We were lucky to catch up with Peter Herrmann recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Peter thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I have always been interested in putting outfits together. Color coordinating, matching shoes to shirts, hats to pants. The way things fit, the way they make you feel. I have always been drawn to shoes, to nice shoes, clean sneakers, to sneaker culture. Growing up in not always the best of situations, we didn’t always have the nicest things. So when I was finally able to get the fancy shoes,..I needed a shirt to match. Finding that wasn’t always the easiest thing to do. Very unique shoe colors, meant very unique color for shirts. At the same time, you want to keep your personal style, your personal vibe in motion with how you move and how you feel. Graphics and designs…all of these things represent you and how you wear them. I wanted to have designs that I could match with shoes and also make the graphics fun and/or cool. Something that I would be willing to wear. Like anything it started with one little design, and I wanted to put it on a shirt. So I did…little by little I made more designs specifically for shoes. Eventually that turned into a few friends and myself going in together and buying a heat press machine and an oversized printer and we made some shirts. That turned into a few printing jobs for people who wanted customized shirts. I was given a 4 stage silk screen machine by my neighbor and I quickly learned that I don’t want to print clothes. I want to design and create and that was the pebble in the pond that started the ripple effect that was the creation of NOTH. Fast forward a few years and a few print shops I found a great distribution place that will provide me high quality prints and garments because more than looking cool…feeling good is so important. I always wanted to provide not just a cool looking shirt, but great feeling one. I wanted to provide something that would last, and that people could always feel good about wearing.
It’s a worthwhile endeavor because I want/wanted to make it work. I am passionate about shoes, street culture, clothing and I wanted to bring that style from my neck of the hood to the rest of the world. NOTH excites me because it brings what is unique to each of our lives and the places we call home…together. It unites us in our differences and in our similarities. We all have a place we call home…good or bad. It has left an imprint in our souls, in our hearts and in our minds. What better way to do that than with clothing. It brings colors together that represent cities, towns and lifestyles. You takes that and marry it with shoes and now you have a style all your own.

Peter, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve been interested in doing tshirt graphics since at least my early teen years. I would dabble in silk screening or airbrushing (never was too good at it). But as my art evolved I tried printing on transfers and working with a heat press ( never really cared for printing, I wanted to design and create). So, I would shop around for different print shops and try out their services, but nothing really stuck. I wanted more than just a silk screen shop, I needed a full on branding/ distribution shop. After some trial end error I found a spot that provided all the services I needed to produce a product I could be proud of. One of my goals is to bring not only a great style, but high quality. I want people to be able to have these pieces for years! I want the garment to feel amazing on your body and the graphic/print to last wash after wash. I believe the devil is in the details and I try to bring those quality details to every piece. From the high quality graphics, to the stitched clamp labels, and metal aglets for the drawstrings. All of these things make NOTH your above average streetwear brand. I have always loved cartoons/graffiti/urban art as well as shoes, so combing all of those things seemed like a no brainer. My graphics have a fun and unique vibe that helps NOTH be it’s own entity. It is a clean, crisp brand sprinkled with wackiness and fun,. I want people to find things in the art on their 2nd or 3rd look so I put little subtleties in it to add to the fun. I want every design to be a conversation starter, whether it be light hearted or mind blowing. We are all here to grow, learn, and evolve and I hope NOTH helps people do that one design at a time.
I don’t know where tomorrow will take the business but I look forward to every stepping stone along the way. Life is a beautiful journey and I hope to add a little style to your day to day. Hustle everyday!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

While attending college at Art Institute of Seattle my then girlfriend and now wife and I were expecting (twins, we don’t do anything half way, lol). This was not an easy pregnancy. She spend a great amount of time in the hospital and on bed rest while I was finishing my last year of school. I was going to school, back to the apartment to tend to the animals and then to the hospital. I lost weight, wasn’t sleeping and or eating right. But nothing mattered except taking care of her and our two little ones. After months and months of being scared and uncertain (me, not her. She had no doubt everything was going to be okay). We had two little wonderful boys, happy and healthy (although one of the twins had to spend time in the NICU for a bit to gain weight and grow enough to come home with us). I attribute this as one of the most wonderful and scary times of my life, but somehow we made it through. I could have never done it without my wife, she is amazing and resilient and she makes me a better human. After a few years of being a stay at home dad, I had to get full time work. I wasn’t very successful as a freelance illustrator, pretty sure I didn’t take it seriously and really just liked being home with my boys But I needed to be a contributing factor monetarily so I took a job at an airplane manufacturing company. I would work there just for the money, it never filled my soul like art and creating does. So, for a few years I felt trapped and pretty broken inside. I kind of lost my way. I became a complaining, whiny, non contributor. I would just go to work, collect my money and look forward to the weekends. No future plans, no real drive, and just felt sorry for myself. I’m pretty sure this led me to worse and worse jobs within the company. But I think all of this was necessary to help me see the reality of my situation and the fact that I had a say in my own life that I wasn’t taking advantage of. I started to draw for people. Slowly but surely I started to find my confidence again. I would take on small projects for people around the area and at work and this helped to build my mind and soul back to place of creativity. Eventually COVID came around and I found myself with a lot of free time. I started to ask myself why am I just sitting around when I could capitalize on this unfortunate state to further my ideas and dreams. I started taking on clients and building ideas. Eventually this turned into making designs for shirts. Shirts turned into hoodies, and hoodies turned into more. I just kept going! I would create and get feedback from close family and friends and just kept it pushing. And that is what keeps me going, EVERYDAY! I love creating, making new designs and sharing it with the world. I love connecting my loves of shoes, art, cars, food, family, etc into a brand that thrives on community and providing quality garments. I always try and use adversity as fuel to find a way to grow and get better. Perspective is everything in life, and choose to use it in a positive way. We all have tails of woe, I just didn’t want mine to define me in a negative way.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

This came easyish initially. Or maybe I was just so smothered in all of it that I think that it was, el oh el! When COVID came along and we were all stuck at home I really started promoting myself as far as art went. And really in just a small amount of time I was creating for a number of clients with a number of different projects. All of this creating led me to fun ideas and new ways of thinking. I was doing pretty decent and I was able to do things I couldn’t before (or I didn’t know I could). I now had the extra amount of money to invest in MYSELF! So what do I do, I start looking for a way to elevate the garments and bring more than just a printed Hanes tee. I found a t-shirt printing company that would also stitch clamp labels and I was sold. This design, this quality of product, I had to to have a winner! Welp, I spent a few racks (thousands) on new product. I had tees that had a great print, had quality clamp labels, and I couldn’t move em. I had no plan, I just assumed they were going to speak for themselves and just magically fly off the shelves. I’m not a smart man. Not only just new product, but I could also buy/lease Adobe software like legit! On top of that I had the courage to file for my LLC. I was now an actual company, now I had to have a real website so that too was purchased. I now had a legit business, a legit website, and all the tools I will need to produce great product, but I still couldn’t sell these tees. I had to go back to the drawing board ( this is constant and now I know this will always be the case to grow and elevate). I kept designing, I kept trying to improve the product as well as actually set goals and create a plan. Fast forward a few years and here I am, still learning, still growing, and still making mistakes.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @neck_of_the_hood_clothing
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neckofthehood2042
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/peter-herrmann-b66a2117
• Twitter: @scribbleNerd42
• Youtube: @neckofthehood8414

Image Credits
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