KidSuper

So tell us about your first creative project, were you always into making clothes? 
I went to Math & Science high school in Brooklyn and it didn’t have many art programs. I was always into art and I liked drawing. My friends and I started making t-shirts and we had this little t-shirt brand called BOTS: brick oven t-shirts. It was very NYC inspired.
From BOTS to KidSuper, why the name KidSuper?
The name KidSuper came out when I went solo like Beyoncé. I kept trying a bunch of names. It started as a joke. When I was 15, I had a vision of having a big brand and doing creative things. It’s about that kid mentality of being a superhero and having fun.
Tell us about KidSuper Studios in Brooklyn. How did it start?
When I was a sophomore in college, I spray painted my dorm room and put racks of clothing inside, like a store. The dorm room facility kicked me out. I was so mad at them. I was like, “you shouldn’t kick me out of the dorm, you should put me in the magazine, you should support entrepreneurship!”
Anyways, I told my friends I was going to get a store and live in the back. I found so many places, but I got turned down by a lot of people. Then I found a place on Craigslist. I saw it and knew I wanted it. I moved in and I opened the store about two months after I got the space. I wasn’t getting a lot of foot traffic, no one was coming in, and I only had about 3,000 Instagram followers.

How did you evolve it from a store to a creative space?
Well, I got turf from an abandoned field and made the backyard into a little soccer field. I bought a sewing machine and created a sewing room. I spent about 6 months building the basement into a recording studio. I did it myself so it’s not perfect, but it works. The craziest thing is about a year after I finished, the rapper Russ moved in, (we connected through a friend). He recorded some of his songs at the studio, and now he has gone platinum. I designed the album art. It was a magical moment. It all came back to the idea of KidSuper where everything is possible.

So you create t-shirts, paintings, music…. Do you have a favorite medium?
I don’t know. I think I just like making things and finishing things. I am known for finishing things. People talk a lot, but I am a huge finisher.
I read that you also played soccer in Brazil, does that affect your creative process?
The secret to life is setting goals and accomplishing them. That is why soccer is so much fun. Every minute playing soccer, there is a goal. It is so clear what you are supposed to be doing, your mind kind of gets in this unconscious flow. I get to a point in soccer where I didn’t even think.

Does anyone help you with your designs for the clothing brand?
No one has helped me design a single thing, but I do get some help with the manufacturing and details.
Where do you manufacture?
All over, but the more complicated things are made in Asia.
Would you ever want to manufacture in Italy?
Yea, I would love that.
Do you want to open another KidSuper Studios somewhere else?
The one in New York is very music centered. I would like to make different ones, where the focus is on other things. For example, if we did one Japan it could concentrate more on art. I would like each HQ to have its own feel.
What’s something people don’t know about you?
I am a huge list maker! I make lists constantly with everything I want to do, whether it’s something stupid like ‘take a shower’ or something big like ‘open a store in Japan’.
What’s next?
I am working on a TV show!