Today I present another written interview with Kahn Santori Davison. Kahn Started Kahn Santori Photography in 2003 on credit cards and good luck. He now does 20-30 weddings a year and 30-40 families and high school seniors. Primal Immortality is my newest venture. Kahn wanted to take his love for the arts and photography and make it into something real and awesome. He made it a t-shirt with the mantra “Be immortal” which is used to explain the goal of every artist. We all want our work to “breathe forever”.
Check out his sites & the interview:
1. What got you interested in branding your own t-shirts and apparel online? Share your story.
For years I had been trying to figure out how to combine my many of my passions – photography, poetry, and art in general. I know so man starving artist, successful artist, depressed artists, artists who need motivation, etc….. But it occurred to me that we all have the same goals. We all want to be defined by our art. If you asked, “Kahn; what are you?” I would say without hesitation; “a photographer!” The other goal is that we all want our work to live forever. All of us are striving to produce the kind of work that will tell our story long after we have passed away. That’s where the phrase “Be Immortal” comes from.
2. T-shirts are a huge craze these days with sites like Teespring really tasking off, how have you gone about sourcing your product for sale now that so many options are available today?
Online and setting up booths at local events. I know my crowd and I know who I want to wear my shirts. DJ’s, painters, poets, writers, sculptors, graffiti artists, dancers, singers, actors, hipsters and bohemian types. I just don’t feel this market has been widely targeted
3. How have you gone about promoting your business online? Are you doing any social media, paid advertising or other methods to drive business?
I have been making as many social media and website contacts as possible. I have a Kickstarter that begins on 4/25/14 and I’ve joined many forums, reached out to various artists via Twitter and Facebook, paid for a few promoted Facebook post and banner ads. I have memes that I tweet out daily, press releases that go out and a constant flow of photos that I put online, motivational and fun promo youtube videos and flyers for I pass out at local art galleries in the Detroit area. The brand was launched on 1/1/2014 and I wanted to build up as much momentum as possible for the Kickstarter campaign.
4. When it comes to design, how did you come up with the designs for your apparel and was this challenging?
Trial and error. I Just designed shirts and would show them to friends and peers of mine who represented my target audience. It was tough because initially I designed wayyyy too many shirts. I narrowed things down to just 5 designs because the biggest cost in the shirt business is screens and trying to finally support the inventory for 10 or 15 screens was too challenging. If you go on our Youtube page- there are several promo videos of shirts that aren’t even available yet. The main reason the Kickstarter campaign is being launched is to support the inventory of the current designs and the future ones.
4. What are your future plans for 2014 and beyond?
Grow, grow, and grow! I really, really, want this is to be much more than “shirts.” I want this to be a interactive driven site where art is discussed, blogged about, sold, and supported. I want people to click, buy a shirt, read the blog, contribute to the discussion and comeback do it again and again. That’s how you build a following and a community.
