Oleg Cassini he’s not—yet. But Cassini had to start somewhere. Curtis Long may be the next generation of couturier although his new clothing line, Pauli Casalino, so far deals mostly in t-shirts with sophisticated graphics. For now, his is a part time project but buzz is growing.
Marketing to 18 to 30 year olds, primarily through Facebook and his website, he drew 60 people to the company’s formal launch June 1 at Small Planet in East Lansing.
“We know a lot of people who know a lot of people,” Long laughs. Twenty volunteer models showed up, recruited on Facebook, for an upscale photo shoot at 4 p.m., followed by a blow out party that went on until 2 a.m.
Long is a Sexton High School graduate and majored in history and education at Ferris State University. He now is in graduate school in public administration at Western Michigan University.
He has long been passionate about clothing, although he didn’t want to go to school to learn about it. The 25-year-old is getting on-the-job training in clothing as well as business management. He has invested $2,000, so far.
The t-shirts sell for $20 to $30. Already, Long is looking for ways to cut production costs. To print Nathan Johnson’s art work on a t-shirt costs $20 for set up and $6 per imprint.
“We can save a lot of money if we purchase the printing equipment and do it ourselves,” Long says.
His company’s name, Pauli Casalino, is a creation of his imagination. He was watching the movie, “Goodfellas” and selected one of the character’s names, “Pauli.” Then he searched the names of towns in Italy online and found “Casalino.”
People like the name, he says. It is emblazoned in some cases from top to bottom on the t-shirts.
“One day I hope to have the line in lots of stores,” Long says.
Source: Curtis Long, Pauli Casalino
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.