We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful David Dapo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with David below.

Hi David, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.

I believe the biggest trend right now within design overall and especially fashion is really just “getting into” fashion. To elaborate I mean that more and more people are really taking an interest in design and clothing within their lives overall. I feel like right now is the easiest time to get into the industry or idea as a whole, because of how accessible it all is. The internet and especially social media has played such a huge role in content creation and ease of access to so many different resources. Like for myself, personally, 99% of what I do has been self taught, mostly from watching YouTube and reading. With the onset of social media and being able to share things instantaneously, it’s easier than ever to create a brand, come up with a design that follows the current trends, and then release that clothing. Now, there are definitely a lot of people who picked up fashion and design as a trend, and I don’t think everyone will stick with it, but I do believe with how much stuff is being created and pushed throughout the clothing industry especially, it will push those who are actually passionate to be more creative to separate themselves. I think the biggest opportunities are still out there, as the industry grows more people and ideas will be created and evolve.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Starting somewhere around the end of middle school, I really started figuring out what I really liked. I liked movies, music, art, and just creative stuff in general. I was moving around a lot, so I wasn’t really keeping close friends, which made me keep to myself a lot more. With this, I started just really exploring everything in the design and art world. I believe it was around 2012/2013 when I first really learned about fashion, and this came from music if I’m being honest. I was really into music, and this was also the time when Tumblr and Twitter became sites I was looking at for a lot of different stuff, and I would see different mixtapes and albums coming out. So I had a slight interest, especially seeing different stuff from some of my favorite musical artists. The first real intro to me paying attention to clothing was from Tyler, the Creator, who was always wearing a brand called “Supreme,” which at the time I knew nothing about, but I wanted to wear because my favorite rapper wore it. I even began skating around this time, so I started watching old skate videos and seeing how people dressed and things like that. But, in like 2013 one of my favorite albums ever came out, called Long. Live. ASAP. by A$AP Rocky. Within the album and music videos, I found something that was so different from what I had been accustomed to living in New Mexico. These guys were wearing different stuff, stuff you didn’t see over here. And in the lyrics I heard names I wasn’t familiar with, like Raf Simons and Rick Owens. I went and started looking them up, and that was my intro to higher fashion. I began studying, watching fashion shows, reading blogs, whatever I could see. It was crazy because I had never really been passionate about anything like that. The issue for me though, was I was a broke teen, I couldn’t afford anything like that so I began shopping at thrift stores and getting different things that I knew others didn’t have. Then with this I began to start thinking how I could make my own clothing so I could afford to wear nice things, or at least look like I was wearing something different. Starting around like 2015, I began sewing on and off just messing around with ideas. I was still moving around and didn’t always have room for a machine or even my own bedroom so I took a while off. In 2017, I created a graphic shirt with a stencil and spray paint. From there, I designed and printed my own shirts for the first time, which was under my brand named “Boony.” At the time, I just wanted to create something that I could get out there, and printing shirts was the easiest way to do that. It was really just a hobby and I didn’t take it too serious.

Now, years later I own a screen print shop, called Bandit Printing, where I work with other brand owners. I believe I separate myself by being personal with them, as well as being a brand owner myself, I know some more about the ins and outs of what needs to be done, whereas other shops are basically there to get the print job done, usually with no real discourse with the client. And I still run Boony and I love doing it. It’s really came to be a telling of my feelings and just what I like through graphics. For example, the past few years I’ve mostly focused on “wild west” themed graphics. I have loved western movies and shows since I can remember, and always thought I would’ve been an outlaw if I was around then. So, a lot of my designs have been based on the theme of the wild west. When it comes to composition, I like to reference a lot of vintage clothing, especially skate brands, and make it my own. Boony, I would say, is like my skate brand. I do mainly shirts, hoodies, beanies and sometimes experiment with printing on pants as well. I also enjoy using preowned, thrifted pieces, giving them a new life. I do want to do more, though, so I’ve been working on a new, separate brand that’s focusing more on the actual construction and design of the clothing itself, rather than just graphics printed onto premade blanks. I started this in 2022, presenting at a fashion show, although I haven’t officially “released” any items, they are definitely on the way. This is something I’m proud of, as it really is what I’ve wanted to do since I was 13 years old.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I think this question is really important to me. I really started with barely any money. The first shirt I made was using a stencil of my design I cut out of a shoebox and spray painted onto a shirt. Then, I built from there from any avenue I could. I started working and then made a few shirts and sold those. But then I stopped and didn’t really make anything new for about a year. Then I started again, kind of with the same attitude of just working a regular job, flipping clothing from other brands, and just doing whatever I could to save to pay for production. But, I also like to do a lot of DIY things, so I would take scrap pieces of clothing and create from those, creating bags to sell. I guess the main thing for me is that no matter where you are in life, you can get something together to push your ideas and art out into the world, and just keep building once you get started.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

A lot of my clientele are actually friends of mine that have brands. So, I talk to them somewhat regularly and work with them to create new products. I believe what has fostered brand loyalty is really how I act and treat everyone. As a brand owner myself, I know what is needed and I can really relate with those I work with. Not that any other screen print shops are bad, but a lot of them are just stuck in their ways or just don’t really relate to some of the designers. A lot of the printers see it as a job, which it is, but I like to think I offer more as I really try and understand what is being created and why, so that I can give advice to those starting out, in order to help them, and in return help our community as a whole.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.boony505.com/
• Instagram: @boony505