is starting will soon change your life. Rance is also such a fan of business that he loves learning about and interviewing the up-and-comers that are on the rise. This is good marketing, man! If you have a hot company or business hit me up at rancerobinson@thefreshxpress.com, Facebook, or Twitter. Yeah yep!

Tagged as: Business, Fashion, Hustle & Wealth, Money, Phenology, Rance Rob

Article by Rance Rob

I am the CEO of a Social Interest company called Ultimate Money Fight where "Savings Accounts Come to Battle!" My company gets people excited and going crazy about saving money because it's a competitive setup. Every month my Inc. gives away $250 to the Top Saver so that they can build on their Emergency Savings Fund.I learned the hard way that Finance is HARD. Even though the concept of money is really simple to be in a good financial position, most people SUCK at it. So I am developing a WORLD full of Money Fighters. People that take what they make now and turn it into wealth. Everyday at UMF someone is Kickin' Cash and Takin' names!!!Check out the website www.ultimatemoneyfight.com for more blog posts and information about getting your money right.

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