Paul Frank Clothing

In an interview with Skratch magazine, Paul had this to say about his beginnings:

SKRATCH: Tell us about the beginning of Paul Frank Industries. What made you want to start such a unique, fun, and innovative company? It wasn't like I wanted to start a company; it was about a need for things that no one else had. It's always been about being unique. We liked old music, like The Who and mod stuff, so we wanted to dress like that. We used to wear thrift-store clothes in the '80s, and people used to make fun of us. It's always about having something that other people don't, so making things is another way to do that. In the '90s, people started wearing vintage clothes because of Kurt Cobain and stuffin order to be different, I went and got a sewing machine. Sewing clothes wasn't really something I wanted to do that bad, so mostly I just brought out the machine to sew patches on sweaters. I had this orange vinyl, and I thought "Wow, this might be a cool wallet." At the time I was an art student at OCC, so I was using what I was learning in my art classes. My friends and their bands were all creative and artistic; they were painting and sculpting. But I made a wallet in my room, and from that day on everyone wanted a custom-made wallet or a guitar strap or a watch band or a backpack—so I learned how to make all those things myself. People think I started a company and pasted my name on a wallet. That's not what I did. I make things. Continued below...