Well, after hearing the Johnny Cupcakes interview last year, I was pretty intrigued by his story. Although we are not technically t-shirt "designers", we do have some images/ideas that we are looking to brand and eventually create a line with, so it's natural to look at other folks who have been successful with theirs.
I had never been to the Johnny Cupcakes store in Los Angeles, but recently saw the videos on the design process with the stores and the grand opening (these are on the JC website). I am pretty impressed with the guy's take on the classic/retro/vintage style and the whole bakery look.
Watching it on video really didn't do it for me, so I packed up my business partner (who is my wife, Debbie), our daughter and her friend and drove into the bowels of L.A. to track down the actual store. As we drove around, we passed the really big brand name stores, such as Ed Hardy, American Apparel, Affliction and the Bobby Jack store (that's what I call it).
When we got to the store my daughter's friend asked if it was a bakery (kudos to Johnny Cupcakes, as he already peaked the interest of a potential customer)? When you go inside, you really see the genious of the marketing. Everything is well thought-out and setup in such a way that you are immersed by the Johnny Cupcakes branding. When you finally get to the shirts, you get the designs and why his shirts are so popular.
IMO, it's inspiring to see such a slick store, with something you don't see a lot of nowadays, class and style.
Afterwards we headed to "Ahh's" in Westwood and then to the world famous "Diddy Riese" cookie shop; where the kids had cookie ice cream sandwiches for lunch!
With that kind of money and branding you could put piles of steaming **** in those cabinates and they would sell. I come from an Artist back ground (selling paintings, doing video Art etc etc etc) I
Last edited by Girlzndollz; December 27th, 2008 at 04:42 PM.
Reason: Cleaned up language. Any Q's, please PM me. Thx, Kelly =)
carried on: how important branding is to 'sell'. Problem is this.......its just a matter of time before your tomorows fad.....then what? Fake tales of starting off selling stuff from your trunk are just that...tales.
Thank you so much for the pics and commentary on the store. It's awesome to see inside, and hear from another forum member on the store. Sounds like you guys made a great day out of the trip, and way to go eating ice cream for lunch, now that's my kind of dinner!!!
Just for your info, the ice-cream cookies at that shop are $1.50 each!! That is a fresh-baked cookie, with a nice scoop of Dreyer's Ice Cream!! After all the prime rib left-overs we've been eating, We had to have something healthy for lunch!!
We are printers first, designers somewhere else down the line, so there are no grand expectations on our end. I appreciate the work he put into it and the neat ideas behind his brand. Another guy whose style (creative/business) I like is Linty Fresh Tees. btw, your idea isn't too shabby either! Where do I sign-up for 2010??
We are printers first, designers somewhere else down the line, so there are no grand expectations on our end. I appreciate the work he put into it and the neat ideas behind his brand. Another guy whose style (creative/business) I like is Linty Fresh Tees. btw, your idea isn't too shabby either! Where do I sign-up for 2010??
Eric
I've been in contact with Eric @ LintyFresh, they are doing great things as well.
And as far as 2010 is concerned for iwearyourshirt.com, it's going to be a whole new ball game, hopefully starting up very soon
__________________ iwearyourshirt.com
Jason Sadler - The Official T-Shirt Wearer
Yep it's a nice shop he has there, but the Shirts are a little to pricey for having a cupcake printed on them IMO. That still doesn't stop my wife and her friends from shopping there, she goes to the L.A shop 2 times a month. I still admire his work and how far he has gotten, he's a motivation to me.
Thanks for sharing the pictures. I might take a trip down there while I'm at the ISS show.
Folks, I know not everyone agrees with the JC brand, but please, let's try to keep the comments helpful We're not here to bash anybody else for having some success.
This guy is brilliant - he gets its the customer experience that matters and leads to high profits - we all sell T-shirts, but some also sell the T-shirt experience. Its just like the early starbucks - its not just coffee - its the experience.
A Visit to the L.A. Johnny Cupcakes Store 
