Arkaik Clothing - A Review

So this is kind of a random off topic blog post, and it's more like a small thought. Today I went to the post office to mail a letter and I saw someone in line who had 3 large storage bins of kraft envelopes. Naturally I was slightly interested in what they could be sending with so much stuff. And I also wondered why they didn't have the postal service come directly to them to pick up the envelopes when it's so easy to do. (as well as buy shipping labels online.)

I took a peek at the envelopes as I was walking out and saw that they were being sent from Arkaik Clothing. Since I'm interested in independent clothing companies I thought I would google them and see what they are all about. I came home, looked them up and was mildly interested in what they had to offer. The owner is rather young, still in college and they operate out of Tempe. Apparently his business is doing well enough that he's got a number of employees working for him. Plus, he was mailing 3 bins of clothing!

I was pretty impressed by everything that I saw but there were a few problems. I would probably write them a letter if they had any contact info on their website. Well, if they ever happen to see this post then here are my friendly suggestions for them:

Dear Arkaik:

1. I will assume that maybe your website is brand new, because a lot of the links on your website don't work properly or are slightly confusing.

• When I click on the Careers tab it takes me to the "about" page. Whether or not you are hiring, it doesn't take long to make a seperate page just for this section.
• Clicking on the Artist Sponsorship tab at the bottom, it also takes me to the "about" page. Annoying! After some digging I found out that you have a very talented designer working for you. Why not feature him on this page? If you aren't sponsoring new artists then you may as well take off the link. The "Family>Artist Sponsorship" tab at the top shows a bunch of clothing labels, but it doesn't make sense. Are these clothing labels designed by other artists? Are those the artist's code names? I don't get it.
• The "Help" tab brings you to a "page not found." NOT good. You want to make it easy for people who need help to get help! It makes your company ethic look questionable.
• Clicking on "Shop" it brings me to a section with the different clothing categories. Very nice! I scroll down and click on "Girls" and bam, 0 products. None!? Are you sold out? Maybe you should say "new line coming soon" and when. So then I click on "shorts" and once again, "page not found."
• WHY do you have a picture of a guy (yourself?) on the Girls Tee's section? I will assume that all T-shirts in this area are mens sizes and fitting which will make me not want to buy.

2. While it's not necessary that you have the mens t-shirts modeled on guys, you should definitely have all of your female shirts modeled. Girls like to see the clothes modeled on other girls so they can understand how it will fit. For each shirt for sale you should have a picture of it on a girl, and if you so choose, another picture of it laying flat. I'm not likely going to buy a t-shirt that hasn't been modeled because I have no idea if it's actually a chick T or a mens size small. And trust me, they fit very differently!

3. Girls modeling the t-shirts should be free of tons of jewelry, piercings, and minimal tattoos. I'm aware that your apparel line is geared towards an edgier crowd, but I looked on your facebook and sometimes the girls you have modeling look....honestly a little overdone and "ew." The girls should look clean and refined with a little bit of sass.

4. It's nice that you have owned your own clothing business since 16 and yes, that is quite an accomplishment for such a young age. However, I keep seeing you blasting this information on all of your websites and it becomes a little annoying since it is rather irrelevant information to your company. On every website I visit I see stuff like:

".... and started it when I was 16!"

"20 Year old owner of Arkaik Clothing" 

"At the mere age of 16...."

"At just 20 years old..."

etc, etc...Okay so the thing is, you can really only tout your age for so long. Once you hit about 25 I would suggest you stop making a big deal of your age because at that point, there are a lot of other young people who have their own businesses by then and the cool factor has worn off.

 

5. Okay last thing I want to ask you: Why are you using American Apparel T-shirts? While some people don't give a hoot about American Apparel, you are losing out on the ones that do. Many people now refuse to buy american apparel because of their shady business dealings and seedy marketing tactics. The A.A. owner is pretty well known as a total scumbag. Why are you supporting him? You should take some effort into finding a more reputable clothing line that you can print your designs on. I like some of your designs and would buy but I really don't want to buy your t-shirts because I refuse to support A.A. Here are some more links about them if you aren't aware:

http://clamormagazine.org/issues/38/aa/straub.php
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_26/b3939108_mz017.htm

Anyway I guess my small thought has turned into a large entry. And I really would have liked to send this in an email to your company, but you don't have a Contact section on your website. (Add it.) Well, until we pass by in the post office again, hope this helps for now.

Sincerely,

~The post office voyeur~