Trendmill talks to brand pimps

Brand Pimps & Media Whores, the name pretty much says it all.  They do everything, are everywhere, and they are doing it before you know it exists.  The bpmw*** team can be simply referred to as shakers. Out with corporate stuffed shirts, in with the fluid and colorful.  bpmw*** is doing their best to bring us the products we care about most by representing some of the hottest brands out there, running an amazing blog and being experts at what they do.

We had a chance to talk to founding member Edina Sultanik about her business and what to expect from them and streetwear.

Who came up with the name: brand pimps & media whores and what does it mean to you?

My partner Minya & I came up with the idea. It just came to us when we started talking about what the company would do. We had lots of people approaching us asking us to pimp their brands, and, as we worked in the magazine world, almost everyone we knew was some sort of media whore. The name kind of created itself. But, since some people find the name offensive, we generally go by the name bpmw***.

What exactly does brand pimps do?

We do a lot- First and foremost, we have wholesale showrooms in NY and LA, in which we sell a handful of great menswear brands including Barking Irons, Yoko Devereaux, B.Son, Hause of Howe, LA Denim, Penfield, Staple Design, and CLAW Money

We also handle public relations for many of the brands we sell as well as aNYthing, and Baxter of California grooming products, to name a few of our clients.

AND, we have a buying office (we act as buyers for a handful of small boutiques), operate a blog, offer marketing services and consult new brands on how to be successful in the premium market.
 
We're also launching a trade show, called Capsule in July in NYC that will specialize in a blend of high end streetwear and directional men's sportswear brands from around the world.

Why are you drawn primarily to streetwear?

We've always been interested in where the excitement in fashion comes from, and it almost always comes from the streets. Designers like Galliano and Hedi Slimane are influenced by what's happening on the streets of the world's major cities and you've seen the success of designer collabos like the Vuitton/Murakami thing, or Yohji for adidas, for example, so, we've focused on streetwear because that's where the action is.

And, we like the community. We really feel a strong sense of global likemindedness among the members of the streetwear community. We travel a lot, stay on top of international trends and happenings, are wide open to new ideas and want to make the world a better place. We like the confluence of art, action sports, and global cultures that figure into the streetwear scene.

There's also an emphasis on quality and luxury in the streetwear world that makes all the gear worth all the hustle.

How do you choose the companies you represent?

Every brand has to have a great backstory-- either a heritage, or a strong mission statement, as well as fresh design, high quality and an eye on innovation.

What is the most difficult part of your job and what is the most rewarding part of the job?

We love helping young designers, and are always giving advice, meeting with people just starting out, and people on the rise. That's why we started the company- we wanted to help young designers get recognized. The problem is, that sort of work doesnt always pay the bills. One of the hardest things to do is to turn down a potential client for financial reasons.

Has the internet changed your life?

Of course!

You started a trend-centric blog called wearethemarket, how is that going?

Its going great-- it has an industry insider focus, featuring news and information from the so-called premium market, but we have thousands of visitors each month from all over the world, all checking out different elements of the blog.

We've already seen a BPMW x Weekly Drop x Zune collab for your Autumn/Winter lineup, what else can we expect from you guys in the next year?

We can't reveal what other ingenious ideas we have cooking! All we can say is that the Zune thing was very successful. It took a whole new approach to doing PR, and gave the Zunes a whole new use. Look forward to more creative ideas from bpmw*** going forward.

We have a feature on our members profile called last seen, could you share with us, what you were:

last seen wearing: My new Marc Jacobs electric pruple sunglasses
last seen watching: Top Design
last seen reading: Bombshell, The Life & crimes of CLAW Money
last seen listening: the Klaxons

To find out more about bpmw***, visit www.brandpimps.com or their blog at www.wearethemarket.com.