Meet Gabe Stern, also known as Goosie, the 18-year-old Parsons School of Design student and creator of Goosie Industries, your next online shopping destination. The designer started out making shirts on Custom Ink as a kid, launched his own website in 2015, and now has even more projects on the way.
Gabe was inspired by the great outdoors of his hometown, Cleveland, Ohio, to create his own clothing brand that features an array of tees, hoodies, and more one can rock while enjoying nature. While the site only has five listed products, you can check out the archive and see his past designs—colorful and comfortable, usually with a unique and abstract image and always stamped with the Goosie Industries label.
Besides clothing design, Gabe dabbles in art and photography which are also showcased on his website and important aspects of the Goosie Industries sphere.
Join SHEESH! in an interview with creator Gabe Stern about all things Goosie.
Why Goosie?
It started out as Gooey because when I was a newborn, I would drool all the time. My parents always said I was a gooey baby. My aunt’s mom knit me a duck stuffed animal and I got it the day I was born. I still have it now, and it never left my side when I was young. So when I was two or three it kind of went into me being called Goosie. My older brother and all his friends started calling me it when I was in fifth grade, and it stuck from there on out.
How would you describe your brand and your own personal style?
I think my brand and personal style kind of coexist because I try to not make things that I wouldn’t wear. It’s all very inspired by outdoor wear. Growing up in Ohio, I did a lot of hiking, snowboarding, and rock climbing with family and friends. Outdoor wear really inspires my personal style and how I design. I try to dress how I would if I were going on a hike, but when I design, I design t-shirts that I’d like to see people wearing when I walk by them.
What inspired you to start designing clothes?
I started making clothes around fifth or sixth grade, just really shitty t-shirts. I guess it started with being a Tyler, the Creator fan when I was young. Everything he did was very DIY culture and I was super inspired by that.
What was the first design you made?
The first shirt I did was of a drawing a friend of mine made. He made this drawing of Michael Jackson when we were in fourth grade and I got shirts made on Custom Ink. But the first design I made was a drawing of a football player that I did at the mall because I didn’t have a laptop at the time.
What goes into making a design a reality?
There’s a ton that goes into it but at the same time not that much. It’s like a simple-ish four-step process: you have the idea, you draw it out, finalize it, and make it. A lot of preference goes into it and sampling of quality. Everything is made for a consumer, not for myself, so I have to do a lot of quality testing on what t-shirts or ink I’m using. And I like to think about everything in very eco-friendly ways because making clothes is kind of detrimental, so I try to do my best to be able to keep making clothes and do what’s best for the world. It’s always a process of having the idea and doing countless mockups to get a final image that I like and then finding where I’m gonna make it, who I’m gonna make it through, what fabrics or colors I’m gonna use, then ordering it and putting it up for sale.
Are there lessons you’ve learned from starting a business?
How to handle money was a huge one. I think the best thing I’ve learned from it was how to not have expectations. When you’re making clothes, everything starts with a quantity in mind, there’s always a minimum quantity you have to fulfill through the manufacturer. When I was younger, it was always super disappointing when I would have really high hopes and order a ton of pieces, put them up for sale, and not even sell half of them. It grounded me and made me not set expectations forward and just let whatever was gonna happen, happen.
Do you have other projects besides Goosie?
There’s a bunch of projects that I can’t really talk about. I’m working with friends on a project called Video Store and on a project called Boyfriend Warehouse. We’re putting a lot of time and thought into everything we’re making and I’m super excited for it.
Do you have specific goals for Goosie?
I’d love to create the best products I can and get them in a store rather than online. I really want to maximize the stores that I sell in so I can figure out a way to make the best product possible, where the consumer can feel the quality of it and know the price point is solid and they’re not getting scammed out of a shirt.
What stores would you like to see Goosie apparel in?
There’s a store back home in Cleveland called Xhibition, I grew up working with them and I would love to become a full-time company in that store. I love Dover Street Market and think it would be super cool to sell there because they have perfect locations all around the world that it’d be really nice to be stocked in. I’m selling in a small store called Dude Inn in Japan right now, that’s the only place you can get my clothes besides my website, and everything on my website is sold out right now. I kind of love that idea of very minimalistic shopping spheres.
What would you like to be doing 10 years from now?
I think the biggest thing I want is freedom to just wake up and do what I wanna do when I wanna do it. I think that’d be a fun way to live life and I’d be incredibly grateful and fortunate to somehow get to that point. I’m hoping something like that could happen in the next ten years whether it’s me being successful off my own ideas or helping other people get their ideas through.
Goosie Industries is a small brand that should be on everyone’s radar. With eccentric graphics and its namesake label, any Goosie piece you wear is guaranteed to have people asking where they can get one.
Look out for new clothes from Goosie Industries and follow Gabe to stay tuned for his upcoming projects.
