Missed my Flight

September 23, 2008

I missed my flight!!!! The LA traffic got the best of me I missed it by 15 min. I had to book a Jet Blue Flight for $300 plus the rental car for $90 and the $400 to get out there so all in all it wasn't worth it I should have just driven. Black Chandelier is getting better my stuff is selling even with the little notes left in the pockets of the nappi jeans that read "nappi eats babies" and "nappi sucks" Ha Ha the fan fare is great. I am still going crazy, but I am getting better at dealing with it. The time before my last LA trip where I missed my flight I drove to LA from Salt Lake a 10 hour drive and got to the factory to approve some samples of the denim and they told me they needed a little bit more time, so i went to the grove again and watched 2 movies then went back picked up the samples and drove home. Just so your clear thats 10 hours there 4 hours waiting and 10 hours back, now that's a day.

Into Black Chandelier I go

Sept 15 2008

Ok so a lot has happened sense my last post, I was offered the position of "do everything guy" at Black Chandelier a local clothing company, whose designer Jared Gold recently left for bigger and better things. I walked into an empty studio where about 20 people worked on a daily basis, whose job I now had to do. I had no idea what I was in for, no money, no help and all the expectation to succeed. The last of 4 stores at the Gateway mall in Salt lake City was not doing well, it was full of old product that never sold in the past 4 years. So as the designer it was my job to fill the store with clothing, and so I got to work. Up till now they had just been putting anything and everything they could find to fill the shelves. I was able to get some simple t-shirts and dresses made in our little cut and sew facility and out on the shelves for people to buy. We had a great August it was the best month of the summer, but September is so bad so far that any acclaim I may have gotten from August is long gone. I am losing my mind with everything that's going on. From the outside everything looks great, but on the inside I am going crazy. I am trying to design for a brand that has a very loyal following, unfortunately they are loyal to Jared Gold not Danny Nappi. I try to design how Jared would have, but i don't feel I am being loyal to myself and frankly I am not doing a very good job at it, my style is very different from that of Jared Gold. As I continue to lose my mind I find myself laughing at the whole situation, but not a funny laugh it's more of a keep from crying laugh.

I am currently sitting at the Grove in LA where the fountain I am sitting by just sprayed me and it felt good. I have a bad headache and am having trouble concentrating. I am waiting for my denim samples to be finished form the factory, then I catch a flight back to Salt Lake. I flew out this morning only to fly back this afternoon. What a day.

July 7, 2008

Well here I am at the end of the proverbial rope. Nappi has come a long way on nothing and can't go any further. I am in the negative in both my business and personal accounts. I have been dancing with negative balances for a while now paying fees for overdraft on a weekly basis. A roommate moved in a payed me $300 in rent which went to fund my trip to California to approve the denim samples, however it wasn't enough to get home in fact it barely got me there. I finished up the approval of the new jeans with Jianna and Gilberto at the factory and had no way of getting home. I went to my grand parents house with half a tank of gas and not even enough money to get something to eat. My Grand Parents were out of town and had nothing to eat so I went hungry. The next morning I went to the beach still not knowing how I was going to get home. I had to leave that day because I had a house closing and I had to sign the paper work. A friend wanted to invest in Nappi and we had agreed that he would deposit money in my account on Thursday, it was Thursday and he wasn't answering his phone. Out of desperation I called home and borrowed $150 form my mom, but because I was in the negative when she deposited it into my account the total came to $120, but regardless I was on my way. I drove through the night and when I got to beaver Utah I had half a tank and was falling asleep so I pulled into a gas station and got a redbull but my card was declined insufficient funds. I didn't have any money for gas and half a tank was going to be close. I got to Provo 40 miles away and the gas light went on. I barley made it home and 4 days later my car still sits in the garage empty. It is a strange feeling being completely out of money, things I used to do like eat became a luxury. I went to Sunday dinner at my parents house and was laughing at my dire financial situation and no sooner had we finished dinner that my dad discreetly handed me $20 dollars I was grateful then I turned around and my mom handed me $100 we and I laughed at the timing and and their attempts to be sneaky. The Lord has always given me what I needed, but he does make me wait will the last possible minute.

I was asked by stacy with Elite to provide swim suits for a fashion show they were doing. I agreed having never made a swim suit, but I was confident that I could pull it off. So he told his assistant to cancel Roxy and Quicksilver, wow the pressure was on. I had two week till the show and no idea how to make a swim suit. Not only did I not know how to make a bikini but I had no money for material and only two weeks to make 15 bikinis and 5 suits for guys. Again I called my friend who committed money and again he didn't come through. The following day I got a call from a friend I did some work for and he gave me $180 I was expecting $90 anyway the material cost came to $160 just enough.

Jan 19, 2008

The single greatest moment of nappi history happened today. As I stood in line for the bathroom at Mary Jane's a girl standing in the same line notices that I was wearing a pair of nappi jeans. She commented that she just bought a pair of nappi's in salt lake and absolutely loved them and said that they were her favorite jeans. It was nice to see someone wearing my jeans who I didn't know.

