(instrumental music) (upbeat music) ♪ I made it to the top, ♪ ♪ Started from the bottom, ♪ ♪ Hard time here, and again ♪ ♪ I made it to the top ♪ - RP55 is a clothing manufacturer and distribution and branding company.

We make and create and distribute the brands, AKOO, Hustle Gang, Billionaire Boys Club, Ice cream, Strivers Row, and now Gotcha.

Which is our newest venture.

I moved to Virginia in beginning of the night, I was escaping New York.

And the horror that New York was at the time.

And I got to Virginia with 47 cents in my pocket.

And then all of a sudden you're on this beach and the moon and everything, it was actually kinda nice for a moment.

For like one day.

I've never been afraid to work.

So, you know, anything I could find I did.

I did a sign for some guys in Norfolk for clothing store that they were gonna open.

The beautiful gold leaf and all kinds of stuff.

They saw my, I guess, work ethic, then they wanted me to run the store.

I was on a buying trip for that store in New York.

And that's when I met my partners today.

George Metzger and Mike Shocking.

We ended up in a conversation.

We must've been talking for half an hour and George said, "Hey, we should become partners".

The rest is history.

(upbeat music) We design eight to 10 deliveries per year for each brand.

So we're a year out in advance.

We have to design our product, get samples back on your product.

Comment on those samples, get another set of samples, comment on no samples, get sales samples.

Get those sales samples out to our sales reps, sales reps, walk it around from big buyers to little mom and pop shops.

They gathered those orders.

My partner Mike orders the product, and then it goes into production.

In between that it's being marketed.

Photo shoots are being taken.

All these different things are happening so that it can get here to this side of the world so that we can hit a window about this big of two weeks before they cancel the order.

(upbeat music) It's like a dance of incredible precision with millions of dollars of product to hit these windows.

And then we have to do it with each brand.

- I can't remember my first collection.

What I do remember is my first jean that got comments on it.

And it was funny because how I got into being able to design this stuff was, I was really packing boxes when I first started.

And when I was done, I'd sit and draw.

And one day Ralph was like, ah, you can go at this.

So he let me design a jean, and it came in, and I had specifically purposely at the time, made the pockets upside down on the back pockets.

And he was like, you liked that?

and went, nah, it's cool, man this is cool.

This is really cool.

He's like, okay, all right.

I mean, if you like them, and that was kind of like, I'm gonna let them have this, (loughs gently) This he's really proud of this.

I'm gonna let them have this one.

But you learn over time.

There's a balance to being creative and also what has to sell in the market.

So I always remember that one.

It didn't do that Well (loughs loudly) (upbeat music) ♪ Let it go ♪ - We're in fashion, we're in streetwear.

We're in the fastest part.

I think of fashion.

At some point, you need to get out of the way a little bit and let the younger guys lead.

I read somewhere at one time, a good leader can lead the parade from the back.

There's some things that I really don't like, you know, that have definitely worked over the years to ever really been that many outlets for a person who's great artists to go into.

And then you get to a place like New York and you find out, oh, there are lots of people who can draw.

So when they get here, it's interesting to watch them grow.

And what I talk about is what your drawing is gonna become an embroidery, or it's going to become a multilayered applique, or you're gonna learn to make your artwork come to life in many, many different ways.

(upbeat music) - I really enjoy the fact that, you know, one day I can draw gun domes and wrestlers and superheroes, and the next day I'll draw bears and wildlife.

♪ Justtry to tell you what you can't do ♪ The range of what we're able to do is without bound for an artist, of course, somebody creative, that's an awesome thing in a lot of great artists in here.

That's one thing that I've definitely learned.

RP55, in my opinion, has some of the greatest artists in the fashion industry all in one place.

♪ To your way ♪ You learn quickly, it's not necessarily about being the best artist anymore, it's about having the best ideas and being able to execute that.

So if you have the best ideas, you win, period.

- You see, the birth of something.

Sometimes I'll be down at the ocean front during the summer, hanging out with some friends and I just see somebody walk by with a shirt at sign, we'll see celebrities wearing our garments too.

People that are well-known for whatever industry they're in and they're wearing something or holding up something that you've done.

It's very rewarding to see things like that.

♪ I'm the change ♪ ♪ To who I'm ♪ - I met Pharrell when he was teenager at the airport, him and Chad Hugo were headed to New York and I was heading to New York and they were making all this noise, boom boxing and beat boxing and whatnot in the airport.

I was like, who the hell are these two guys making all this noise?

And they were teenage guys.

It was like, okay, these guys are somebody.

Once we began to enter the plane, I kind of was right behind them.

And I said, Hey, "Here's my card I do our RP55," Which at the time was very, very well known brand especially here.

He turned around and said, "oh, I'm Pharrell I want you to make clothes for me."

I had no idea who this guy was.

I think at that time, most people still didn't know who he was.

Now, We make BBC and ice cream for Pharrell.

It's one of the strongest brands in the country.

(instrumental music) - The competitiveness and it is all I kinda a need.

If you tell me we had a bad delivery, I'm gonna show you that it was a blip.

You know, if you tell me you didn't like a design, I'm gonna show you, I can do it better.

For me, that's enough.

You know, I want to make sure that when I'm creating, people like.

I wanna make sure that the people who are selling it feel comfortable with what they're presenting.

So I'm always looking and saying, oh, he could have done that better.

Or, oh man, I got this idea.

We're gonna do this with this delivery.

There's always gonna be something different that ignites you.

Right now that's all what's driving me (chuckles lightly) And outside of that, it's just, it's fun being in the space, to be honest with you.

(upbeat music) - I've worked with RP55 now for 16 years, what I do is I'm a human being.

Sure I'm in sales, but no one likes to really be sold per se.

Everybody's human first.

So what I do is I'm a partner to more retail.

We're just really proud of and thankful for the partners that have been on the ride with us.

It's been an amazing journey thus far, and we have some more exciting things coming in The near future that I think is gonna shoot us off the stratosphere.

You know, for what they say again, couldn't be done a streetwear brand doesn't last this long, a hip hop brand doesn't last as long, especially coming out of Virginia Beach, Virginia, we're not in New York.

You know, we have offices in New York, but our home is here, and for a fashion house of our size to be in Virginia Beach, Virginia, almost unheard of.

(instrumental music) ♪ To save the cast ♪ ♪ cause tis the season ♪ ♪ To new day ♪ ♪ people don't want to think ♪ ♪ no more, they just want to feel ♪ ♪ they want let go ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ Hallo ♪ ♪ I miss you, ♪ ♪ (instrumental music) ♪