Today we’d like to introduce you to Mitra Khayyam.
Hi Mitra, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I got my Design Marketing and Management degree from Parsons School of Design in ’03. Within 18 months, I had started my first business, Blood is the New Black. Over nine years, the brand featured work by over 100 artists worldwide and was available in shops like Colette, Isetan, Fred Segal as well as Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom and other specialty chains in the US. I sold the brand in 2013 after launching Midnight Rider the year prior, which I continue to run to this day. Midnight Rider specializes in premium vintage look and feeling licensed country music merchandise from musicians like Waylon Jennings, Townes Van Zandt, Gram Parsons, among others like Muddy Waters, Janis Joplin, Miles Davis, and David Bowie. It is a niche business, but good business and we have been surrounded by a community of music fans who see the value in our work as a result. The last fifteen years as the founder of multiple apparel brands is a long story and may not be able to wrap up in a short interview. It has been fun, challenging, and incredibly rewarding.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not always been a smooth road. I try to not focus my thinking on how difficult it’s been, but this career is not for the faint of heart. Every day I solve problems as creatively and tactfully as possible. Few suggestions for those new to launching a business – take good care of yourself; get rest, eat well, have work-life balance, treat others well and opt-in for business insurance, you never know when you may need it.
As you know, we’re big fans of Midnight Rider. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Midnight Rider was launched in 2012 with the intention of creating the best country music merchandise. I create licensed merchandise for some of the greatest folks in the music industry including but not limited to Waylon Jennings, Chris Stapleton, The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Margo Price and ZZ Top. The brand’s production facilities are located in Los Angeles and I believe in producing our merchandise in US as a tribute to the legacy of the artists whose work I feature on our site. The tees are created using unique processes to give them a vintage look and feel – referencing my favorite vintage band tees stuff in my drawers and are available at stores like Free People, Anthropologie, Planet Blue, Burro among other stores throughout the US and our website, sometimes you may even be able to find my tees on tour with musicians when they’re on the road. In the last eight years, the legacy of my work, the intentionality of design and care in production has put the brand’s name in the mouths of those in the know in the music industry in and out of Nashville. This speaks as to the integrity of the product and the need for a brand like Midnight Rider in the music industry.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Never would I have thought that I would be working in the country music industry as a kid. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and was the child of Iranian immigrants. I was always an entrepreneurial kid and knew I wanted to work in the apparel industry since I was no older than 8 or 9….sometimes I say be careful what you wish for. I was always really into music as a kid, I loved 50s rock ‘n’ roll in grade school (like Little Richard, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, and Dion) and ended up goth in high school – I think this career is a perfect opportunity to merge my interest in music and apparel. My interests and points of reference were always a little off the beaten path growing up, owed to my experience growing up as a first-generation American, so the fact that I was open to genres and styles that aren’t always popular has helped me find markets that were under-represented. In other words, I think being a bit of a weirdo worked to my advantage…
Pricing:
- Shirts range from $49.99
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.shopmidnightrider.com
- Instagram: shopmidnightrider
- Facebook: shopmidnightrider
Image Credits
Office photos by Alex Free Model photos my Ramon Felix
