Georgia Southern student Brandon Curtis aims for more with his fashion brand
Written by Akaria Stewart and Julia Fechter
Creating a fashion brand is a very popular entrepreneurial endeavor. With an industry that is about creativity and innovation, brands often benefit from having a unique characteristic that distinguishes them from all the others. Senior public health major Brandon Curtis started his brand, Social Experiment with that idea in mind.
Curtis established the brand in November of 2016 as a solo project, looking to bring fashion and social awareness together. The name “Social Experiment” stems from a lot of the social issues he chooses to highlight throughout his brand’s designs, much like the “Energies Hoodie” pictured on model Jamar Fordham.
“We’re not the same; we don’t have the same experience … the way I react to something isn’t the same way you react to something because your experience in life is totally different from mine,” said Curtis. “It’s supposed to represent how we’re often caught up in ourselves and our own ideologies an our own perspectives on people. A lot of the issues we have with each other can be settled with a simple discussion.”
The fashion designer aims to use his brand as a way to broadcast his thoughts and his experiences to the world from his own perspective.
Using one of his experiences being a young African-American male, he created the “M.I.A Crewneck,” pictured on model Kynard McCray, that he feels represents some of his thoughts when it comes to black men in America.
“Art is usually coming from whoever is the artist. It’s his experience,” said Curtis. “That’s really my take on it, that we value a lot of things because they’ve been kept from us [African-American community], or through programming or through the media and things like that. We value it way more than we actually need to.”
Since starting with Social Experiment, Curtis has gained things that have helped his brand grow, such as knowledge on budgeting that allows him to produce more merchandise. He has also started partnering with Fordham on photography and promotion to really push the creative vision for the brand.
As Curtis prepares to graduate and head to Augusta University for his masters in nursing, he has plans to expand the brand.
”I don’t want it to be limited to just Georgia Southern … I want it to be in the street with communities where I’m able to help people and able to put other people on through my brand as well as taking care of my family,” said Curtis.
For a closer look at Social Experiment’s merchandise, visit their site: https://socialexperimentclo.com/social-experiment-clothing
Modeled by Kynard McCray, Brandon Curtis (Owner), Jamar Fordham, and Robynn Melzar
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