Abesha.Com: Arif Wear

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Cold nights in Georgia are like tear jerkers during funerals. They always happen during the winter. For those of us who pretend it's a surprise every time Mother Earth hits with less than desirable weather, abesha.com has this piece of advice: if less than 45 degrees out, a coat equals very necessary. Yet if you wont listen to us, hear wisdom second from the man that has the soon-to-be-created habesha hip hop oriented clothing industry on lock. Yes yall…we have none other than Aklilu aka AK in the abesha.com house…the founder and C.E.O. of the gear yall need to rock: ARIF WEAR, inc.

And while it took some serious abesha.com politicking to get a piece of this man's time (some mention of a nonexistent house party in the West End may have had to have been made) we none the less managed to slip in a few of the pertinent questions yall were dying to know. Strickly for the people yall, strickly…

Abesha: So where are you from?
AK: From Addis, to Cali…but right now I'm on the East coast (Bronx, NY).

Abesha: What have you been doing since you been out here?
AK: Been going to school, doing my thing. I have my own business, and I've been self employed since like way back, 'bout '96.

Abesha: What is it that you do?
AK: Full-time? ARIF…

Abesha: Describe ARIF…
AK: It's a clothing company that I came up with the idea for a couple of years ago…

Abesha: And what inspired you?
AK: I needed the money (laughing). Actually, I've always liked fashion and I wanted to open up a store. So I studied about fashion, looked up catalogues, magazines…I went to trade shows, then all of a sudden I was like yo, this is a really good idea…I need to really do this…

Abesha: And how's it going so far?
AK: Pretty good. A lot of people are liking it, not just habeshas…Cause you know, the gear is tight…

Abesha: Oh word? So you have t-shirts and such?
AK: Yeah, t-shirts, hats, jackets…we're designing pants that haven't come out yet, for both men and women.

Abesha: I heard a funny story about the company logo; something about yall having about 200?
AK: (Laughing) Yeah, we came out with so many logos, and we were going through them like nah…nah…this isn't it…nah… Finally, we got this one (gestures to the logo on his t-shirt). We also have a new design where the ARIF logo pyramid is coming out from the back and flying towards the front, and on the front of the shirt, we have one standing upright and another upside down, so it looks kinda like the star of David…

Abesha: Oh word…
AK: Yeah, it's sick…

Abesha: And where can people purchase ARIF wear?
AK: Well, it's going to be online soon…but as of right now, about 25 stores are carrying it.

Abesha: How many people are involved with ARIF and where are yall located?
AK: 5 different people, and we are all over…North West, Cali, New York, you name it…

Abesha: Has starting something like ARIF always been your dream?
AK: I've always been dreaming, yeah…ever since I came to this country.

Abesha: And did you think it was going to blow up when you started it?
AK: Umm…well it hasn't blown up yet…

Abesha: It hasn't? Why you say that?
AK: I don't know…we still need to do a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff….

Stay tuned for more up dates on the ARIF-BOMB blowing up process, from the people that brought it you first (or second)…for more info, check out www.arifwear.com

This was an abesha.com presentation….