I’ve said it once. I’ve said it a million times. A good name can make anything pop. Guns & Crayons is a growing streetwear brand based in Phoenix, Arizona (pray for them, ya’ll), that I fell in love with the second I heard their name. Created by childhood friends, Thomas and Keith in 2008, and truly launched at the beginning of this year, Guns & Crayons pulls off a blend of high fashion and streetwear in a way that I haven’t really seen before. I like. You’ll like. Get to reading.

DC Streetwear: When did you all get started?

G&C: Guns & Crayons started around Summer 2008, but we didn’t really start going hard with it until January 1, 2010. That’s when we really dropped the line.

DC Streetwear: How has it been so far?

G&C: Really good. We had a really strong response. We built a hype around it, if you will, and a lot people were waiting for it to drop in 2009, but some things happened, so we pushed it back a little bit, and then when we dropped in 2010, the response from everybody was crazy.

DC Streetwear: What made you decide to start a line now, especially in this time of financial crisis?

G&C: I wouldn’t say that the recession has affected us. We all do a lot of different things. But what really made us start the line up was that we grew up around what most people would call thieves. We grew up around stick-up kids. What happened was that a group of people that I used to hang with got caught pulling licks, so they did some time for it. Around the time that this happened, streetwear was becoming more popular, as opposed to the brands that you can buy in outlets, like Dillards, and things like that. I was seeing what was happening and I liked it, so I wanted to put a little twist on it. The only brand that was out there that represented the streets, or the real grimy stuff was Crooks & Castles. I wanted to do something that gave a little more leisure to that type of thing, if you will. Kind of put a spin on it. Crooks was doing the real street, grimy stuff, but that I didn’t’ see anyone else doing it. So that was a perfect fit for us. So we took the stick-up kids theme, and we ran with it. That’s where we got Guns & Crayons. The ‘guns’ stands for the stick-up, and the ‘crayons’ actually stands for kids. Everything we do kind of has a code in it that you have to decipher. A normal person may not understand the brand, but people who are living in the lifestyle will get everything that we do.

DC Streetwear: Why Arizona?

G&C: That’s where we were based out of. We didn’t really have any other choice. We’re based out of Phoenix. The scene over here is really picking up. We have a couple different brands. There’s not a very strong music scene out here, which is kind of weird, but there’s a strong independent clothing line scene. We’re one of the ones that is at the forefront of it all.

DC Streetwear: Many times, streetwear culture seems to coincide with music. Why do you think streetwear is blowing up independently of music in Phoenix?

G&C: The music scene out here is kind of big, but out here, nobody really messes with each other. There’s a lot of hate that goes on, and that stops the scene from getting as big as it could. We have a couple of people that are signed to big record labels.We have dudes from Black Wall Street, and Hot Rod on G-Unit, but none of them really work together, or anything like that.They just want to do their own thing. I think it comes down to the fact that there is so much opportunity out here, that everybody wants to be that person whose name is big out here, so they don’t really work with each other. That messes everything up for everybody else then, no one is getting put on. Where as, now with the fashion, we have a couple of boutiques out here. We have a good four or five boutiques out here, and every boutique is backing up a streetwear line. Right now, we’re working with King & Duck. They’re helping us out with everything.

DC Streetwear: You’ve said previously that King & Duck would be the only boutique that you really work with. What made you make that decision?

G&C: have a couple of boutiques hitting me up to open accounts, but I don’t want to saturate the market right away. I might work with one or two boutiques here, and in New York and LA just to have that presence, but for the most part, I think I’m going to stick to this one out here. I kind of want to go down the route that Bape and Johnny Cupcakes have gone down. I want to possible open up my own store.

DC Streetwear: Do feel that over-saturating has been the downfall of some other streetwear brands?

G&C: Yeah, I think that’s a problem, because when you oversaturate the market, it’s not cool no more. It’s not fresh. It’s not new anymore. Crooks and the Hundreds are is going into Zumiez, skate shops, and things like that, and that kind of takes away from how special it should feel. If you’re making a line for a certain lifestyle, you wanna cater to that lifestyle. The lifestyle they’re selling is more for a boutique. Yeah, they do that skate stuff. But when it comes to the line, it should be so special, instead of so corporate. I feel like that is taking away from some lines. From what I hear, a lot of people are backing up from the big lines in streetcar, just because they are getting the bigger accounts.

DC Streetwear: How would you describe the style of your line?

G&C: I would say it’s like high-end couture mixed with street. A lot of brands have gone kind of corny, and a lot of brand have gone with that gothic feel, that ‘all black everything’ look. I would say that I want to make my line the Chanel of streetwear.

DC Streetwear: You made a tee to go with the 6′s? What brought that about?

G&C: That’s actually the first t-shirt we released. We released it in a white colorway in the summer of 2008, and it sold out really quick. We wanted to make a bigger amount. Since this is our first year of being truly in the game, we wanted to run with that picture of Jordan in his first year in the game. That just really goes back to what we do. If you grew up in a neighborhood where there were hustlers, Jordans were just the thing to rock, and they still are. We just wanted to make a shirt to represent that side of where we come from.

DC Streetwear: Where do you see your brand going in the future?

G&C: We’re looking into doing some cut and sew, possibly for summer or winter. We’re gong have a full-length, lined jacket, denim–the denim is going to be under a different company–denim jackets, beanies–the whole range. We’re going to do a lot accessories. I also want to branch out into other mediums, like books. I’m actually working on a book right now, so I definitely want to branch out. Possibly cartoons—I want to put my twist on everything.

DC Streetwear: What three brands would you like to collaborate with in the future?

G&C: I would definitely want to collaborate with Chanel. That would be real dope. I would love to collaborate with Vanguard, they’re based out of Italy, I really like the stuff that they do. Last, but not least, I would say that I would want to collaborate with Bathing Ape.

Check out this Guns and Crayons video. It’s for the second part of their Spring Drop.

And if that video doesn’t post correctly (site’s been acting super janky), click this here hyperlink.

Make sure to check out their site. Cool shit.