In the world of streetwear, there are a broad variety of companies who showcase their purpose of their brand through different ways of promoting themselves. Either it's through your local malls, the lavish boutiques, trendy online shops, or magazine ads, these examples show ways of promoting companies, especially independent brands. On the rise of independent brands, Loyal K.N.G. has been named in a lot of circles. From the land of Longview, Texas; Loyal K.N.G. is not another company who just sells apparel. Using their logo, the Atama to create schemes based off of sporting teams, trends, and creative thoughts. For example, they used the Los Angeles Raiders as one of their signature logos, another nice one was their theme based off of the Toronto Raptors, they even a did t shirt based off of the Power Rangers ( the original power rangers, the tv show). Truly it's a honor for me to feature such a company that's filled with so much dedication and hard work using their main ethic to succeed, now it's finally time for them to be noticed within The Modern Life sector. So I'm proud to present the creator and founder of Loyal K.N.G., Trung Vuong, to the Modern Life
Whaddup Man, How's Your Modern Life Been?
Sup Modern Life! My modern life over in Loyal K.N.G. world has been filled with non-stop work. From designing special edition tees, forming new season runs, to corresponding with our suppliers, I’m just keeping the schedule busy. The team and I are all working to make this dream come true one day and one project at a time, whether it comes out successfully or not.
Outside of Loyal K.N.G. world, I’m eating like a king and working out so I can get away with eating like one. However, I may need to either eat less or workout more, because the extra weight is getting out of hand, haha. But on a serious note, I’m just trying to stay healthy living.
That's really good to hear my man, for those who don't know share some insight on the brand.
Loyal K.N.G. is my love note to culture and all the cool and quirky things that comes from it. Culture is knowledge and it’s everywhere hence the meaning behind K.N.G. being “knowledge never goes”.
It’s a brand that plays on things that we love, are inspired by, influenced, and admire. From all the things that encompass our culture, such as films, shows, music, and art, Loyal K.N.G. takes a hold of all these mediums and incorporate them into something crazy, unique, and fun. Loyal K.N.G. is a brand for the people. We’re a brand that strives to promote a positive and productive lifestyle.
Exactly how did you come up with Loyal K.N.G.?
Loyal K.N.G. came about when I was in college studying for pre-med. It was at a point in my life where I was faced with a one-dimensional life goal. It was either be a doctor or be a failure. This perspective was placed on me by my parents’ constant push to become something more than the average American worker. For me, being a doctor was never a passion of mine, so it made everything I was studying into a soulless endeavor.
Doodling, sketching, and art, were what I truly found my passion in. It was possibly the first activity that I remember jumping into that I had full control over. And that was something I never wanted to let go. Just to create something out of random thoughts and inspired imagination were what I considered a true-blessing. If I had nothing else, no money, house, or job, I would still have the ability to create art. And Loyal K.N.G. was birthed from a sense of self-yearning to create something and anything.
Sometime we need a reason to create and Loyal K.N.G. was that reason that provided my team and I an outlet to do so.
Why did you use the name Loyal K.N.G.?
It’s funny, but when I was first contemplating about starting a brand, it was all happening during a college statistic class. Loyal K.N.G. was actually the first name I considered as a brand name. Although I would subsequently scheme up a few more brand names for consideration, but after about 5 minutes of scheming, I just knew Loyal K.N.G. was it.
At the core meaning of Loyal K.N.G., it held our brand’s philosophy and message. It was a name describing a way of living or, in other words, a lifestyle. Loyal by definition means being supportive of a person or, in this case, a cause, so with “K.N.G.” being an acronym meaning knowledge never goes, It would basically mean that we were supportive of the Knowledge movement. And with the way we are inspired by our culture and everything around us, this in itself fed us our knowledge of the world, hence the birth of our message, “Knowledge Never Goes.”
The name just worked from the get-go, so that’s why Loyal K.N.G. became what embodied our brand’s everything.
What were you're main inspirations growing up that inspired the style of the brand?
Dragonball Z, Spider-man, Japan, America, Cowboys and Indians… movies, comics, television shows, music, and everything culture.
Explain the purpose and the meaning of Atama.
Atama was created after 6 months of many failed experiments of creating a successfully iconic brand mascot. At the time of Atama’s creation, I was at church with the Loyal K.N.G. team, and we were all discussing some future projects together. I was taking my time discussing random topics while concurrently doodling some random drawings for fun. Well, it just so happened that I drew a simple boy with a brain helmet, eye-patch, crossbones, and toothpick, which would later become Atama.
Atama is simply a boy with a brain helmet, which represented knowledge, while the eye-patch, crossbones, and toothpick, represented his pirate-esque characteristics. Atama simply represented everything Loyal K.N.G. stood for; Being intelligently rebellious.
We are a brand that is run on the basis of thinking outside the box and breaking out of conformity with our gift of knowledge. Atama represented all this to Loyal K.N.G. And since that faithful day at church with me randomly doodling, Atama was given birth. Cool story, huh?
How does it feel to be one of the leading independent brands in Texas?
Leading? To be honest, I never consider Loyal K.N.G. to be leading anything. It’s funny enough but the team and I are just always focused on creating more art for our supporters and fan that we are mildly oblivious of where we stand in the industry in-terms of Texas brands. And to answer your question of how I feel at this very moment in time… It feels like day 1. And the team and I are still doing exactly what we’ve done since day 1, just hustling, staying hungry, and improving our crafts as artists.
