We have been stocking Obey for a long time and absolutey love their style and products! Here is a good read on Obeys Men's Designer Mike Ternosky is one of the main guys responsible for translating Shepard Fairey's vision to OBEY. By that's just one of the many things he does.

Read full Article here - http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/features/about_a_guy_mike_ternosky

Introduce yourself!

My name is Mike Ternosky and I am from Los Angeles, CA, originally from Avalon, NJ, in South Jersey. I went to Philadel-phia Textile, which is Philadelphia University now.

So, how did you get started with Obey Clothing? I grew up working at skate shops and surf shops. As I got older in high school I started doing the buying for some of the stores. The summer of my junior year of college, I came out to California to stay with a friend down in the San Diego area, and I started interning at a bunch of different action sports companies doing freelance work. My senior year, some guys that I knew were going to break off to start a new company and it ended up they were talking with Shepard. I knew all the guys that had been doing stuff for Space 1026 who had gone to school with Andrew Jeffery Wright, Ben Woodward, and all those guys. I used to see them at Pearl Art Supply over on South Street. I was very familiar with the stuff and when it came time to do a clothing company, I said, "Oh yeah we could totally do something around that."

What is the best thing about working with Shepard Fairey?

His work ethic. He is definitely one of the hardest working people I've ever met in my entire life. He just carries on, carries through anything. He is very, very persistent and passionate about his work. I think it's a real example that if you put hard work into something, it pays off more than good luck. Success is a product of hard work and I think he's an example of it.

Do you guys ever disagree about stuff?

Oh absolutely. Absolutely. It's funny, we're in the clothing business so there's certain trends and you kind of analyze stuff. Do we want to address this trend or do we not want to address it? I vividly remember a few years ago when we started doing some tank tops he was like, "Tank tops? Oh god, that reminds me of Myrtle Beach." I said, "Shep, you've got to think about us growing up, like old school influences, like Christian Hosoi, and all those guys. '80s vert skating, people were wearing tank tops so let's approach it from that angle."

How would you describe the Obey lifestyle?

I think this day and age, everybody wants to put something in a box: we're a streetwear brand, we're a high-end fashion brand, we're a surf brand, or a skate brand or whatever it is. The way I think Shep looked at it, and I did also, was we're really a product of all our influences, a lot of those being our friends, or the music we're listening to and stuff like that. So I think as a brand we represent so many different people. I grew up listening to hardcore music and hip-hop and all those things, now I like old-school country. Your tastes grow and evolve, and I think what we've done with Obey is take our early childhood influences, what we were influenced by in high school, and what we were influenced by during the college years, and refresh those ideas and bring it to a new audience.

Where do you draw inspiration from when you're designing?

A combination of past life experiences—childhood memories, nostalgia from the things I grew up doing, skateboarding, and music. These days definitely whatever music I'm listening to. We just got back from Copenhagen and Stockholm and that was a big influence. And then, just being out and about. Going out to shows or DJ events or a bar or restaurant with friends. I'm big on designing from a feeling and sometimes at restaurants or a bar or a venue you get a certain feeling from it and you can really translate that into clothing.

Any closing thoughts?

To anybody that wants to get into the clothing business, I think in this day and age there are so many opportunities like with the computer, screen printing, and stenciling. If you're not happy with the product that's out there, instead of complaining about it on the Internet, more then ever you have the tools and ability to make your own stuff. You can do things on a small scale and be able to change stuff. Instead of being more vocal about things, be more active.

Cite - urbanoutfitters.com