Lets go back to 2012. I was just starting my sophomore year of college and somewhere in there I got high and tried psychedelics for the first time and forever saw the world from a different perspective. From that point on I would end most of my evenings at my buddies apartment chilling on the couch playing on Tumblr and creating designs I thought were cool. From there, the idea for Young Kings & Queens was born and that year I dropped out of college to chase that dream, I designed hoodies/hats/posters and made everything to order in house myself. I dove into the deep end of business, marketing, and information about blanks, fabrics, and printing processes trying to learn as much as possible. Doing everything from the photography, to the website, to screen printing shirts. Eventually, I got to a point where I couldn't keep up with the orders myself and decided to pull the plug and reset. I wanted to take a step back and find manufacturers and do things the "right way", a better way I had in my head.
Somewhere in the step back I felt put in a box creatively, I felt limited in the things I could create through YK&Q because of this made up brand identity. I spent the next few years focusing on photography and became Shootmikey. I fell in love with the medium but I didn't want to be seen soley as a photographer. Chasing this creative freedom I created Closure Co. Having a new aesthetic and vision lit a fire under me creatively but all too soon I found myself in the same box. Feeling trapped by these creative walls of sticking to this themes. I wanted to just create... without any limitations. Thats where ICANTFINDMIKEY was thought of. I could be myself and create in any direction I wanted. I could take photos, I could make clothes, music, and art without these limitations I had in my head.
I took all the lessons I have learned over the years, all the mistakes, and all the successes and poured them into this. I really wanted to focus on the quality first and foremost. Creating something better than a Gildan throwaway t shirt. I wanted something that feels good. That you want to wear and when you put it on you get that feeling. That favorite shirt feeling. A hoodie your girlfriend is going to want to steal when she sees it in your closet because it looks so comfy. Along with that I wanted to get creative within the processes of garment printing. Creatively dancing around limitations and mixing unique textures while using my photography and designs in new ways. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I hope you wear them, get them dirty, trip in them, go live your life in them. Wabi Sabi :)
Psychedelic Research & Development is just an idea, a creative outlet, a mood. A way to express myself and create, unbounded and freely, while still creating a unique quality product. Nothing lasts forever, there might be more clothing down the road, there might not. It might be a completely different mood, who knows? Things come and go, don't get too attached.
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