First and Lexington: Limited Edition Apparel is the brainchild of my self, Grant, and my best friend and business partner, Alex. We have been friends for nearly a decade and business partners for nearly just as long. We were entrepreneurs from the beginning, really. We quickly realized, freshman year, that if we took a mirrored course schedule we would only need to buy one set of books, allowing us to pocket and reinvest the money we saved into other money making ventures. During our time at college we ran a recording studio, indie record label and CD duplication business. Both of us are artistically inclined and had our own freelance graphic design and photography businesses, respectively. People loved our work and said a lot of it would look great on t-shirts. This gave us the inspiration needed to start our own clothing brand and we started brainstorming by the end of our sophomore year (2004) about what our company should look like, what it should stand for and who it was going target.

The premise of the company is simple: Make unique clothing in small quantities. Keep each design limited edition as to protect the integrity of the uniqueness of each design. Interact with our customer base on a personal level and pay attention to the details, however minute they might be. Making something limited edition is not a new concept in the fashion industry. Being transparent about it, however, and keeping your entire brand limited edition is unique. There are few companies doing it. We are upfront about how many pressings each design will be issued and that, naturally, as we grow, that number may grow as well. That said, 200 pressings per design has worked nicely so far, and we have grown considerably since the start. Keeping something, anything for that matter, limited edition makes it more than what it is, and in our case…we make what has been referred to by a number of customers as wearable art. The stage was set by the end of our senior year (2006); all we needed was a name for the company.

A lot of people ask us about our name. Where is First and Lexington? What City? The truth is that First and Lexington is a community in and of itself. It exists only to the customers turned fans of our brand. People who own our shirts see them as collectibles and upon purchasing any particular item, they become part of something more than just a customer of a particular company. We have had stories come in from customers who have been in contact with one another to barter and trade different shirts when they have missed out on a design. We have other customers who can’t wait for the next Cloud Logo colorway and will buy them the day they are released. We have an ever growing following of loyal customers. It has been amazing to watch develop.

In 2008 we began selling shirts to friends and family and in the beginning of 2009 we opened the doors to our on-line store. In our first year “open to the public” we released two full lines, Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. We sponsored a number of smaller events and allowed a local skate shop to carry a select design in limited size runs. A The following year saw four full seasonal lines (at the time a full line consisted of six new shirts) and 3 mid season updates (two to three shirts). We had expanded from a regional to a nationwide brand in less than two years. This year has seen enormous growth. The demand to expand our brand into retail shops and distribution houses has been constant. We have generated business interest both domestically and in the UK..

The future of First and Lexington is constantly changing. In the immediate future we are bringing on new items for sale. To date we have been t-shirt and hoodies. Next, we will bring in SnapBack hats for the spring/pre-summer update as well as fitted hats for the summer and fall lines. Further down the line we are looking at cut-and-sew garments like jackets and button down shirts.

First and Lexington, and sorry to sound cliche here, is a way of life. We are proud of who we are, who we are becoming and what we represent. And we LOVE our fans. We are not some faceless company...when you email us, 9 times out of 10 it is one of the owners who respond. We love interacting with the people who are making our dreams a reality and can only hope to help others along the way...

WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD