Students create art collective clothing line featured at Quest

The Superiors – also known as Boys on the Superior Side – is an art collective clothing line, founded and designed in 2011 by Miles Davis, ’16, and Ulysses Richmond.

When Davis and Richmond created the line, its target market aimed to address a large population: high school students, college students, graduates, working individuals and people interested in street and urban wear.

The co-founders publicly debuted the clothing line to the Lehigh community April 24 by wearing the designs on stage at the annual QUEST concert.

“It’s another chance to promote the brand at a venue such as QUEST where 1,000 people will be in attendance for a sold out show,” Davis said. “We are hoping that we get more awareness and people see the value in the brand as the three people on stage will positively portray what it means to be ‘livin’ Superior.’”

Davis, along with Minni Kim,’16, and Kevin Stripling,’16, were on stage wearing the clothing line during the opening act before this year’s headliner, Big Sean. Members of The Superiors’ street team worked as vendors, as well, selling to the concert-goers.

“To be an art collective line means to express all ideas that the collective group has and compile them as one brand that stands for something positive,” Davis said. “It means that now we are looked at as artists, who will use our talents to bring our ideas into existence into positive, artful creations.”

Featuring the clothes on social media is the company’s main form of marketing, using mediums such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The Superiors team also hosts photo shoots with Lehigh students, fashion shows at other universities, and uses a street team to market the brand in cities such as Baltimore, Chicago and New York.

Davis said he hopes that his clothing line will do more than just be a clothing line. He hopes it will spark more interest in learning, as well.

“We have a conscious brand that teaches people of melanin in their own history, which cultivates minds and entices them to learn more about their history, as it is so rarely taught in schools,” Davis said.

One of the designs – inspired by Davis’ personal interest in astronomy and the abundance of the universe – is a long-sleeved shirt featuring an exoplanet, or a planet surrounding a star other than the sun.

He said he feels that design aligns with the Superior brand because it realizes that there shouldn’t be limits on ways of thinking about life, and that people should keep an open and inspired mind.

Other designs include the Black History/Melanin Month shirts, which Davis describes as black faces of kings and queens that are hand-drawn as silhouettes. He said the word “negus” and “kandake” are written beneath, meaning king and queen, respectively, in Ethiopian and Ancient Nubian.

Boys on the Superior Side clothing line hopes to do more than just make a profit for the company.

“In the future, we plan to help third world countries and individuals in our own country that cannot provide for themselves,” Richmond said. “Clothing will be provided for them as well as food and water. These are just a few of the things we plan on doing to give back.”

Jazmin Veney, the creative director of The Superiors, is in charge of designing what will stand out to consumers. She believes in a bright future for their company, and said the company has set long-term goals and is working to develop the team to help the brand thrive.

The idea behind this brand, and everyone who is involved in it, takes superiority to a whole new level.

“We made this brand for people who are on a journey with themselves, and they understand that everyday is another obstacle,” Richmond said. “The only true way to the light is to eliminate ego, stay positive and spread your own light.”