Weinberg sophomore Matt McDonald, the co-founder of a clothing design company called “NOCOLI,” recounts nonchalantly the story of a friend advertising his t-shirt to Jamie Foxx.
“A good friend of mine was playing basketball in it [a shirt] when she met Jamie Foxx and they took a picture together," he recalls. "Apparently Jamie Foxx commented he liked the shirt and the rest is history." And so a clothing brand is born.
McDonald and high school friend Max Campbell - a student at Washington University in St. Louis - blended interests in fashion and design to launch the t-shirt line. During his freshman year, the international studies and film double major realized he didn’t want to be a diplomat and chose instead to explore his interests in design.
McDonald references high school teacher Andy Newman as a mentor who helped guide his interests in photography at John Burroughs School in St. Louis. “In my free time I was doing photography and working on Photoshop and Illustrator," he says. "I realized that if this is the stuff that interests me, why not try to make it my living?"
The pair considered naming the company after t-shirt design “No Coast” showcasing Midwest states, since as McDonald says there are not many creative ventures in the region compared with coastal states. They scrapped the idea after finding skateboard companies, another t-shirt company and other brands with the same name. Taking the first two letters of “No Coast Life,” NOCOLI was born summer 2011 - a brand that stands alone in a Google search.
In the last eight months, they nearly sold out of the first 120 printed shirts. “We launched the site on Facebook - letting our friends know - and tweeting [at] people we like in the fashion world," McDonald says. "We were just selling them out of our dorm room.” The three designs from the fall 2011 line are available on their website for $12.
Brands such as The Hundreds and BAPE are a couple fashion influences. He and Campbell admire the styles of Kanye West, N.E.R.D. and Pharell, all of which incorporate hip-hop and Japanese qualities into their designs. McDonald enrolled in Japanese language courses this quarter and points to Japanese wood block prints, specifically those of artist Hiroshige, as some of his favorite art work.
With significant sales and little marketing, the 20-year-old business co-owner is excited about the company’s successes, but has quickly learned some important lessons. Picking more quality printers and keeping accurate inventory across the 315 miles between Evanston and St. Louis are two areas McDonald and Campbell hope to improve upon. The time frame to launch was another learning curve. Sweatshirts designed for the winter line have been slower selling since they acquired the product too close to spring.
“No matter how long you think it’s going to take to get something from idea to physical product, it takes three times longer than you ever think,” he says. Working with friends can be a challenge and McDonald recalls an argument about a photo shoot advertising their sweatshirt featuring women’s legs. He says they both are mature enough to give one another honest feedback and do not take it personally when they dislike one another's designs.
In his spare time on campus, McDonald frequently takes photos along the Lakefill. It’s also easy to spot him with Medill sophomore girlfriend Michele Moses, who has modeled a few t-shirts for the brand. He served as the creative director for student produced film Ty’s List, is on the sailing team, enrolled in the Brady program and a tour guide. Even with all these other commitments, he plans to take his design business to another level by taking on interns and making it more legitimate starting with the summer line.
While he didn’t provide details for the upcoming summer line, he did say it would feature “crisper graphic images and just something that will remind you of the fun, the laziness of summer.”
In the long term, McDonald could see himself working full time for NOCOLI. He would also like for the business to have a philanthropic arm that uses the profits to potentially fund art programs for underprivileged students, but admits that may be in the distant future. Thus far the most rewarding aspect has been the positive responses.
“It’s great to head friends say, ‘I got a compliment on your shirt today.’ That means that somebody out there has been affected by something I’ve done," he says. "These people are going to take these shirts on travels and my art work is going to see the world."