We’ve long been fans of Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction, the locally based tees-accessories-prints line with the long name and fun blog. They had what we likened to a Space 1026 vibe that knew what deodorant was, and today, they posted on their website something of a bombshell, which explained that their non-stink in fact came from a corporate scrub that had apparently been in place from the jump street:

Yesterday afternoon Tim Gough and Nick Paparone the inventors of the idea of Art in the Age, and the people in charge of the look of the line, basically its art directors, were taken off the project by their financial backers; Gyro Worldwide, who have always been the owners of Art in the Age. Reasons for their removal were not any wrong-doing on the part of Nick and Tim, rather Gyro considered the amount of money they asked for in their contract to be beyond what it could spend on the line. As we all can believe it sometimes takes years to turn a profit on any business venture and Steve Grasse, owner of Gyro, reported that “It took seven years to turn a profit on Sailor Jerry“–Gyro’s other clothing company.

Well, ain’t that a kick in the ass: Has Gyro been fronting the brand all along without public disclosure up until now because they don’t have enough confidence in their own brand to sell designer tees to graphic designers who don’t work at Gyro? Or is just all about diversification, baby? Either way, Gough and Paparone now have a totally decent resume. Good luck in New York, guys! (Kidding. We hope.)
ArtInTheAge: Discretion Grove

This entry was posted on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 1:26 pm.