Shopping Guide
Boomslank is a creative group that has undertaken the lofty goal of propagating anime-style artwork all over the world through creating a T-shirt brand that focuses on original artwork. We recently had the opportunity to sit down Justin Anyanwu, a member of this team, to talk about the origins of Boomslank, the concept of the brand, their goals for the brand, and more.
Creator Introduction
Creator Name: Boomslank
TOM Portfolio Page
My name is Justin Anyanwu. Along with my younger brothers David and Kevin, we founded Boomslank. Boomslank is currently an anime clothing brand. We sell only original artwork on our T-shirts. We came up with the idea when we noticed no one else was selling unique anime tees.
TOM: Could you please tell us origin of Boomslank?
Justin: One day, I was looking online for a cool, unique anime tee. And I noticed unfortunately,
there was nothing out there that wasn't just licensed artwork printed lazily on a tee. So I decided it wouldn't a bad idea for me to create a clothing brand based on my brother's
anime artwork. Before that, my brother was well known on the web as P-shinobi.
TOM: What's the brand concept of Boomslank?
Justin: The name Boomslank is completely made up. However, Boomslank was born out of the need to do what makes us happy. My brothers and I have always loved anime. So Boomslank seemed like a perfect fit for us. We get to make a living promoting the anime culture through the brand. What more could we ask for?
The video below does a pretty good job of telling our story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CUuQmcZM7s
Who influenced the establishment the brand?
Justin: I can't say any particular individual influenced the establishment of the brand. But I always look up to anyone who decided to create something of their own and make it work. People I do look up to would be folks like Jeff Sheldon of Ugmonk or even Mark Zuckerberg. I am also an avid follower of street wear culture. Brands such as The Hundreds, Bape, Staple, and Diamond Supply promote their street culture in such an amazing way, that I hope to one day promote the anime culture in a similar fashion through Boomslank.
TOM: How did you develop the brand and has it evolved at all since its creation?
Justin: Developing the brand has been a learning experience. We've made some mistakes, but thats part of the learning experience. I guess one of our most challenging aspects of making the brand was defining what the message of our brand should be. In order to do that, we had to first focus on making quality products. We needed to make sure that our products spoke for us and not the other way around. We've tried to save money in the past by using cheaper T-shirts, we later realized that this was counterintuitive to our brand message of quality anime tees. So we later went back to using made in America 100% American Apparel tees. It cost more, but at the end of the day it was worth it.
It has been quite a journey, really. We've been through three logos. We are quite proud of our final logo.
We've redesigned our website about four times. Each time, we incorporate something new we've learned from our customers and what they want to see.
As part of the brand development, we are also trying to focus less on marketing and more on making great products and telling a great story through our products.
TOM: Where do you want the brand to go in the future?
Justin: We want the brand to be completely synonymous with the word "anime." Our goal will be to have Boomslank become a household name in the anime community. The Boomslank brand will be a more tangible representation of anime culture.
TOM: Would you like to share a message with our fans?
Justin: Always try to follow your dreams. Find the courage to do what you love. After all, life is all about finding happiness. And nothing brings happiness like finding joy in what you do. Also, we'd love it if you picked up one of our shirts! :)
You can learn more about Boomslank here
as well as check out the amazing art created by P-Shinobi, the artist of Boomslank, here.
Keep it here for even more interviews with some of the most prominent creators in the otaku world!
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
