Armani Hardy is a young and talented fashion designer who recently started his online clothing brand “Approved”. After studying business at Chowan University, the 21-year-old designer is now focused on building his unique clothing brand. A talented student, Armani was appointed as the Student Government Association President for 2019-2020, and the president of the Rho Delta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity for 2019-2020.
Armani Hardy’s latest clothing collection is inspired by the ‘social distancing’ norm, that is going on for the past many months around the world, and probably will continue to exist for a while, due to the ongoing pandemic. In this exclusive interview, the designer talks about his brand, the latest collection, and his journey so far.
Interviewer: Give us a brief of your background and how you entered the fashion industry?
Armani Hardy: Ever since I was a child I always had a way of customizing clothes to have little A’s on them for the first letter of my name. Also having the first and last name of well-known designers made it easy to write my name on clothing and it would instantly give the second take for Is it a collaboration?
Interviewer: How did you start your brand “Approved”?
Armani Hardy: As I got older my knowledge for computers and design software grew which led to me creating flyers for my fraternity. From combining both those skills in 2018 I was able to start production of my company being that i knew all the software and ways to create a great design. The next thing was production because I’m very big on cutting the middle person out and going straight to the source. I learned every manufacturing tool from embroidery to screen printing to save cost. I also added my brother Martin Phillips to the team to help with production and marketing.
Interviewer: Tell us about the signature style of your brand?
Armani Hardy: At Approved we heavily change up the signature style because we believe in change is good. We produce a different style of clothing each launch to help bring a versatile appearance and not just a repetitive style.
Interviewer: Tell us about your latest collection inspired by social distancing.
Armani Hardy: Being a New York City resident and a child of a first responder Covid-19 has altered my life completely and with living in NYC for 21 years I know the one thing we would have the hardest time completing is Social Distancing being that every place you turn there will be someone within your 6feet of space with this collection i wanted to show that as New Yorkers we could beat all odds and keep each other safe.
Interviewer: Where do you see your brand in the next few years?
Armani Hardy: we would love to open a store to create a location and a home for Approved we would also like to host a number of virtual classroom for children to learn different artistic skills along with Business opening skills to help the youth start their own companies instead of being taught how to work for one.
Media Contact
Company Name: Approved
Contact Person: Armani Hardy
Email:Send Email
Country: United States
Website: www.approvedclothing.store/
