We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mr. Rich Drip a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mr. Rich, thanks for joining us today. Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?

One of my top priorities as the business continues to grow is to continue to educate myself on better combinations of materials/fabrics so that I could continue to provide customers with great quality designer fashion products.

Mr. Rich, 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?

Hi, My name is David Jones but I’ve adopted the nickname “Mr. Rich Drip from customers of the brand. I’m born and raised in St.Louis, Mo and grew up in poverty. Like most kids that was born in this type of situation I always had dreams to make it out but just didn’t know exactly what was going to take me to that next level. Artistic talent runs in my family with us males. In 8th grade I won a certificate from a art piece I created that was from a page in a random magazine of Beyoncé face. The assignment was to cut half the face vertically and to glue and paste it on a separate blank piece of paper and draw the other side of her face. It came natural to me as I ace this assignment. I didn’t know at the time as I was creating this piece of art the type of feedback I would get from my art teacher but it was every bit of aesthetic. So, I would say I notice my creativity for art at this point in my life. Fast forward time I grew a love for fashion as I began to make more money to buy different brands clothing. How I got into the industry?Since I was young I always seen myself being a owner of pretty much everything I do in life which as of now is creating my own fashion so since I was already spending money with other brands it just made sense for me to invest into myself and my dreams. At last, the brand “Rich Drip Clothing” was born. The late year of 2019 was a time for me where I was really able to seat down and focus on what I wanted to do to change my life situation which the idea of having my own designer fashion brand was top on the list. The idea been in the making since 2015 but at the time I wasn’t disciplined enough to put my full focus towards it. The brand sells great quality fashion clothing. What type of products does the brand sells? Some products designs the brand sells are street wear, athletic & casual fashion products. The product design that took my brand to the next level was a sweatsuit set I named “Drip Crazy”. This brought a lot of attention to the brand and as I realized this I use this opportunity to capitalize on it and continue to release more great quality products and really tapped in to my creativity abilities. Since then the brand has recently released its casual collection of this year 2022 and has been getting a lot of buzz and great feedback from customers. What set my brand aside from the rest I would say that I think outside of the box to create a different and better experience for customers. One recent feature that the brand added was a self checkout system which from my understanding was unheard of when it came to retail services to sum it up. This feature created a faster check out and also helped associates of the store & customers through the pandemic of social distancing. The brand also has reasonable and affordable product prices that continue to benefit customers and the growth of the brand. This is how the brand competes with other designer brands by providing similar quality clothing but at a more affordable price. So, to sum up what problems the brand solve would be affordable prices for designer fashion clothing, a self checkout system for associates & customers to keep a safe social distance and creating a new shopping experience for customers, having limited & unique products that will set you the center of attention when you walk into a room and more. What I’m most proud of and what are the main things I want my clients/following to know is that I work overtime to create unique designs for customers and figure out different services to provide to customers for a experience they won’t forget. I appreciate all the readers in their interest of me & the brands story and look forward to providing services to you as well. Thank you for your interest and support.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The method I used to fund my business was strictly putting in overtime at my old job on top of continuing to work on the vision & mission of the brand. I literally use to work 12hr-16hr shifts 4-7days a week on top of using my free time to work towards the launch of the brand. My advice to the youth and whoever wants to pursue their dream in the fashion industry would be to create a plan that has a clear layout of how you envision your brand to be, what services you like to provide and what steps you have to take to get there. Always stay humble and pray throughout your process. Always strive to become a better person because your a reflection of your brand. Keep grinding, stay consistent and discipline and your dreams will come true.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy I learned on my journey to building my brand would be networking. This was the best decision I ever made because in doing this it has open doors, created connections and help me build relationships that I wouldn’t have had if I was to continue to do everything on my own and stay to myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.richdripclothing.com
• Instagram: @mrrrichdrip @richdripclothing
• Facebook: Mr. Rich Drip/Rich Drip Clothing

Image Credits
Models Credit: Tez Mona Regan