William Boston has quickly become one of the most successful fashion designers in the South East. You cannot go anywhere in the South without seeing that unique WB logo on peoples clothing. Since the release of his apparel line his clothing can be found in over 300 locations. You would think that he has a big corporate machine behind him, but truthfully his team consists of himself and a small collective group. Boston’s independent grind has allowed him to make major moves in this industry. I sat down with the young fashion mogul to see his vision and what his next steps will be.

Let the people know who you are and where you from? To da world, they know me as William Boston young entrepreneur form Miami, Fl...But to friends and family, they call me Travis (my middle name); you can call me either or, just call me when check right.

You been grinding a long time on the urban fashion scene. When did You get in the game? Yeah, it’s been a while...still grinding too! But as far as the fashion thing goes, I got real deep with it in 2002

What made you want to get into the fashion game? I got into the fashion game, from a friend who went to college with me, named Terrence Snelling aka Sapp, because we thought he looked like former NFL player Warren Sapp. He used to paint shoes in school, one day we linked up started painting the shoes together, but then I needed clothes to match the crazy colors we were making, and I couldn’t find them in the stores so I started making my own.

When did you know that you could make Money off your skills? I think the first time I knew I could really turn this into a business, was one day at a football game, I had my gear on with the colorful shoes, and a guy asked me how much would I charge him to make a fit like mines, made my first dollar from doing something I liked and from there it was on

Who were some of your fashion influences growing up? Fashion influences growing up were all the young black guys doing it, like karl kani, Fubu, and Sean john. They really made me believe it was possible, because I was able to relate to them and their style more than I could with a Tommy Hilfiger or Polo

There have been a lot of clothing lines that have come and gone, how has your brand been able to stay relevant in the streets? You aint lying, some of these lines be dropping out the game like flies at a bug light, my line has been able to still be relevant because I put God first. Fashion is not a fad to me; I truly have a passion for this. People come up with one design print it on t-shirts and say “Check out my clothing line” Not thinking about what they going do once that design gets old. I understand the game and know what people like, and I take that and mix it with my touch and have been able to still be relevant to this day because of that.

I know that you independently manufacture your own clothes. What Would you say the Pros and cons of that is? Yep, everything we do is made in house by hand and other machinery, the pro about that is that I get to see everything that goes out, there is no group of people just making designs and tagging my label on shit. I see every piece of clothing before it hits the streets. The con is that I have to work longer hours because we don’t have a huge manufacture, but its equivalent to being an independent artist. If you’re successful moving units on a independent scale, the only thing you need a big manufacture for is to help you move more Units faster, but until then We independently getting ours.

How would you describe your line? Our tag line is “The art of fashion” because we bring urban couture art to the fashion world, when you mix the two together you end up getting William Boston Apparel.

What makes your line stand out? Our line stands out and is unique because there are two parts to it, you have the hand painted abstract side, where we have one of a kind hand painted apparel, and then you have the signature collection, a more conservative swagphisticated style of apparel. That way, we’re able to hit the urban and hip-suburban sides of the clothing industry.

What is the process like when you create your clothing? Man, sometimes it can be from a song, the day, something I experienced last week, it just varies. That’s why we’re different because a lot of emotion and passion goes into our clothes

If you could choose any celebrity to endorse your line who would you choose and why? Barack Obama! lol, that would be dope to see the president in my shit tho, But if I really had to choose I would say somebody like Andre 3000. I think that he understands fashion; he knows you don’t have to match from head to toe and shit. You always want TO see what the hell Andre gonna where when he in public.

I see that you are very active on social media. How has twitter and Facebook helped your business? I fucking love facebook and twitter, because it allows you to interact with people that never ever met you before, and the minute that they feel like they are connected to you, or know you a lil bit due to your updates or tweets, It pretty much helps you and your business. Because now you’re not just on the net advertising your business all damn day, your actually giving them a piece of you as well, which make them want to be associated with whatever your associated with.

People on Facebook always look forward to your True Talk Tuesdays. What made you come up with that? Lol, man True Talk Tuesday started one Tuesday afternoon when I was just asking random debatable questions, the shit went ham, every post had over a hundred comments, then one of my FB friends in boxed me and said man you should do this every week and call it “True Talk Tuesday” and that was two years ago, we been doing it every Tuesday @9pm ever since. That shit is damn near like a Tv show, I wish Mtv, vh1, bet, tv one or some damn body would cut da check and help me make this shit world wide

You seem to have your hands in other things besides Fashion. Let our readers know what else you got going on? Trrrruuu, I’m just a hustler. Why get paid only one way?, when you can have them checks coming in from every angle. But I have a youtube show called “Round table With the Buffet Boys” which is like a comedy talk show, I got the music thing I do with and artist named Dukwon, I’m more of a hype man and business partner with him, I also co-own the website mediarundown.com, so I’m just stretched all over the place, just trying to make it happen from every angle.

I know that you have your own shop in the Jacksonville area. How has that been working out? The shop here has been great, we’re in the process of getting a bigger spot, so by the time this drops we’ve probably have moved, but customers can always reach us at 904-257-5654

What is the ultimate goal and vision for the WB Brand? The ultimate goal for my brand and line is to have it in stores across the world, such as Macy’s, Belks, sears, and things of that nature, we’re really trying to go nationwide and WE WILL, I GUARANTEE!!

You recently just had a huge Fashion show. How was that? Yeah, that fashion show was a blessing, it was my first time doing a solo fashion show we’re I only displayed my clothes, usually I’m apart of everyone else’s shows and I get a little 10 minute segment, but we did a 2 hour show, displaying the spring, summer and fall collection and it was a packed house, not enough seats for people to sit, we had a little over 300 people at my first show. The feeling was amazing, to see so many people come out to support something that started on a dorm room floor in 2002. But the show was great, shout out to all the models, all the performers, skyline sports bar for letting me have the event there and to all the supporters, couldn’t have been a success without them.

What can we expect from you in the future? The future looks brighter than ever for my line, I know we’re planning the fall fashion show now, call F.A.M.E (fashion art music and entertainment) I believe it’s going to be a big one thanks to the one we just did, hopefully things go our way and we make an introduction on this year’s BET’s rip the runway, we’re also opening up a store in Atlanta, a nice boutique style store, and just grinding our way to the top

Where can people purchase WB apparel? They can purchase 24/7 at www.williambostonapparel.com or if you’re in Jacksonville, Fl stop by our shop at 5757 Arlington rd, for more info call 904-257-5654

How can fans get in contact with you? Lol, fans? I aint got no fans... I just got real supporters, but any supporters that want to holla @ the kid, hit me on facebook @ facebook.com/iamwilliamboston or twitter @william_boston I would give ya’ll my myspace but hell, I forgot that shit, I’m sure you don’t know yours either

Do you have any final thoughts? Yeah, I just want to tell everybody who believes in me and my brand THANK YOU! I truly appreciate the support, thank you Nine5Four magazine and thank YOU for taking time to read this!