Work vs Play – CorqdClothing

Running a business and studying full time isn’t something that many people would consider, have the resources for, or even hear about. However, six students from the University of Canberra are currently doing just that. Corqd Clothing is a small brand on the up in Belconnen. These six students, all studying full time, manage to find the time to balance their studies, personal lives, and a business at the same time.

To find out more, I spoke to Billy Smith, the Co-founder of Corqd Clothing.

What is Corqd clothing?

Corqd clothing is an idea my roommates and I had months ago. We wanted to design and print our own shirts because we wanted something different from everyone else. We were sick of spending so much money on a single t-shirt with a basic boring design on it.

How did you get into printing shirts and what were your inspirations?

It all started when Nick [Nick Kruckel, Co-owner] asked me to draw up a design for a shirt. I like to draw and feel like I’m okay at it, so I gave it ago. I have personally always wanted to design and print my own tees. To do it with my mates, I jumped at it. Inspirations – I personally really like Oli [Oli Clothing C], because his clothes are so unique and awesome. He just does what he wants. It’s really cool.

When did you guys name the brand Corqd and did you only name it when you became a business?

The name was something Nick [Nick Kruckel Co-owner] and Sam [Sam Perry Co-owner] had already thought it before we started. They previously had the idea but never went through with it, so the name was the first thing we talked about. Becoming an actual business came a while after that.

What is your role in production? Do you each have certain jobs or is it free for all and do whatever needs to be done? 

My role in the production is kind of all over the place. We all come up with the design ideas and then I sketch them. I guess we kind of have different roles, like I make the screens we use for printing and then participate in some printing as well. Sam [Sam Perry, Co-owner] is the one who handles like the business side, with the emails and money and stuff like that. Everyone else just pitches in where ever! With six of us, it’s hard for everyone to do it all at once because most of the time printing is a two man job.

How did you manage balancing university and designing clothing?

We mainly just put uni before any stuff to do with Corqd because it is really just a hobby and we are here for uni. We just did stuff to do with the shirts in our free time, which has been easy really. However, things have recently been really busy so I’ve deferred my classes so I have more free time. I can take on more of the work load where everyone else can’t.

What challenges have you faced so far? 

So far everything has gone pretty well. We have had some trouble with making the screens and getting the timing right, mainly just production problems. Another thing is funding – it’s hard to fund a business when none of us work full-time, paying for advertising through social media and coming up with ways to minimise profit loss. We get by, but it’s something that we’ve had to sacrifice a lot to follow through with something we really want to do.

I’ve seen you’ve made shirts for Nomad in the refectory, how did that come about?

Yeah, I have a mate that works at the cafe. He asked us when the store first opened if we wanted to design and print work shirts for the crew so we did. The owner Rory is a really nice dude and seems to really like Corqd. We recently just made another batch of tees for him.

We don’t have anything to do with the cafe itself, but we all like the idea of Corqd and Nomad being a little collaboration. The coffee culture fits really well with our style so we’ll see what happens.

Do you guys have any plans for the future? What will we see next?

The future of Corqd is something I have been thinking about a lot. I am all for pushing and moving forward with new designs and ideas. I have always loved it. I think we’re just going to keeping designing stuff that we like and maybe move into accessories like hats and beanies and maybe even socks. I think we’re just going to keep moving along and just see what happens with it all.

Being a clothing brand in this modern day society, it’s hard to stand out. Are you guys doing any different to stand out? 

Yeah, it’s so hard to stand out. Brands these days are everywhere and everyone seems to be doing the same thing. We are just trying to think of ideas that aren’t so common these days and just designs that we think are cool. We hand draw all of our designs and we print them to order, so I think that makes it a little different to maybe some other people out there. We really like the idea that all our stuff is hand-drawn but it’s tough to stand out in the crowd. We’re just doing what we like and making it a better price – that’s what really matters for us at the moment.

These aspiring young students look to use their new found passion and pair it with a university education. This is in hope that it’ll help them develop their business to succeed in the future. You can find out more about Corqd on their Facebook and Instagram, @CorqdClothing, or their website.