Interview with Dennis Hegstad from Revert Fashion

Thanks Dennis, for being the first ‘My TV Is Broken’ interview!

Hey Dennis

So, I’ve read you are Norwegian, were you born there? If so, when did you moved to the U.S?

Yes, I’m 100% Norwegian but I was born in Hawaii. I speak Norwegian but haven’t lived there. My mom, dad, and everyone else in the family was born & raised there and still lives there. Well, besides my parents since they live here now.

Let’s talk about Revert-Fashion, the clothing line you own, I understand you teamed up with some friends for this, am I right?

Well, at the beginning of it I had some ideas and wanted to work with my friend Curtis on it, but he was busy doing other things so I decided to do it alone. I had wanted to do it solo, until I met my friend Aaron who is now designing for our company. He’s awesome.

When did you know you wanted to start your own clothing line or where did you get the idea?

I just think there are so many ways to make people smile, think, laugh, or feel any emotion that’s positive. I also enjoy clothes and having a sense of style. So why not incorporate something that you wear, feel good in, and also makes other people feel … something. Clothes are a good way to express yourself. Thats what Revert is about to me; making someone feel something and not just be looked over. I see so many kids these days with neon shit from Hot Topic and it makes me want to puke. If we ever sell anything remotely to that, please inform me and put me in check.

Are you the designer of Revert-Fashion?

If you mean by “doing the artwork”, no I am not. I come up with ideas, Aaron has great ideas, and we collaborate on them, meet somewhere in the middle and then Aaron puts his artistic spin on things. He’s an awesome designer, I’m glad we’re friends and working together.

How would you say, been on this business have affected you? I Mean, what are some things you have accomplish or learned?

Well I managed my company over Warped Tour this summer and it was a good experience / learning lesson. We did around $55,000 in gross sales over the summer, learning how to manage money, paying expenses, keeping costs down was definitely new since this was my first time selling merchandise rather than a service. I know a lot about making things work though, I’ve been working online and doing work with different companies since I was around 14.

Are you planning to take Revert-Fashion to the big leagues? Maybe selling t-shirts in local stores…?

I personally don’t want Revert to be in any local stores, I want to develop relationships with a lot of my customers and have more of a personal feel with our clientele. I know it’s not possible to do that with everyone, but I want people to know and understand our goals aren’t just making money; it’s a movement and a statement. There might be a few “limited edition” shirts that are available in some street wear stores or later in life, a Revert store. We won’t be selling our stuff in hot topic or anything like that though.

What are some of your plans for the future (Revert-Fashion or not related)

Well we’re going to be sponsoring some tours coming up in the future, starting in 2010. So I’ll be traveling a lot with bands, also I’m trying to continue focusing on college. Not sure how it’ll work out trying to juggle time with everyone but we’ll see. Reverts going to be moving forward; we have a lot in store.  I’d rather let people wait and see than tell everyone our plans.

Do you have any influences or anyone that inspires you?

My uncle is an inspiration when it comes to a business model, but when it comes to artistic inspiration I’m not really inspired by anyone or thing in specific. I think life is inspiring. Maryjane is also a great factor in helping me expressing myself.

What are your main goals in life?

Just to be successful and happy. I’d like to be remembered for what I did, not the things I had. Success isn’t measured in money; there is a lot of things to define “success”.

Why “Revert-Fashion”?

Well, “Revert” is the name, and it stands for change. As a company, I want to “change” the way people feel about what they’re wearing. Like I said before, I think if you can wear something that’s cute, stylish and makes people think, smile or laugh. Then our goal was achieved.  Originally though the name was picked because I wanted to do reversible shirts only, obviously that’s changed. Reversible shirts are in the works though for the future.

Describe yourself in a sentence with 7 words.

I would love to smoke you out.

So Dennis, tell me, what’s Next?

Well, first of all I definitely need to smoke and then talk to Aaron about the release date for our website. It’s been in the works and being revised, updated with all of our new stuff. We’re going through a “face lift” if you will. Also working on another company with a few friends that I’m sure everyone online knows, but it’s a little bit of a secret so, I’m going to keep that to myself.

2010 is going to be our year.

Check out The RF Website and MySpace!