Company Name: Wisdom Fashion House
Company Date Founded: 2010
Interviewee name: Latif Rashad
Why did you start you company?
LR: I started Wisdom at 16-years old when I was at Redan High School and in that time I was really inspired by BAPE and Supreme you know. Like each brand that you put on you’re apart of lifestyle and I wanted to create my own lifestyle. Wisdom as a brand is knowledge itself and that’s all the main things that it needs. One thing that come with brands too as a lifestyle is the way you market yourself you know. You have to believe your hype.
What are three words that describe Wisdom?
LR: Only three? Okay, so if I had to choose I would say awareness, creativity and lifestyle. Awareness because we bring awareness to controversial issues that aren’t usually talked about but through fashion. Like this summer we had our “End Rape Culture” line and it hit home for so many people. Creativity because we get to take those issues and make them so where people are talking about them and lifestyle because wisdom is again a lifestyle that people can be apart of.
Latif Rashad of Wisdom Atl
What is the purpose of your company?
LR: I mainly believe and know that the company’s purpose is to bring awareness through fashion by creating controversial designs through what has happened in history. The summer 2017 line again brought attention to a vital issue which is rape culture. Being a young male and having an over sexualized view of women made me want to bring more attention to the problem. The main goal of this was to open the door to conversations like these and make others more aware of it and other topics.
In the process of building your company, what was one of the biggest obstacles you faced and how did you overcome it?
LR: Most likely between the lines of stability and building a team. When you first start off you have to do the marketing, publicity and everything yourself, but when it came time to find a team you had to learn how to delegate roles and to make sure that the team you had was a solid one. Another thing was managing my finances for the brand because again, I was learning all of this myself. Growing up the only thing I was taught to do was get a job. We live in a society where we aren’t educated enough on debt. I didn’t want to jump into wisdom until I had a strategy.
So how did deal with knowing what you knew about finances and also by taking the nontraditional approach to a career?
LR: I dealt with it by doing what I wanted to do and that’s the first step. At the start of Wisdom I had another job and I got hours but I didn’t pull out of that job because I was getting the hours until I decided that I was going to do Wisdom full time. I had support from my family, they’ve always been supportive and it was always 100 percent. But again, taking this approach made me fall in love with the process and the brand because in the end things will align itself.
Where do you see Wisdom going in 5 years?
LR: I’m going to be on tour with a portable store front and I want to do more trunk tours on college campuses to spread the word the same way we did our “End Rape Culture” line. It impacted so many people and so many survivors affected by sexual abuse, so to do more of that will line up with Wisdom in 5 years.
What advice would you give young entrepreneurs who want to pursue their own brand?
LR: I would say to stay consistent in every type of way. Stay on it, stay releasing content and ultimately treat it like your job to see the results.
To know more about Wisdom Fashion House and even more about the End Rape Culture line, follow them on Instagram @wisdomatl
**All images belong to those of Wisdom Fashion House Atl.