Dec 14, 2007

I am sitting in a restaurant in little Tokyo, where the atmosphere is nice, very clean with a hint of the old country. The bathroom is located down the hall where they store all the food boxes and where an old sink protrudes from the wall making the journey to the bathroom a bit more interesting. Little Tokyo is located in LA just east of the fashion district which is what brings me to LA in the first place. I am working on the mens jean. I came to approve the sample but am leaving without seeing the finished sample, I hope they get it right. I have had the woman's jeans done and in a few stores in Salt Lake for about 2 months now and they are selling good the response has been great. I am trying to get the mens jeans done because I am having a trunk show at Mary Jane's during the Sundance Film Festival.

the story

I had just returned from a 2 year mission to the Philippines and one of the first things I did was get introduced to my new room, at my parents house. As I walked in I noticed a duvet on my bed made from my old denim jeans, it was a patch work design of 6 inch squares all sewn together. I loved this duvet and used it every night. A few years went by and I decided it was time to move out, and my mother who made the duvet for me said it was mine while I lived here, but that I was not to take it with me when I moved out. I loved this duvet so I was a little mad and I said "fine I will make my own." This is the single act that started my life in fashion design. I went to the local thrift store and bought a 10 dollar sewing machine and made my own duvet, which I still use today. I quickly moved onto clothing after the duvet, altering all my clothing into something unique. I was always interested in being different from everyone else. I was still new to sewing and didn't really know what I was doing, I had only altered a few coats and jeans never did I make anything from scratch I was very intimidated in the beginning and never really thought I could do it. It was at this time that I faked my way into lovesac.
My roommates were doing the photography for Lovesac and had been asked if they knew anyone who could sew some things for them. They told them they had a roommate that could sew. I walked into the Lovesac headquarters and talked with their product designer, they showed me a few drawings and asked if I could sew them up for them and of course I said I could. I took the drawings home and freaked out not having a clue how to sew them together. I screwed up a lot but managed to sew them together and I took them back in and showed them to Heidi and Shawn and they loved them. They asked me if I wanted to come aboard and help Heidi with the product design, I said yes. I worked at lovesac for two years as the product designer and loved it I learned to sew and design while I was there. When I felt it was time to move on I quit and finished up my political science degree at the University of Utah and began doing Nappi full time. I started by making clothes anything form dresses, to shirts, and bags. I had yet to make a pair of jeans, but felt it was time. I was a little nervous to say the least I had attempted a pair about a year ago while at lovesac and it was a total disaster. I was determined this time to get it right, so I took my favorite pair of jeans and took them a part and made a pattern. The first two pair were utter failures, but the third was beautiful. I wore that pair everyday for a month taking notice of what I liked and didn't like. I them made pair after pair until they were perfect. Having a perfect pair for men I took to the womens. I spent about two year perfecting the fits, making dresses, bags and doing runway shows. It was during this time that I was also looking to find a factory in LA California to make the jeans, this proved to be very difficult. I would call factories and get hung up on, I got so frustrated and desperate that I drove to LA and walked around downtown trying to find someone to talk to, I found no one. I went back to my uncles house defeated I told him of the struggles I was having and his girlfriend told me of some friends they had who were getting jeans made in LA. I called them and hesitantly they gave me the number to a factory. I called them and set up a meeting for the following day. The meeting went very well and they agreed to make my jeans.

Utah Beats

I will be participating in the party of the century (well according to Utah) it will be the biggest party in Utah ever. They are planning on 10 to 15 thousand people. There will be such guests as three 6 mafia, and global deejays. The nappi fashion show will take place between the two DJ's with three 6 Mafia spinning as the models walk out. MTV news will be on hand as well as all the local news networks. It should be a good time. It is this friday the 13th of June, from 7 pm to 3 am. Tickets for the event are available at smith tixs.

nappi jean party

Nappi's pants party and you're invited! This Thursday, 7pm. Come ready to take off your pants and slip into some Nappi Jeans. Discounts for those in attendance. There will be stuff to sip and snack on and plenty of people to look at.

Take the first bountiful exit (2600 S.), go west when you exit. The street then splits right and left. GO LEFT and take that street straight west. You will cross over Redwood Road and at that point you will find a LEGAL parking spot, NOT IN FRONT OF THE FIRE STATION, and come to the Club House for the pant party of a lifetime.

THIS THURSDAY, 7pm (address)

a segment one of the local TV stations did.

nappi fashion show

So the show at the Murray theater went well there were a lot in attendance and everyone liked the clothing. I had to do a little interview on stage after and I hate that part but I guess it went ok. Yesterday park city tv came by and did a story on me that was fun and it will air in 2 weeks. I am working on spring/ summer right now and it should be ready to hit stores in a month or two so watch for that. Todd has been nice enough to shoot some video of shows and other nappi escapades so that will be available to view shortly (thanks todd). Ummm ok cool

The South Town show with the Leonardo was a great success there were a lot of people there and my clothing was well received. The next fashion show will be at the Murry Theater on the 22nd of March. This show will be just nappi clothing, so I excited about that. Some of the sponsors include Ford Motor Company,and Redbull. The show is being produced by Knight Star talent who will be providing the models for the show. There is more to come with this event it should be a big one I will keep you posted.

South Town Fashion Show

I designed six outfits for a fashion show contest being hosted by The Leonardo. The rules, make it from used or discarded fabric. I designed to finally put my Love Sac to use and cut it to pieces.

Here are my six entries.

The First Nappi Commercial

Though not the best commercial, really it is horrible, but it is the first.  Todd shot it more or less goofing around and ended up spending about 48 seconds editing it.  Now you can see our fantastic final product.  One more thing, if you feel so inclined to comment, please refrain from using any four-lettered words to describe it as women and children also read this blog.

One more note, this was about 4 years ago.  Todd felt so inclined to use the magic of iMovie to cut it.  The quality really shines through. hahaha

Virgin Blogger

I'm Danny Nappi, owner and designer of nappi clothing, and I, am a virgin blogger. This would be my first blog and it feels so good. I hope you enjoy all of my future blogging experiences. Below is a short list of why I started this blog:

• todd told me i had to
• my website is in the works to be the greatest site on the web and therefor not ready yet
• i felt like i needed a way to express my inner feelings... ok, not really i just wanted a third bullet point.