Apparel manufacturing is one of the most in demand independent businesses today. Between the seasoned professionals and fashion hopefuls, there are few that make their mark. In this dog eat dog, cut throat industry of fashion; one man proves that success is a simple word to attain. Darrick Carruth otherwise known as Big D. is the sole proprietor of one of the dopest lines out there, Sneaker Fiend Tees.

“You gotta have a dope product because there are so many products out there for people to spend their money on. I have it.”

RR: What inspired you to do your line?

DC: I have to give it up to Cross Colors and Karl Kani and this company out of Chicago called Getting Paid. Those companies let me know that black people could make it in this industry.

RR: How old is Sneaker Fiend Tees?

DC: Sneaker Fiend Tees has been in existence for the last two years. This last year Sneaker Fiend has gotten a lot of exposure. Most of the exposure has been received via the web.

RR: How has the cyber world impacted your business? Do you use things like blogs and Myspace.com as marketing tools?

DC: I didn’t really have to use major marketing dollars when I started Sneaker Fiend Tees. I actually started between Niketalk, which is like a blog about sneakers and myspace, which is a great tool. As soon as I put up a Myspace page up and joined groups such as Nike talk, I started to gain my audience.
(Which one is it Nike talk or Niketalk?)

RR: How did you gain all of your venture capital and start making money?

DC: Venture capital, I actually started myself. I cashed in my 401K and went forward. The big bulk of my business comes through Myspace and Nike talk. There are a lot of companies doing business on myspace, but only the cream of the crop gets attention.

RR: How do you stand out from other clothing lines that cater to your target audience?

DC: If you have a unique product, people will be attracted to it. I get requests and comments every day on Myspace. Recently I picked up 5 boutiques just off of Myspace. It all comes down to your product. You gotta have a good product. It’s all about keeping it fresh, staying current, and capturing your audience (Carruth on marketing Sneaker Fiends on myspace).

RR: How do you know so much about marketing? I feel like you are really schooling me here.

DC: I come from a retail background. I have been doing t-shirts since 1986 my freshman year in college. I went to a HBCU (give us the name or just say college) in the south and we had a bookstore. I needed an enterprise to make money and I decided to start selling t-shirts.

RR: What was your first big selling t-shirt?

DC: At the college I attended, our mascots were bulldogs. I took a Run DMC poster and replaced Run DMC with bulldogs and put on the back of that t-shirt, the name of our University. I printed up 96 shirts and sold those in 3 days. I took my earnings and reinvested into doing 400 more shirts and from there it just grew into a monster.
My t-shirts did very well with the students on my campus and I knew at that point that this was something I could do.

RR: At what point did you feel like you had reached a successful point in your entrepreneurial career?

DC: I have to say that came in right away. My first launch with my t-shirts in college was larger and it just kept getting larger. At that point, I knew this was my niche and it had to be taken to another level. Back then, I just hadn’t grasped the concept of branding yet.

RR: Who wears Sneaker Fiend Tees? Who is your target audience?

DC: Sneaker Fiend Tees are dope T’s for dope people and it is as simple as that. Currently, Sneaker Fiends doesn’t really carry women’s t-shirts. I get a so many women requesting t-shirts, so that may come soon. I currently have seven clothing lines, some of which cater specifically to women.

RR: Is your line carried solely in the US?

DC: Yes, but I have gotten requests to sell t-shirts globally.

RR: Who makes up the operation of Sneaker Fiend Tees?

DC: I am the sole proprietor of Sneaker Fiend Tees. I don’t really have a large staff. Currently there are six of us. I have one main graphic artist, two other graphic artists, and packaging and shipping guy, and someone that handles the financial. I am the concept guy. I come up with the concept and I work with the graphic artists to execute that.

RR: People are somewhat stingy in this industry with advice. What can you tell an entrepreneur who is starting out?

DC: The one thing I would like to tell anyone that would like to get into this business. Learn everything and anything that you can about business. Find yourself a business model. Read every book you can on business. I stole every marketing book that they had on marketing when I was in school. I took every book and read every single one.

RR: How do you keep current with trends and the way the market moves in this industry?

DC:The biggest thing about this industry is knowing your audience and knowing what the people want. I digest and read so many books on a daily basis about this industry. You have to know how business is conducted.

www.myspace.com/sneakerfiendtees