Today we’d like to introduce you to Devin Perry and Andrea Cheung.
Hi Devin and Andrea, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
STREET GRANDMA’s story actually begins in 2006 at a middle school in San Gabriel, CA. We met there in the 6th grade and became best friends after bonding over a shared love of Family Guy. Earlier this year, Andrea had finished her master’s degree in environmental science, and I just finished a program to become an American Sign Language interpreter. But as COVID19 spread and grew more serious, our prospects no longer stood as originally planned. Andrea and I were racking our brains trying to find ways to stay motivated and creative, eventually leading up to Andrea texting me and asking to meet and discuss creating a brand for women. Two tomboys at heart, we were both drawn to the streetwear industry as adults and wanted to create a space for women without compromising on ethical manufacturing or that signature, oversized style. We met up at an outdoor brewery with our laptops and Powerpoint presentation and we began discussing what we loved to wear, what clothing made us feel confident, and what we felt was missing in women’s streetwear. After five months of designing, sourcing, and planning we created STREET GRANDMA, a brand dedicated to bold designs on functional items using sustainable and ethical practices.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
HA! When we started out, we wondered what kind of roadblocks we would encounter, hoping this would be easier than people made it out to be. We were wrong. We’ve had plenty of setbacks, some I’m afraid to share. Our first setback was we had put a ton of thought into what color we would dye our products, building our first collection around this color. We were so nervous to get back the sample but excited to see what it looked like in person. We had no idea the polyester ribbing (100% recycled) wouldn’t hold the dye, so the garment came out this BEAUTIFUL deep, forest green with mismatched seams and ribbing. We’ve also gotten our inventory counts wrong. We’ve had several other setbacks we will share at a later time when we are further away from it and can laugh about it instead of cry. And we’ve also had arguments between ourselves about how STREET GRANDMA should be run, which is difficult when you’re running a business with your best friend. Through it all, we solved our problem together, chose to be friends first and business partners second, and remained grateful to have each other throughout this experience.
We’ve been impressed with STREET GRANDMA, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
STREET GRANDMA currently makes apparel, with the goal to expand into home goods and other things we like. We are inspired by all things timeless. We felt like as people age and become old, they care most about functionality, comfort, and sensibility so we wanted to incorporate those things into our clothes. We hope that if we ethically make things that are high quality, timeless, with bold designs, it would be something unique that you’d want to keep til you’re old!
Who else deserves credit in your story?
We are both very fortunate to have committed and helpful partners and parents. My partner, Justin is a producer in LA and spent the last two years working as a producer for Highsnobiety in NYC. He has been enormously helpful in organizing our photoshoots, guiding us, and giving his opinion along the way. Andrea’s dad has been a cheerleader for our business since the beginning. A recent retiree, he’s supported us by giving us endless encouragement, helping us sew our tags, and organizing our inventory. Some entrepreneurs are able to achieve great things on their own, we are grateful we’ve had a lot of help.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.streetgrandma.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/streetgrandma/
Image Credits
De Marquis Daniels for STREET GRANDMA’s Winter 2020 Collection.
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