And this is about where I come in. I was the other guy that wasn’t mentioned: Scott Lee, who was also in this garage that day. During the meeting, we talked about short films, and what to work on next. The idea behind the entire “short film initiative” in the company, so to speak, was to establish the company’s technical credibility and to learn how to get the fundamentals of film making correct before moving onto major projects in the distant future. Of course, little did we realize that our first major project was going to creep up on us much faster than we had originally expected. Still, major projects or not, we needed money and we didn’t have any. And not only did we not have any, we weren’t bringing in any.

We were a business that was not actually conducting business. I don’t know about you, but to me that doesn’t sound like a successful company just yet. After selling a handful of “Make Movies” t-shirts, it had been brought to my attention the power of an on-demand selling model, where we could produce as many products as we wished without inventory costs, or without the bother of shipping orders or customer service. It was all done through another retailer, which took full responsibility. In short: it was the perfect thing for a totally broke company to find hope in for bringing in some revenue. I pitched the idea to launch a full line of a variety of products, suggesting that all of the people in the company sit down and start making t-shirt designs, and that we market those products first as a way to bring in some income. If we had constant money coming in, even if it was a small amount, we were going to be able to accomplish a lot more.

Looking back on it, I’m sure I said some things that probably scared a few people. But it was namely James Monaghan, an old Board member who was serving with us at the time, who had shot down the idea. “That just doesn’t sound like something that we’re ready for. Maybe later, but that sounds just way beyond the scope of what we’re capable of.” I sat there and pleaded with them a tiny bit.

“No, we’re actually capable of doing this right now,” I reassured everyone. The issue was dismissed quickly after it was brought up. Perhaps the biggest problem that day was that I was pitching a business idea to a room filled with film makers. They were there to discuss how they could create their art. Then again, don’t you need money to do such things? Anyway, I went home and later on in the week sat down to begin putting together what would later become a single unified online store. The first month: no sales, hours of creating basic designs, most of which were purely plain text in different colors. Nothing fancy, no decorations.

By the end of May, 2006, however, after merely 2 months of having a number of small shops and a few designs up, sales began to come in. And by the middle of summer, surprising things were happening. I was an 18 year old barely out of high school and earning what I would probably earn at a low paying job, but I wasn’t working any hours. I sat down with a clipboard one night and wrote down over 100 different names of possible store titles. I called Kimberly(future creator of Expressive Junction), and she decided that ‘Dirty Mechanism’ seemed to sound the coolest.

That’s enough for me, I thought. Dirty Mechanism was born. After spending about $70 dollars total, I had created a business, and with it came an ideology. Meeting the demands of tiny niche markets and allowing individuals to more fluently express themselves was now my business, and in taking care of others I was being taken care of. Over one year and over $8000 later, Dirty Mechanism Apparel is a continuously developing brand with a bright future. Would it make a difference if people knew that it could have belonged to a production company?

It’s an interesting question to consider, but I definitely know for a fact that when hundreds of people all over the country are wearing something that came from your mind and no one else’s, it touches your heart in a very special way. An enormous sense of gratitude develops. Barton Ct. Productions Inc. is still generating little or no income at all from its business at the time of this writing, but I’m still on their Board of Directors. Hopefully that company still has hope of becoming profitable. In the mean time, rock on Dirty Mechanism.

But we have a little over two weeks to turn this trend around! Just 11 people signed up will allow the winner to receive an actual t-shirt from DM. Let’s make it happen! Sign up for the newsletter today!

Secondly, and this has been announced all over our MySpace profile the past few days, is that we are going to be giving away a special grand prize to a lucky winner on our newsletter subscriber list. What this prize will be depends on how many people we can get to sign up before now and the end of March. If you can help us increase our newsletter readership in addition to signing up yourself, then you will ultimately make sure that the grand prize is going to be something truly spectacular!