You guys are not only known in the lone star state, but nationwide. The rapid growth of the company happened before my eyes, how did you feel throughout that process of expanding and reaching your dream?
Wow? That’s crazy to hear actually. We’re behind the curtains building the brand up, so it’s harder for us to see what others may see outside of our little studio working day-in and day-out. It’s humbling, that’s for sure, to hear that we’re getting any recognition at all outside of our home state, Texas. I wouldn’t say we’ve reached our dreams fully yet (not even close) and we may never do that, but at the moment the brand is holding on by a thread. We’re all trying to survive. A lot of our team and me included have part-time jobs (the horror). The brand hasn’t become big enough to support itself yet. So my thought process have always been stressed in ways of figuring out what moves to make next that won’t stunt the brand in growth, but at the same time help grow the brand to new heights.
We’re working the best we can without going insane to make this brand work, but I’m confident we’ll make it happen one day. It’s all in having perseverance, strong work ethics, and an unyielding faith.
Name some favorite designs that you guys produce for the brand and Why.
It’s easy for me to say all our designs are my favorite due to the amount of great effort I put into designing and creating them, but, of course, there are clearly those designs that mean a little more than the rest to me.
Two designs I consider my current favorites are the “Ghostly Doom” tee and the “Jason Paleta” tee. The reason these designs are my favorite isn’t particularly because of the way the design looks, but more so the story behind the design’s creation. “Jason Paleta” marked an historical and monumental collaboration design for us as a brand. We collaborated with Texas’ finest graffiti crew, Sour Grapes 13, to release this shirt. If you know about Sour Grapes 13, then you’ll understand that these guys are OG pioneers of the graffiti scene in Texas. So for Loyal K.N.G. to work with Sour Grapes 13 on a collaboration tee, it was a major honor. And it’s important to note that Sour Grapes have been a crew for over a decade, and we were the FIRST brand they’ve collaborated with. When we released this design on Friday 13th of August, 2010, it immediately sold out in less than 2 days. It’s still one of our most sought after design! As for “Ghostly Doom” tee, I just love Caspar and MF DOOM, so for me to have this opportunity to combine two greats into a fun tee was a cool privilege. It was basically my favorite tee, just because it was my favorite. Designing “Ghostly Doom” was when I realized that not only was I creating designs people were getting excited about, but I was getting excited about them too. And that’s a rather peculiar and fun feeling to have.
Name your favorite collabs and events that you guys took upon, and reason why it's your favorite.
A favorite collaboration beside the Sour Grapes 13 “Jason Paleta” tee which I talked about earlier would have to be with my good friends from San Antonio who runs and hosts of “Sneaks Up”. I discussed with Norm Dawson, co-owner of Sneaks Up, about working together on a memorable collaboration tee, and after hearing his story of how Sneaks Up is about being a community driven event where sneakers is the common-link which brings everyone together, I went to the sketch books with a bunch of ideas. With the Sneaks Up collab design, I combined my love for Sneakers and comic book super-heroes. So the design would actually have arms of heroes such as Spider-man, Wolverine, and Iron-man, tossing their Jordan sneakers up. The design was very successful with the sneaker-community and is currently sold out. It’s also another sought after collab design!
As far as favorite event that we’ve been a part of would actually have to be Kixpo 2011 that was hosted at the Dallas Cowboy Stadium. It was hosted on the field… the FIELD. The entire sneaker show was out of this world, it was ginormous. We’ve done many sneaker shows in the past, but never a show that had a venue large enough to comfortably accommodate the massive crowds. This made for a very relaxed event where everybody had space to just run around and check all the cool brands and sneaker collectors without having to dodge a bunch of folks from left and right. And Kixpo happened to be one of our most successful shows also, so that always helps when considering what event is our favorite. Haha.
What's your perception on the "Streetwear Business"?
That it’s a great business industry that seems easy to get a leg in but extremely difficult to stay in and make a change. And unfortunately, only the brands that are creating changes are the ones that are staying in the business.
What are some gifts and curses working in this business and being in the position that You are in?
The gifts are many and great! We get to connect and meet folks all over the world and make an impact for other youngins’ to chase after their dreams too. I just mainly enjoy the fact that I can create apparel pieces that I can truly call my own. If what you wear represents who you are, then it doesn’t get any better than creating your own attire.
The curses are all the stress from trying to keep the brand afloat without sinking due to financials. And also it can be a struggle if people aren’t responding well to the brand. If there’s no excitement in the brand then that can be VERY stressful. Excitement helps keep people interested. So for me, it’s the weight of carrying the responsibility of creating consistent excitement with the brand while also trying to have adequate funds to make it all possible.
But at the end of the day, it’s the realization that if I want the goods, I have to carry the weight of handling the bad too. So even though it can get extremely challenging at times, it’s a struggle worth doing because only the worthy survives in this business. All dreams have struggles, but the difference between achieving it and not are those who face the struggle day-by-day and makes progress, and those who don’t do anything at all.
At the end of the day, what do you want this brand to be remembered as?
I hope that one day we can be remember for being a brand that strived for something more, that did things no other brands have done, and changed the game in a unique and fun way.
But to be honest, people forget the brands that don’t exist, so I’m hoping we’ll be alive, well, and kicking for a very long time, and continually hustle like it’s Day 1.
One more thing, May You Give The Modern Life a Shout Out!
Shout outs to Modern Life for giving me an opportunity to voice my thoughts on Loyal K.N.G.!
Thanks, Loyal Kng, Now You Guys Are Living The Modern Life.
