When Pitt juniors Dan Murphy and Nate Cooper aren’t studying for their Finance and Marketing majors, they’re starting their very own clothing line with a one-of-a-kind vision. The two friends were sick of brands with obvious affiliations behind them that targeted only certain types of people and interests. Instead, they wanted to create a brand that everyone could relate to and wear for all different occasions. “It’s not just a clothing brand, it’s a lifestyle…” Nate says.
DRMWR, the name of their clothing line (pronounced “dream-wear”), stands behind one firm motto in its attempt to represent a “multi-faceted lifestyle.” Developed by Dan and Nate, its motto is: “Live the day like your first, live the night as your last, live your DRM. Dream.”
Nate said that he’s wanted to start a clothing line since high school but never got the chance. It wasn’t until he sat down with Dan that he realized someone else was interested in the same thing. “Having two combined minds really helped,” Nate said.
“I got involved because it gets to a point where we buy clothes from companies because that’s what everyone’s doing,” Dan added.
The tedious process behind starting a clothing line began this summer as Dan and Nate brainstormed and bounced ideas off each other until, eventually, “there was a realization that this made sense and it could actually go somewhere…We could market a t-shirt but then as we started talking more and had the company’s profile, it wasn’t just to make money or sell stuff anymore…it was to establish something,” said Nate.
The DRMWR strategy is not to mass-produce the apparel but to make a certain, exclusive amount so that the people buying them will actually want to stand behind a brand rather than just pick up a shirt.
“To touch on selectiveness, when we first started this we didn’t want to make a profit. We made 25 tanks at first and we wanted these people to represent it because they cared about it and they’re willing to take an invested interest in our art,” Dan said.
The first t-shirt drop, pictured here, features DRMWR’s main logo—which Nate and Dan call the “treye.” It’s the all-Seeing Eye within a triangle. Beneath this logo is a pyramid, and beneath this are the letters “DRM” in a shadow-like, bold font.
According to Dan and Nate, the pyramid design represents something seemingly impossible—like their dream to create a clothing line. Therefore, like a pyramid, they’re going from the ground up and building something big. “It takes effort and hard work… and the ultimate goal is to get to the top,” they explained. Beyond that, “The eye kind of has this aspect about it that is mysterious, and when you look at it, every single person could get a different feeling about it. Everyone has a different aspiration about what they want to do in life and this represents that. This eye is my dream and it can be anyone’s. It’s something looking you in the face and saying [your dream] is at the top of the pyramid, can you do this?” Nate explains.
“And lastly, the DRM at the bottom represents the shadow of the pyramid being casted out to others. So this is our pyramid and DRM, our line, is being casted out to others,” he added.
Keep your eyes open and pay attention for upcoming DRMWR apparel. Dan and Nate plan to drop new stuff every month, “and every drop will allow the design to evolve and contribute to an overall story,” Nate concluded.
I have my DRMWR tank, do you? For more information visit:
DRMWR.tumblr.com and follow @DRMWR on twitter!