Anyone with opposable thumbs and a pencil can draw a stick figure, but not many people would turn that simple drawing into a lucrative clothing line; but one exists. Stix Bristol, a native New Yorker, began vending his clothing line, Stix-N-Phrases, out of the trunk of his car nearly four years ago. Currently, Bristol owns three stores in Maryland, one in Gaithersburg, VA, and sells everything from hats to sweat suits and socks.
The idea came about in a casual conversation one night some time after he had been laid off. “My wife and I were sitting in the living room one night, and I told her how tired I was of going back and forth to New York to find clothes I like. She said, ‘why don’t you just start your own clothing line,’” he recalled. “And I said, ‘how? I can’t draw anything but stick figures.’”
Clinton Portis, runningback for the Washington Redskins, loved his shirts, and before he knew it the Redskins were sporting Stix-n-Phrases. He quit his job to concentrate on making Stix-N-Phrases T-shirts.
Bristol credits the success to the combination of a great team - his wife Lanetta, airbrush artist Kevin Malone, and the artist who brings Stix’s visions to life, Siaka Hines. “You’ve got to stay focused, and stick to it,” Bristol asserted, quoting one of his T-shirt phrases. “Anything you do is going to take time.”
Photo by Mayor Khidhr.
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