Growing up, Alexander Sokol was always surrounded by creativity and athletics. Whether it came in the form of the arts or sports, Alexander always involved himself in them. Growing up as an active child and teenager, he pursued sports often: specifically, soccer, swimming, and volleyball. But, music and fashion were always his artistic passions.
When in high school, Alex, along with a few bandmates, came up with a small clothing line for their band. This began a journey, before he even knew it, into the world of fashion and athleisure.
As years went on, Alexander went to college with no idea about who he wanted to be or what he truly wanted to accomplish. While in college, and even before that, he recalls going between various jobs and industries. During college, Alexander worked for a swimming pool company as head of maintenance and lead pool cleaner. Yes, it was almost like what you see in the movies. From pools, he moved onto radio, eventually co-hosting his own talk show, which even led in ratings at certain points. But after years of working in small businesses and learning how to build and grow other people’s companies, Alexander knew it was time to start thinking of his own future—his own company.
While working at the radio station in Long Island, NY, he had an epiphany, remembering his past clothing ideas from years prior and his passion to create his own brand of clothing. Thus, the concept of Attitude Apparel began. When Attitude Apparel first started, it was just a few t-shirts and hats for young men and women with a focus on art. In the first 4 months of being in fashion, Alexander was already able to get some celebrities interested in his brand. Carla Facciolo from the TV show ‘Mob Wives’ was in discussions to create a specific line for her with Alexander’s new and very infant brand. Unfortunately, the deal didn’t go through at the last moment, but left more eyes on the Attitude Apparel brand. Later, Attitude Apparel did a music video with a young artist named Alissa Cavallaro and Big Daddy Kane. This was great exposure for the brand and helped expand Attitude Apparel’s presence with an even larger audience. As Attitude Apparel struggled for new sales and new vendors, there was an urgency to grow, but doing so meant Attitude Apparel had to evolve and become something different and better.
With feeling a major sense of urgency to become better and more creative, Alexander looked deep into himself and found his right path by following his long-loved passion: athletics. He would examine athletic clothing from other big brands and always found them to be inadequate. He found them to shrink quickly, be of low-quality material, and overall found the fabrics to be uncomfortable after wearing and washing them a few times. So, Alexander decided he would create an athleisure line that would not just compete with other brands but would be inherently better.
In early 2017, Streetletic was born; a new athleisure line dedicated to quality, comfort, and longevity. Streetletic designs every article of clothing to be worn both in the streets and in the gym. Their fabrics have either sweat resistant properties or are completely sweat absorbent, and come from sustainable sources and recycled materials, so that Streetletic reduces its carbon footprint on the world by up to 80%. Streetletic has been told by buyers and online shoppers that its clothing compares in comfort and quality to high-end competitors such as lululemon. Alexander always takes those comments with pride!
Unfortunately, every company has its ups and downs. Streetletic’s major hurdle has been getting some major start-up funding. When Alexander started his company, it was with only enough money to make a few hundred shirts. This was not even close to the money needed to market all their products or even sell them properly, so sales struggled in the beginning. Alexander realized that doing this by himself and without proper funding was going to really hurt the business, if not kill it. So, with feeling major pressure to grow and secure an investment, Alexander set out to find investors. Thankfully it wasn’t long until some companies and private investors showed interest in Streetletic. Alexander recalls finding prospective investors just to give him 3 minutes of their time. That was by far the hardest part of this process. Just getting in the room is difficult and will always remain the hardest part.
For the past few months, Streetletic has been feeling a great snowball effect happening. With investor support, Streetletic is now getting more interest from both domestic and overseas buyers to carry the brand in their stores. Streetletic has been featured in major publications and has even been worn by celebrities such as Jenni “JWOWW” Farley. As Streetletic looks to the future with a new collection coming out, new opportunities in the Asian market as well as here in the United States keep coming Streetletic’s way. With new investors coming on board, and as more interest in the brand grows, the sky is the limit for Alexander and Streetletic.
*Streetletic is New York‘s premium athleisure brand. Blending high-end activewear with a street style flair and sustainable, ultra-soft, lightweight materials, Streetletic is the ultimate in functionality and comfort. Whether you’re working out, lounging, or just showing off, you’ll look and feel your best doing it with Streetletic!
* Streetletic: adj; “a stylish merger of active-wear and street apparel to create the ultimate in functionality and comfort.“