But if of course the masses do not really make an effort or try to get anyone to sign up…then as we show on our chart on the newsletter page: we will not try for the winner. The winner will be selected by a random drawing followed by an attempt to contact that person. That means that if you do not enter an e-mail address that you’re accustomed to checking then you could pass up your opportunity to win.

Check out the full details on our newsletter page.

One of the first things that I would like to emphasize is the concept of Dirty Mechanism as a brand. When it all comes down to it, Dirty Mechanism could almost be considered a lifestyle brand, but when you think about it - it’s very philosophized and intellectualized. The clothes themselves are, in essence, sort of ordinary clothes(especially right now). The jeans we’re going to be releasing later on in 2008 are going to be the kinds of jeans that you’ll look at and say: “holy crap” because you never thought of some of the design elements that these will have in it.

Take a look at these jeans from True Religion Brand Jeans. Maybe it’s just me making this understandably mistaken observation, but… these jeans do not appear to actually have any back pockets - only embroidery! One important thing to note is that the entire jeans craze has skyrocketed, especially since the late 1990’s and into the new millennium.  The fast rising trend of the low cut jean that originally veered its head in the 1970’s is back with a vengeance, along with many other styles that are decidedly retro.  The one thing that I love in this above picture more than anything else is the contrast between the dark wash and stitching.

What’s the average price tag on True Religion jeans?  It is none other than $240.00.  This is a company that is largely based out of New York, is publicly traded, and is probably pulling in far more in sales than many cheap Wal-Mart shoppers would care to think about.  But why so thick of a mention about True Religion?  Because I consider their rival to be one of my all time favorite brands, Lucky Brand Jeans. Average price for Lucky Brand is $120.00.  But what does Lucky Brand Jeans or True Religion have to do with Dirty Mechanism?  Well, there’s a few common trends that all of these brands will have in common.

Number one, Dirty Mechanism jeans will have lots of crazy embroidery, stylish contrast stitching, and beautiful denim color washes.  Number two, virtually all of the jeans made by both brands are put together right here in the United States.  With that in mind, that means that with all of these brands you will come to expect ‘American quality.’  Throughout a lot of the research I have been doing I have found that while the majority of the people out there are strongly satisfied with American made clothing, there are some that are just not that impressed.  It all comes down to a big question, though, and the question is: who is the customer?

Dirty Mechanism jeans are going to be for the very fashion-conscious customer of what will likely be an urban, young, early 20’s kind of demographic.  Every single pair that we release in 2008 will be very unique, but not necessarily one of a kind.   Obviously we’re going to follow some patterns and manufacture things on a small scale.  But one thing we do not seek to do, even if it happens, is create trends.  Trends are typically a part of fashion, and we’ll acknowledge this, but my goal as a designer of this brand is to constantly reinvent what Dirty Mechanism is.  The phrase: Dirty Mechanism is just that, a phrase - nothing more, nothing less.  If something begins to catch on, obviously we’re not going to stop producing it, but we’re also not going to let ourselves be trapped artistically either.

What brands have become trapped artistically and are no longer taking any chances?  Well, in terms of the critics, it’s kind of a Catch-22: the top selling apparel sellers are stuck in their own consistent styles, but are getting horrendous amounts of commercial success.  It’s marketing genius, but unless they have the ability to introduce new trends, they’ll die and the likes of their name along with them.  Some people do not even consider the likes of street wear to be a true genre of fashion worth pursuing in detail with reviews, critics, and no ties or silk dresses.  I see billions of dollars in sales figures that says otherwise.   Companies like American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, Pacsun, and even the music-driven Hot Topic are setting a standard for young demographics.

