User:Imburren/sandbox

Warren Lotas is a clothing designer that debuted his clothing line, BILL, in 2015. Created by Warren Lotas in his dorm in college, the brand has identified itself with streetwear, and hip-hop. Warren first got his start in the marketing industry where he directed a campaign for Pine Bros. is a US manufacturer of throat drops. “I had to create, organize and execute a marketing campaign that would make cough drops cool, which seemed impossible until I met Waka at the nightclub I interned for. I asked him, ‘You wanna make some of that cough drop money?’” (Gaspar 2016). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXFspfkzHgA The ad was uploaded on YouTube on November 21, 2014, and as of February 21st, 2020, the advertisement on YouTube has generated 431,491 views. Later on, Warren would find inspiration for his clothing brand, “I really wanted to have a picture of Satan on the back of mine, so I found an image, cut it out, and sewed it on the back with a sewing machine. I used to intern at a nightclub in Boston, The Middle East, and I remember seeing an employee do the same thing with a skull image. I used to pick his brain about his clothes, which probably annoyed him because he didn’t see them as anything significant, but I was fascinated by the DIY punk style. That was two years ago. It wasn’t until I got stocked at VFiles that I realized I could really market my work” (Gaspar 2016).

Warren would later go on to releasing “BILL”, his debut clothing label in 2015 after finding small success in boutique shops such as VFiles with his designs. https://www.vfiles.com/profile/warrenlotas/vfiles When article writer Adriana Gaspar had asked: “The signature text written on the clothing pieces read like diary entries, how do you decide what and how much you’re going to share with the public?” Warren had responded with “I’ll write almost anything on my clothes. Sometimes it’s a confession, other times it’s describing the lunch I cooked for myself that day” (2016).

Since his arrival in the fashion world, Warren has highlighted the hypocrisies of the industry in his HypeBeast podcast interview, “Lotas also notes that while fast-fashion brands lurk and prey on the works of up-and-coming designers, it is up to those designers to adapt or die. “A lot of people waste time calling out these big brands that don’t give a flying fuck about what they have to say. They should just move on and create the next thing.” When Lotas felt that his designs got ripped off by high-street brands, he reverse-engineered the hype by bootlegging fast-fashion giants H&M. “You gotta get used to it, otherwise you’re gonna get eaten alive.” Warren’s designs have recently been getting a lot of recognition in hip-hop culture, from 2018 Billboard Music Award Top Rap Song winner, Post Malone being spotted in Warren’s BILL line to creating a one of one Kobe, and Gigi Bryant tribute hoodie worn by NBA All-Star, Devin Booker, before the start of the 2020 All-Star game in Chicago.