From The Ground Up
Streetwear is a complicated game, it often crosses in between casual and daily wear, to subtly sophisticated. Its a balance of keeping fans and followers from day one satisfied and slowly expanding to include a more fashion forward appeal. Brands such as The Hundreds to the likes of Mighty Healthy, who have gradually increased their cut & sew departments over the years, have one thing in common, they all had to start from the ground up ultimately attaining the level of success they have in modern times.
And although menswear has become a large part of our content as of late, street fashion is where we began and its always a pleasure for us to give exposure to those who are up and coming in a market that is fiercely competitive. That said, Minneapolis based Check Your Six, founded by Matt McManus and his brother in 2008, recently sent over some imagery stemming from their Fall/Winter’11 collection and as a part of our ongoing interview series, we thought it would be nice to get to know a bit more about Matt, his brand, how it all started and what he has planned for the next few years.
Tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Matt McManus, born and raised in snowy Minnesota. I’m a 90′s baby, currently pursuing a double major in Entrepreneurship & Marketing at the University of Wisconin. I do my best best to balance my responsibilities at school with running the brand, something that as you might imagine can often result in making plenty of social sacrifices. I take care of everything & anything Check Your Six: designing the shirts, shipping & handling, customer service, web edits, and taking the photos for each Lookbook.
When I started the brand, I was worse than bad in everything that went into the brand. I didn’t know how to use a camera, had never used a graphic design program, and definitely didn’t know what it took to deal with production facilities. I still don’t claim to be the bees knees in any sense of the brand, but without any formal training or schooling, I guess I’d say that it’s been a path well traveled.
