Cyrus Tetteh had grown
tired of the feeling that his
grades in the classroom were
determining his value, and he
wanted to do something about it.
He started thinking about ways
that he could create a platform
for
himself,
and
ultimately
decided that he wanted to share
his creative vision with others
in the form of a clothing brand:
Cool Club Clothing. I had the
opportunity to sit down with
Tetteh, a 2015 alum, and reflect
on the process of starting his
own brand while at U-M, and
where he wants to go from here.
Can you tell me a bit about
yourself and why you decided
to start Cool Club Clothing?
“I’m originally from Detroit,
Michigan. I lived there my whole
life before deciding to attend
the University of Michigan. …
When I started taking classes
— just normal freshman classes
— I was getting tired of feeling
like my value was based on my
grades. I didn’t want my value
as a person to be represented by
the letter grade … And I came up
with my own clothing line: Cool
Club Clothing in 2012. I haven’t
stopped since. I got a lot of
support on campus … I did what
I needed to do and I was just
living and trying to have fun.”
You being able to find a way
to do your own things outside
of the traditional confines
that a lot of students face is
really interesting to me.
“The whole thing is that it
started with the idea of me
wanting to break free and
figure out the things that I like
to do and things that make me
happy while still making me
feel like I’m progressing in life.
One thing leads to another, and
you find the things that you
love. It started with music. I
wanted to create clothing that
would promote my music, and
then people would start asking
me for things, saying, ‘Oh, you
should do this in this color, you
should do hats or maybe you
should do this.’ I started making
more things and it turned into a
clothing line. I just really want
to encourage people to do things
and try things. Especially the
people who feel confined by
their grades like I did.”
So when you started Cool
Club Clothing, did you have
any overarching goals? What
was your vision for the brand?
“Starting off, I made a couple
of shirts for me and my friends
to wear with the first design
that I had made. … The growth
[of the brand] was sort of driven
by the people. … At the end of
the day, I just wanted to create
a platform for myself to climb
that ladder to ultimately have
that creative freedom and be
able to give back to people.
With the clothing, I wanted to
take it as far as it could go. I
didn’t know what that was. It
was never concrete — whatever
opportunity came my way, I’d
jump into it.”
Can you talk a bit about the
biggest hurdles that you had
when starting the brand?
“The main questions were
what will my first designs be
and how do I get them on a
shirt? I was sitting and doing
my math homework one night
when I got bored. I flipped
over my homework and started
drawing the first Cool Club
logo. My roommate at the time
offered to help me make my
logo. Before he had done that,
I had never used InDesign,
Illustrator or Photoshop. He
introduced me to all of those
things, so I got those and I’ve
been on since then. … Being so
small, it can be expensive to
make your clothing, so it’s a
matter of finding the best place
to do it. It was a lot of trial and
error, but it worked out.”
Can you talk a bit more
about the trial and error
aspect?
“Everything
was
really
driven by the people, but there
was a process of figuring out
which materials worked and
didn’t work and which shirts
fit the way I wanted to was
something that took some time.
Learning that you can’t please
everyone and learning how to
communicate with customers
was difficult, but I knew that a
bad customer experience could
be
the
difference
between
someone
who
would
never
try the brand and a lifetime
supporter.”
You’ve mentioned a few
times that the growth of
the brand was driven by
the people. What was it like
starting a brand on U-M’s
campus specifically?
“It’s an experience like no
other. Until you’re a super huge
brand, never will you be able
to walk outside and see people
wearing
your
brand.
There
was a point in time where it
was regular to walk outside,
especially during the winter,
and see people wearing the
Cool Club hats. And because of
that, you kinda get lost in it. …
Being on campus, it was cool.
I got a lot of support along the
way, and the resources that we
have — the fashion orgs and
everything else — provide so
many opportunities to promote
your brand on campus.
It made it this thing around
here. And that was cool. That
really helped me a lot and gave
me a lot of confidence. It slowly
made me feel like I had a leg to
stand on. I felt like my value
was being determined by my
creations instead of my grades.
I appreciate the love I got
from
Michigan.
I
had
the
chance to work with some of the
student-athletes. I got to work
with Denard Robinson — we did
a little pop up shop. It was cool,
man.”
So after you graduated in
2015, can you touch on how
it was moving away from
campus?
“When
you
talk
about
hurdles, that’s definitely the
biggest hurdle.
On campus, it felt like it
was cool. It was this trial and
error process and people were
supporting it. When I left
campus, it felt like it was me
versus the world instead of a
small community. I had to dig
deeper into my artistry, sit
down and bring some life to my
design.
I worked with my high
school, Cass Tech, and did a
collection with them, which
helped because they have such
a big alumni network. Right
after that, I did a collection
with Devin Funchess. That was
cool because he was going to the
Super Bowl that year, had just
come from Michigan and he’s a
really cool guy.
It wasn’t until the summer
of 2015 when I realized that I
needed to stop doing all these
collabs and work on defining
my brand within the city. I
wanted to find a way to get
out my own name rather than
using someone else’s brand. I
spent some time working on my
designing skills to take my skills
to the next level, and came up
with my Detroit Players Club
design, which was my most
successful design to date. That
felt like the introduction of my
brand to Detroit.”
Moving forward, where do
you see things in five years?
“Really,
photography
has
come in and changed things.
At first, I picked up the camera
to
promote
my
brand,
but
now I’m working for the city
as a photographer. I’ve been
enjoying photography, I’m liking
the foundation it’s building and
it’s bringing money in. I want
to continue to make clothing,
but I’m definitely going to be
focusing on my photos.
I really want Cool Club to
keep growing. I have some
designs that will be coming
soon. I want Cool Club to be a
creative outlet. That’s all I ever
wanted it to be — an outlet for
when I feel like putting out a
design or I want to work with
a certain brand. I don’t want to
leave it hanging, and I want to
keep using it as a creative outlet
to make statements. Maybe it
turns into a platform to raise
awareness for certain issues.
I’ll still be doing my thing
in five years. Right now I’m
just living between the two
[photography
and
clothing].
I’m trying to go hard at both,
honestly. Just trying to find a
way to balance the two.”
Do you have any advice for
people who may feel the same
way you did as a freshman and
want to create something like
you did?
“My advice is to just get
started. Get started and don’t
look back. That’s the most
important thing that you can do
as someone who wants anything
for themselves. You can’t think
about it for too long. Nothing
is ever going to be perfect, but
if you know what you want and
you can see it, you can make
it happen. It’s your vision, so
trust your vision and start
taking those first steps. Do
what you need to do to make
it happen. You never know
what could happen once you
take those first steps. The best
way to learn is to go through
the process, and it really is a
process.”
4B —Thursday, September 28, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
COURTESY OF CYRUS TETTEH
Cyrus is currently an artist out of Detroit
COURTESY OF CYRUS TETTEH
The Cool Club: Cyrus Tetteh’s journey from being just
a U-M student to building a Detroit clothing brand
ARTIST PROFILE
NARESH IYENGAR
Daily Style Editor
COURTESY OF CYRUS TETTEH
COURTESY OF CYRUS TETTEH