Bobvala Tengen is founder of Sucka 4 Love Clothing & Entertainment. He is a recent graduate from the University of Cincinnati.
What is the name of your company and what is your position?
Sucka 4 Love Clothing & Entertainment is the name of the company. The entertainment part comes in because I love to throw parties and fashion and nightlife are almost intertwined in my eyes. My motto is love whatever you are doing. Own it and show the world. In order for me personally to ever do my best I have to love it. Own it means to make it yours or to put your stamp on it. Show the world is where my swagger comes in because this is where the true test comes in. No matter what people think I am going to always love what I did even if everyone else hates (but it is nice when everyone else likes it as well).
What inspired you to start? How long did it take to launch?
The inspiration to start the company was mostly just a personal challenge. I was talking to some friends and I simply thought I should start my own clothing line. It was almost a joke that became real serious. I always considered myself to be a very fly individual but to a certain extent that’s really easy. You go to the hottest stores, search the web and put together a nice outfit. You wear it and then get the feedback from the people. So now it’s like you have to create this look from scratch and hope that the masses will love it. Launching the company took maybe two weeks to do. I had a concept but I didn’t know what to call it. Sucka 4 love was the first thing that came to mind. Then I played devil’s advocate with myself and I was like would I wear something that said Sucka 4 Love on it. Then I just asked a couple of my friends what they thought, I created a secret group on facebook to get some feedback, and then made things happen. I had a logo and I threw it on some boy shorts and threw a party and then three days after my party I made a polo shirt. But it took me a year to make my first t-shirt which is the “men lie” t-shirt.
Where is it based?
It’s based in Washington, DC, but we have two other hubs in Cincinnati, OH and Charlottesville, VA. My partners Kyle Miller (UVA) and Jasmin Solorzano (Howard) are in these locations.
What your goals for the company?
My biggest goal is to open a store. I also would love to make a shoe with Adidas because that’s my favorite brand of sneakers. Collaborations with maybe T-mobile or Apple. I could see myself designing the Valentine’s Day edition Iphone or sidekick. I think my biggest goal of all for the company is to make it successful enough where I don’t have to work for anyone and create a company others would love to work for.
How do you market your company? Is it by word of mouth?
I market the company using facebook and myspace. I think I created the biggest buzz by throwing parties which led to word of mouth. I think being from DC helped a lot as well just because I have a friend in almost every major region of the country. So it was real easy to just hit them up and tell them to tell their friends. I am working on my website www.officialsucka4love.com. Once I get that finished I think things will run a lot smoother.
What is a typical work day like?
There is no such thing as a typical work day for me because everyday is different. One day I could be working on throwing a party and the next I could be working on a shirt. The only thing I do everyday is check all my email accounts. Check a couple of street fashion blogs. Request about 50 people to be my friend on facebook and myspace and then in my spare time I try to come up with a plan to take over the world (Just kidding.) I always take the bus to school. I like public transportation a lot. I get a lot of inspiration from my many bus rides and just walking everywhere. You see a lot of stuff doing that that you normally would have missed if you were driving. I will give you the run down on creating a shirt since my days aren’t that typical. First it starts like anything else, a concept. So my first shirt which says “Men lie, women lie, numbers lie” on the front and on the back it says “But love doesn’t.” Inspiration came from Jay-Z and some awards show. He said “Men lie, Women Lie but numbers don’t.” He was throwing a subtle diss to all the people who were talking bad about him and pretty much just saying I’m getting paid, what about you? So I remixed it and said numbers lie. Which I think is very true if you watch “The Wire” you see instances of fake stats to make a reduction in crime or reading stats provided by politicians when they want you to vote for them or not vote for that other guy. People use numbers to tell many lies so that’s why I said numbers lie.
The color inspiration came from the Jordan Aqua VIII. Looking at the shoe, I just loved the color scheme and that was my first pair of Jordan’s. If you look at the heart on the sleeve of my shirt it looks like the tongue of the Jordan’s. I also wanted to throw in symbols so I put the man symbol in the word men, the female symbol in the word women and I have numbers pattern inside the word numbers. Then instead of dots on top of the letter “I” I used broken hearts. I think lies lead to broken hearts. So once my concept is finished I link up with my graphic designer and we lay everything out and we work on sizing. Then we go to the screen printer and try to match the paints with the colors that I had in mind and then the shirts are printed. Then comes the grind on Facebook and Myspace promotion to sell the shirts. I get the money via Paypal and then I mail out the shirt. That took me a year to do the first time because I had to find the right graphic designer and the right screen printer and then I had to raise the funds to pay for everything but now things are lot smoother and it takes more like maybe a month or two at the most to get a finished product.
Where do you see the company in the next five years? Do you plan to expand upon what you’ve already established?
In the next five years I should have a sneaker/streetwear boutique. Hopefully, I will have expanded beyond just t-shirts and have a blazers, sweatshirts, cardigans, hoodies, buttondowns and jackets. My biggest plan for the next five years is to recruit someone who is into women’s urban fashion so I can have a true women’s line.
What inspires your entrepreneurial spirit? Any words of wisdom for students who are pursuing their own business?
My biggest inspiration is not having to sit at a desk at the age of 35 hating my job and being stuck in the matrix. I did a lot of internships in DC working with people who hated their jobs and had dreams of doing something else but for one reason or another couldn’t really follow their dreams and I had to do something to make due and pay rent. My advice to any other students are if you really want to do something just do it I know its cliché but I hate the feeling of thinking of what might have happened if…. So just try to pursue your dream. It doesn’t hurt to try, look at me! I can’t draw a straight line to save my life and can’t sew a button on a shirt but I plan to have one of the hottest brands in the next couple of years. You just have to find what you do best. For me it’s creativity and networking. I come up with good concepts and I am able to link up with the right people to make those concepts come to life.
The last thing you have to do is believe in yourself even when everyone tells you that maybe you should try to do something else. It’s been plenty of times where I was like why don’t I just quit, but like I said earlier loving what you do doesn’t allow you to quit.
Make sure you check him out at http://www.myspace.com.officialsucka4
