California Apparel News

The words “self made” are tattooed on Dillon James McKnight’s knuckles. The tattoos might be the mark of a hard man. Yet tough tales are not what comes out of the mouth of the 26-year-old McKnight or his new clothing label, Wollyhood Clothing. It reportedly has been scooped up by retailers such as Up Against The Wall before it debuts at the upcoming Pooltradeshow later this month in Las Vegas.

McKnight’s T-shirt and accessories line rides on friendly riffs off pop culture. His jokey embrace of what’s going on at nightclubs and youth culture is the inspiration for the messages on his label’s shirts.

There’s the “Hug Life” shirt, which is a takeoff of “Thug Life,” the motto of gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur. There’s the affirmativemessage shirt “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.” There’s also the brand’s logo sign of a diamond- shaped grenade.

McKnight and partner Zach Mandelstein produce 30 different T-shirts each month. “It’s disposable fashion,” Mandelstein said. These fun-time shirts are wholesale priced from $12 to $14 for T-shirts and from $30 to $40 for hooded sweaters. Wollyhood uses American Apparel blanks but eventually will produce cut and sew T-shirts. A jewelry line based on Wollyhood graphics will be introduced in February 2008.Other product categories include stationery items such as notebooks.

Wollyhood might sound like a cartoon (it’s actually a play on the name Hollywood, where McKnight lives), but it’s also the young designer’s second venture. He dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, and by age 22, he made his first million with T-shirt company Goodie Two Sleeves, based in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

McKnight provided the humor for the company, and his business partner, Gabe Connor, worked on graphics. McKnight moved to Los Angeles in 2003. He said that it was too hard to live in Hollywood and run a business based in central California. So he resigned from Goodie Two Sleeves this past January and later partnered with Egg Projects Inc., where Mandelstein is the chief executive. The company focuses on starting new youth-based labels such as Blast Master, a T-shirt line by hip-hop star KRS One.

McKnight forecast that his new label would earn more than $1 million in its first year of doing business. In the meantime, he plans on coming up with more jokes. “I’m not trying to be the coolest out there,” he said. “I love making people laugh.” For more information, call Egg Projects at (213) 627-6122 or visit www.wollyhoodclothing.com. The label will exhibit at booth number B336 at the Pooltradeshow. —Andrew Asch