White G Designs the World--The Five Year Plan

My book is selling at least 500 copies a week. ($220,000/month)

The mass media, having nothing else to chew on, can't restrain itself. A million and a half in ads has sparked a fifty year storm feeding frenzy.

Everybody knows White Gold.

They love it! Finally a loving, honest deep culture! A place to go. Room to grow. Something to aspire to. Something that inspires! Culture without ironic brats in the way.

They hate it! What an elitist fuck! How will high school dropouts ever afford it? He thinks he's better than us. Delusional, hateful, pretentious sell-out. Combining love with money--what is he, crazy?

How dare he?!!

(Then they read it, but that's another post).

With overhead that's very conservatively $2 mil the first year. (It'll likely sell at least 1000 books a week). Not much, but certainly enough to secure what I'll need to build.

And what will I build, you ask?

First the basics.

Good men's clothing. Like big money, good mens clothing tends to fall into two camps: paunchy, golfy and skinny, mini.

The first could be found at Marios in Seattle. 50s guys who made their money. And you can't find a straight cut sweater to save your life. Pants all have pleats--even the 32s. The colors are muted and boring and everything looks like its someone uptight trying to relax. Oversized to hide the paunch, and maybe for golfing? Who knows.

The second was found at Barneys. Very heeip. Graphics on suitcoats, "distressed" (read very precisely ripped) hems, poorly knit sweaters (poorly knit on purpose of course). Intentionally ugly colors. Stuff trying to look like it came from a thrift store. Dark, morose stuff trying to help rich kids look punky. Or, more likely, trying to help gay men look like straight rich kids trying to look nonchalant.

Everything here was tight and stingy. Slim cut. For those too loose who want to look put together.

Two strikes and you're out.

The huge market, and where all the growth is is straight down the middle. Where is the love for a normal, well adjusted, happy, reasonably relaxed person? Someone who's not trying to make a statement or "relax" with his clothes?

Who is doing what he wants already? Who doesn't want to change with the times. Who knows who he is already. Who isn't going to buy into either square toe or bulb toe shoes but wants exactly what he got the last time he bought shoes--the right ones.

Cut right down the middle.

Straightforward. No baggy, floppy and no stingy, hyper cuts. Just normal stuff. No zig, no zag. --Eternal.

And beautiful, vibrant, rich, bright, warm colors; exquisite fabrics and spot-on detailing. And the basics of course.

I didn't mention in my historical post the other day that I built a very successful graphic design firm during my punk dayz. (I say punk more to communicate my dedication to a specific set of ideals, I never considered myself a "punk rocker" or "grunge" but a person doing what he wanted to and thought what was best).

I thought up, directed and executed multi-million dollar ad campaigns worldwide.

And rode my skateboard to lunch. And played pool and guitar in my filthy 10,000 SF co-op warehouse in downtown Seattle.

That was pretty good. We were paying $120/month apiece in rent and doing work for Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, The David Letterman Show, NBC, VW, a bunch of other national and international clients and a million bands and record labels. Nirvana, Sub Pop, Atlantic, sunglass and snowboard companies.

It's fun to get a $20,000 check when your overhead is closer to $1300 a month--including food. More Faith/Void splits and deep soul 45s for me.

I also had a clothing company. T hree. It folded (poor price points and punkish clientele do not a good business plan make).

I mention it just to let y'all know that I know what I'm doing. Cause I know one of you out there is considering dropping the 2 millie even as a lark. And why not? There's nothing else the fuck going on.

I've had patterns made, overseen production and the whole nine. I was even briefly commissioned to design garments for an action sports retailer.

My own shit's gonna be right down the middle. All this extreme nonsense has messed everyone up. Communicate with cut and color. As few logos, labels and nonsense as possible. We wear it not the other way around.

Just make the damn thing and enjoy the long tail of sales. :) If it doesn't sell well enough for the White G Boutiques, just carry a few online. Or have them made to order.

No limited editions--that's all manipulation and devalues the brand long term (yes, it does). Once you get cool enough to want warmth again, you'll know that instinctually.

As long as we can make it, it's available. If you're lucky enough to see someone else in the same thing, you probably have a lot to talk about anyway.

So that's the clothes, I can do that off the side while recording the album. I imagine my wife will want to do the women's side. Have Borrelli manufacture so we don't have to ride them like a sweatshop. Jeans cut in every fabric. Casual suits with jean cut pants? Who knows. No worn or dirty stuff though, and likely very few graphics beyond logo Ts--straight cuts for straight men.

For shoes, maybe Churches--no they're not comfortable enough. It's gonna have to feel like going barefoot on a white sand beach. Some classic tan bucks. Some bluchers. (Have LL Bean do those). And Nike for the sneaks. Maybe classic re-issues with our own colorways. Sans swoosh? Though a pair of original K Swiss in white with gold stripes would be dope as well. Might as well contract them both. It's not like there are any rules. White G designs the world.

Oh--and my kingdom for a pair of decent brown oxfords. Why can't anyone cut it straight? Not too much sole, perfect round toe, probably cordovan. Re-soleable.

A pair of Jack Purcells too. In natural canvas. And maybe blue or red if you're nice.

Sportjackets I'm not sure yet. I haven't found one I can't do without. I'll try local tailors Oxxford when I have more scrilla. It'd be fun to use some US makers, but only if they're the best. I'm not going to make anything I wouldn't wear myself.

I'll do polo shirts too--no logo but you'll know just looking at it--and maybe dress shirts as well. Who knows.

