What was the very first graphic or item you ever produced with the Crooks branding?

The first item was a t-shirt with the core logo graphic. “Crooks” in a bold, arched collegiate font, the stenciled “&” and “Castles” in a collegiate script again.

When you started Crooks with this logo, what was the game plan?

The game plan was, and remains, to create a lifestyle brand. The goals were to get to a level where we can start to create product that we are heavily involved in and that represents us, which ultimately brought us to this big picture of where were at right now. Before you broke out on this mission, what was your background?

What prepped you?

I have a background in graphic design and learned fashion through experience in action sports, the urban market and, of course, streetwear.

Was there an item that you’d say was a turning point for your brand?

The bandito graphic opened us up to a wider audience. Then we dropped the chain pattern all over hoodie and that took us to another level. The toy gun graphic was a way for us to say “Crooks & Castles” graphically with the gun on front and a crown on back. I decided to color it in brights and pastels so that it wouldn’t come off as such a hard image and it did pretty well.

What are the essentials of streetwear brand today? What does it take to capture attention and build a fan base?

I don’t have the right formula for what the essentials are for a streetwear brand, but for us it still remains tees, accessories, and a timeless cut and sew collection. Creating brand awareness is a true challenge, but through the web you’re able to touch more people and promote whatever your brand is doing at any moment. We try to stay active in collaborating with leaders in different categories as well as expanding our retail stores. We’re working on our new website now. That’ll launch pretty soon and we’ve created it to cover everything we’re doing in the present as well as our future plans.

read the full interview from Street Level