My dream is to do the same but to be much more versatile.  One of the first styles we’ll be introducing for our girls’ jeans is the DMPanel look: a low cut jean with unique stitching patterns and form fitting external pocket designs.  I am also experimenting with what the response would be to a “brazilian style jean” like the one I’ve found at MakeYourOwnJeans.com:

I’ve heard two responses about this jean from two different age groups, and it’s the reason I know it will probably be a huge success.  In fact, I remember these jeans being a success during my middle school years and I think that if a major seller were to reintroduce them with their own spin they’d be raking in the doe and making a huge impact on youth fashion.  These are the kinds of jeans your mother says, “how awful” and both guys and girls from 15 to 25 say: “that’s hot!”  Indeed, the designer of these jeans is on the right track to serving a very specific demographic.

And that about wraps it up for now.  Throughout this post I’ve talked a bit about the DM philosophy, what some of my inspirations are right now in designing these jeans, and now - I’m going to try and give you a date.  If all goes to plan, I hope girls will be able to buy their first pair of DM jeans starting March 7th, 2008.  But right now, I can make no guarantees, that date is just my goal right now.  Later on in 2008 we’ll also be introducing our first girls underwear, and jackets.

www.ExpressiveJunction.com

Rock on, Kim! Keep up the good work! Kimberly will be moving to Austin, Texas from here in Houston on Thursday, so be sure to order a few shirts from her to help see her off and get her through her new college career in culinary school!

Read more about it here.

Principles of Social Attraction is actually replacing an old publication that was available from Dirty Mechanism entitled Principles of Seduction. Until the book’s release on December 19th, you can have the opportunity to get Principles of Seduction, the previous version of this book, for just $6.00. That’s so cheap, it’s damn near just the cost of making the mini-book itself. But before you rush out and get that, you might be asking: well, what’s the difference between these books? Or for that matter, what are these books even about at all?

The answer is simple. Principles of Social Attraction is about how to invoke social attraction under any circumstances and in virtually any situation you may find yourself in, be it romantic, platonic, or professional. Principles of Seduction is about just what is says: seduction. Still, with the slight difference in topic, there’s another big difference. Principles of Social Attraction is more up to date, better formatted, and has nearly 50 new pages of content. Indeed, Principles of Social Attraction is very different.

Previously the book was available as a paperback from the Dirty Mechanism online store, priced at $7.29. The new book, which really is more of a book, and not just a “publication,” will be available as an instant download for $27.00 flat, a discounted price over what it will probably be in the future. But here is something else that is very interesting about the whole deal that, with the wonder of technology, I am able to offer. For anyone who purchases the book, they will have the ability to join a mailing list that, once subscribed, will enable them to get a new version of the book whenever it comes out, for free, simply because they’re an existing customer. Is that not awesome or what? That means that whether this thing is 90 pages long or if it’s 900 pages long, I’ll still be offering it for free to those who bought the book in the past.

I am SO excited about this book and this release, you have no idea! I look forward to talking about it a bit more here on DirtyMechanism.com. On a side note: I’m working on the new designs for 2008 and I’ve found a new model, we’re doing a photoshoot with her January 20th and should have pictures up by the end of that month! Rock and roll!

The incredible quality is the good news, but perhaps the not-so-good news will be the price. For a select few of our shoppers, we have witnessed that some of you are shopping with a very, very tight budget. Unfortunately, some of these new products that we will be trying out are not so much for you - they’re for the individual who is really seeking to set themselves apart and is serious about their fashion & appearance. The first goals for these custom designed garments are:

• None of these items will be at all similar to what is currently sold in the Dirty Mechanism Online Store. Each one will be a unique project that will allow for an entirely different sort of product that you’ve not seen before from us, and may not have seen elsewhere either. Originality is key.
• The first materials we will start with are denims, finely combed cotton, some polyester and spandex.
• The overall theme to all of our new garments will be with a focus on a sleek, “gradient panel” look, that looks worn but fresh.
• We’ll be starting with female items before male.

So when will you be able to view these items? Well, for right now, they are only in our minds and hearts. Sometime likely in the first quarter of 2008, we hope to reveal the first designs for sale. These items will be available in a specialized line, to be purchased separately from the normal items. Stay tuned!