We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Micah Patton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Micah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

So unlike a lot of designers, I don’t usually sketch my ideas first. I execute and start creating. It starts of course, with the idea and I literally envision the garment and start putting it together piece by piece. I determine what fabric based on the type of garment I plan on making such as, for outerwear, it usually would be a thicker or maybe water repellent fabric. For my jackets, after I verify the fabric, I start making the sample by determining colors, cut, decorations, etc. Once the jacket is complete, I then send the sample to my manufacturer and sometimes changes are made which are minor and could be additions that I wasn’t able to do. Next is the approval and once I approve, I then put my order in for the amount pieces.

Micah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Micah Patton and I’m based out of Charlotte, NC. My brand is Micah Patton and we are creating artistic, comfortable streetwear for young men. I got into the industry from watching my mom sew and create clothing for my sister and I when we were young. Something about seeing pieces of cloth turn into wearable art inspired me. Besides my brand, I also make custom pieces for clients as well as custom sneakers, logos, and graphics. In addition to coordinating fashion shows and styling clients.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I would say I built my reputation from consistency, quality, and creativity. I’ve seen a lot of brands come and go so being consistent is a major factor in building your brand and your customer base. Quality is important because you want your garments to feel good and people remember how your clothing made them feel. Everyone remembers that itchy sweater you wore when you were little and how you hated wearing it but had too. Being creative is a major key to differentiate yourself from other brands. I want to make sure my brand is unique and original. Some other factors that have helped build my reputation are creating your brand identity, story-telling, and reliability.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

So before my brand, I had a business partner with another brand that we co-founded. My partner handled the marketing, sales, and networking while I handled the designing and creation of garments. We were actually doing pretty well with sales considering we just started and our brand wasn’t really known. I created some patches and label tags with our manufacturer (400 pieces) for our new collection that my partner and I discussed. We agreed to go 50/50 on everything via verbal contract and a hand-shake but after the order was place, my partner decided to quit. When I asked about their half of the cost to have the patches and labels made, they decided not to pay and left me with the entire balance. Some would have stopped right there and not continue and just move on, but I was determined. I was also disappointed and upset, but I would not let this end my dream and vision so I took those patches and labels and created the Name Above collection. Took my 3yrs to re-group and pivot and I take this as a lesson learned.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://micahpatton.bigcartel.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/micahpatton
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/micahpatton