Skatemodo Interviews WELLBORN CLOTHING

December 17th, 2009 @

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Skatemodo Interviews WELLBORN CLOTHING

Wellborn Clothing began in 2007 as a D.I.Y. company by two friends in Chicago, Sean and Marfa. I asked them some questions, and they responded with sufficiently awesome answers. Read it and then go buy some clothes on their website: wellbornclothing.com

Skatemodo: Who started Wellborn and why?
Marfa: Wellborn Clothing was started by myself and my long time friend Sean back in 2007 when we both decided to do something different with our lives after we both got stuck working in jobs that paid the bills but gave us little time to keep up with skating. Wellborn is something that we both have been talking about doing for a long time before it actually came to life.


Marfa and Sean throwin’ around a shirt

Skatemodo: Where are you from and where do you work out of?
Marfa: We both grew up in Chicago and lived in the same neighborhood and used to skate together almost everyday. Wellborn is run out of our north side office in Chicago

Skatemodo: Who does the design?
Marfa: We both do .. And sometimes some friends will throw in there ideas, its pretty rad . But mostly we both come up with our own ideas and then we sit down look them over see what we like / what we don’t like and go from there. It’s pretty simple, but mostly we try to keep things real simple and focused on skate inspired ideas.
Sean: yea, we got blessed with having a pretty creative group of people
around us, for quite sometime.. whether it be previous job experiences or close friends – all talented people that never ceased to inspire us.

Skatemodo: I’m really impressed with your ads and the feel of the company, are you guys designers by trade?
Marfa: Glad you like what you see. That’s the point. Rite.
But no, neither of us are designers by trade, we just come up with these ideas and we try to make them happen (we are very D.I.Y) and if we cant, that’s when we give them over to our art department and they make the real magic happen.

Skatemodo: What are your real jobs (or are you living the dream)?
Marfa: No we are not living the dream.. Yet. I still work a day job in shipping.
Sean: subjective.. everything these days seems to be a work in progress, and working with marf day in and day out on putting all this together is quite the experience. Aside from Wellborn, i work with as a crossfit coach.


Stu Jacobs throwin’ down a feeble

Skatemodo: Who’s on the team?
Sean: the team… how lucky did we get? I met Stu Jacobs years ago.. homie has been killing it long before that, and continues to keep the youngsters on their toes. prior to Stu, we were able to get two of the most talented and motivated guys in the Chicagoland area: Shawn Turner & Joey Admaczyk. The shit these kids string together make me feel old and out of touch with my skateboard.

Skatemodo: Who are you trying to get on the team?
Marfa: That’s a hard question because we got who we want rite now, but we are always looking for new rippers to join the family.
Sean: yea like Marf said, we’re pretty content. These guys got heart and love for what their doing.. that goes a long way..

Skatemodo: Are you working on a video? (when, who, how to get it).
Marfa: We are not working on a video at this time . That’s something we would not want to rush on.

Skatemodo: When I come to Chicago, where should I skate?
Marfa: Anyone coming to Chicago to skate will definitely want to skate the Ravenswood wall, Clement H.S (in the back plaza), the matrix or even the south normal barrier or if all else fails try to go downtown and bomb the streets its got everything you want to skate.

Skatemodo: Best Chicago-style pizza?
Sean: Marie’s on Lawrence! Somewhere in that grease is a little pizza.. saturated goodness.
Marfa: I say for me its Pizza metro on division St. They make pizza to order. ( no cheese for me ) It’s So good.

Skatemodo: Where do you see the company in 5 years?
Sean: we’re heading into our fourth year right now, and couldn’t be happier to still be afloat amidst the current economic situation. 5 years? I think Marf would agree with me, that a national presence would be quite stellar. Either way, we’re gonna keep doing our thing, giving back to skateboarding, and producing affordable quality clothing for skateboarders

**All these super good photos are by Tony Francesconi


Joe Admaczyk going all ridiculously big and stuff