Socks and undergarments for sure. Right off the bat. I feel like I'm fighting for air with my Calvins. He has a better waistband than Ralph Lauren, but even wearing the XL it's too tight. Relax people. You need blood flow up and down. Nothing bunches up your chi like a too tight belt.

Athletic shorts and sweatsuits are a slam dunk. They only make them for gang-bangers and geeks. Don't rich folks work out? Huge gap right down the middle.

Socks--so help me god this is a spiritual problem. They are all too tight. I have skinny feet and it takes me considerable effort to get the suckers on. They are all machine made, which is fine, but adjust the sucker. Make bigger ones. They're cutting off my circulation. Compensate for shrinkage in your wool ones.

Gloves and jackets--a brown leather car-ish coat. A fake fur college-style old time raccoon coat if I can find a loving enough fur source or substitute. Regular coats are surprisingly hard to find. A Gortex one that isn't turbo and zing, zang hyper. A down one without the North Face logo and a better quilting pattern (though they can make it). Better colors too. Who cares about black anymore? It was played in the 80s.

And a fleece cardigan. And a flax or linen work coat. (I've got a vintage model for that one.)

All with better colors, organic fabrics, non-toxic dyes, made by craftspeople with healthcare in developed economies, a brand that means something real and likely isn't even mentioned except for a tag pinned to the garment when you first get it. (If you're the only one without labels, everyone knows it's you, right?)

If it's shipped in plastic, which it likely won't be, it'll be the kind made out of corn. The boxes will be recycled cardboard and re-used whenever possible. And recycled thereafter. Soy ink and recycled paper are a given. As are whatever we can do to save energy.

[We won't go crazy, we're not hippies--and can't handle florescent light--but suffice it to say that we won't feel comfortable unless we're ahead of all but the lunatic fringe. About 90% pure. Low VOC paint, double-paned windows, and renewable wood flooring are a given. Minimal to no packaging will be standard and presentation will be decidedly low-key. If we did a beauty line, it would likely be re-fillable at stores (but not by the customer--the person there would take it, clean it out, refill it and wipe it down while you were hanging out--with a cup of tea and a copy of The Love Artist.)]

What else? A Lexus LS 460h with recycled leather and plastic inside. As eco groovy and beautiful as possible. And they'll buy a pre-catalytic converter car off the streets and scrap it for every one sold. Which will save multiple times the carbon that you'll create over the lifetime of the car. Now that's progress.

That should give my staff enough to start work on while a few dead men walking take meetings on the movie. (I have ideas for a series of three--more the making of The Love Artist than a re-do--possibly to be shot together. Fast and loose). I'd also be open to having other folks shoot The Love Artist from different angles.

Why tie yourself down with exclusives? Let them compete. All it takes to film a movie these days is a couple $5K cameras and some computers. They'll go straight to DVD and theaters and download and rental. However you want it. I don't manipulate or play games, just deliver, deliver, deliver.

There should be a TV show as well. I'll see if the Entourage guys have a single spiritual bone in their bodies. This I just want to produce. No acting or writing. The method should have enough legs by them that it could stand on its own. A good deal of it will be training people to take enough risks to even give it a chance to happen.

The failures should be just as interesting as the successes, because they won't be pasturized or homoginized. They'll still be real.

With all that percolating--remember, no timelines, certainly no dead-lines--I should have five to seven songs out, my corporate structure defined (lots of independent contractors and partnerships), and key allies identified. And will likely be interested in a bit of re-couping.

Also, if I don't have my house by then, I'll be highly interested in moving, getting settled, etc. But it's not like any of this will take more than 20-30 hours a week. If it does, I'm not doing it right. I'm not inspiring but controlling. Not playing but working. And I've already done that.

And we already have unlimited cultural artifacts resulting from that process. And they're all worth less than having fun and expressing who you are.

I know I want to start a magazine. That'll be dope. Stories about Krishnamurti's sex life. John the Baptist's secret history (that's that DaVinci Code stuff), reviews of books like Art and Physics, Lov-o-nomics, etc. Plus, what stars really think about getting enlightened. It's like shooting fish in a barrel--how could you not beat our current best--Vanity Fair doesn't even have stories anymore and The New Yorker doesn't even believe in photographs (what are they Muslim?).

Communicate with the image, yo. It's not unholy.

And then how could I grow. Movies with real sex that aren't dumb or art films. That would be radical. A reality series about artists working to bring the next big thing. It kind of writes itself.

By that time I'll have people submitting demos, books, movies and business proposals by the scores. And will have some very astute businessfolks executing the best.

This culture is built to grow. I maybe haven't emphasized that enough yet. From my experience with the reluctant heros of the counterculture I learned that one loud and clear--if you want to make the world a more loving place, you MUST have a clear vision of success.

My vision is cities across the world populated by increasing numbers of artists and businessfolks interested in human growth making more applying their passions than anyone in the economy working with conflicts.

The most powerful artists get the best houses and first pick of most other stuff. CEOs of Fortune 500 companies aspire to create content--get in front of the content pipeline. Grow the balls necessary to be human in public. To engage with vulnerability--take risks instead of controlling them.

Within ten years, my decidedly artistic mind estimates it should be the largest industry on the planet. Not to mention the greenest, the funnest, the sexiest and the most relaxed. Two hour lunches are mandatory. Go home and see your wife, all you have is one call today.

How could you compete favorably at love without constantly enjoying it?

[Then there are the WG un-branded cell phones, the home line and video games (start your own global art movement, pick colors, instruments, logos, artists, partners, theory, influences, etc. Then paint the pictures, take the meetings, find your muse, convince the parents, tell your friends who you really are etc.]