Big Polo A p r i l
2 0 0 9
Dessalines John Clothing
Polo, tell us a little about yourself. Well I was born out in Bergen County, New Jersey... I’ve been out there all my life you know, I’m around. I’m here just doing what I do. Came into a line of work, went to school, never graduated, never went to college, but what I did do was open my own business... I started with a car wash business first and then I had that for about three of four years... a friend of mine told me you why don’t you get into clothes because you see all the things you buy the are pretty much exclusive out of the store... a lot of people started asking me where I would get things... where my clothes were from... they were Ralph Lauren, polo and actually that is where I get my name from... Polo because I wore a lot of the Ralph Lauren design whatever he got socks pants shirts whatever I wore. And then from there I got into my own clothing line and then that is how it all began. What age where you when you first started to get into fashions? I was 10 when I first got into fashion... right around there ten years old is when I really started to get into fashion. And one thing led to another until I got older... until around 95’ or 96’ that is when I decided to start my own clothing line and pursue the fashion thing until the wheels fall off. That is when I first went into business. Where do you get your inspiration? Oh what I do from time to time is go to the mall and just look around for me to see what NOT to do. I don’t want to be the same so I look for inspiration in the mall. Sometimes I might watch TV and see people... what they are wearing... just to get an idea and to not fall into the same category as other clothing companies... not to do the same thing that they are doing. I try to be exclusive like my company. 15