The sun is beating down on Montreal this August afternoon. Birds chirping and blue skies make this summer scene look like something straight off a postcard. The whole city is enjoying the weather; cold beers on a terrace or taking in the sun lazily at the park. A beautiful day to many, but to Vinny Vinhtage… it’s just another day in the hustle. Zigzagging through downtown traffic on a tight schedule with Aloe Blacc’s “I Need a Dollar” blasting through the speakers, one would think Vinny is peddling dope and supplying the re-up. But instead of Peruvian cocaine in his trunk it’s boxes of freshly printed t-shirts and dresses.

Bred in the basements of Côte-des-Neiges and showcased all over the province of Quebec, Success Clothing has gone a long way in 2 short years. Vinny Vinhtage, the brains behind the operation, is a one man army. The phrase do-it-yourself is an understatement in this case, as he manages every single aspect of his company; from designing the collections to silk screen printing, organizing the marketing campaigns to delivering the stock at the boutiques. Hell, he even acts in the TV ads and sews the damn size labels onto the shirts.

“People don’t know, but there is a LOT to do, everyday, every week. It’s not just about drawing some designs on the computer, then going to the silkscreen workshop and hitting some shirts. That is just one part of the job: the easiest part. The hard part is getting yourself out there. A typical day in my life involves a lot of running around the city. I wake up at 8am, most of the time with the TV still on, because I always pass out watching Cake Boss on TLC every night. I enjoy a bowl of Cheerios while answering a whole bunch of emails, then I’m out of the crib. Gotta go to the seamstress in Hochelaga to pick up some boxes of t-shirts and dresses, then to Chabanel at the silkscreen workshop to hit them. When I’m done printing the shirts, I pack them into boxes, and go back home to print the commercial invoices and packing slips. Once the paperworks are inside the boxes, now’s the time to go deliver these orders to the stores. Another car ride around the province to drop the orders, and at the same time, talk with the owners or managers to see how the line is doing, sales reports, how we could improve the displays, and of course, getting paid. Once I get my paychecks, it’s time to head to the bank, meet up with my account manager, deposit the money and discuss about my economic growth and expansion. After that part is done, I need to go back home and do some accounting and paperwork. You can’t run a business without keeping track of your expenses and income, so every penny I spend must be written down in Excel, and the same for every penny I earn. Then taking care of governmental paperwork, such as my taxes, my trademark negotiations, my importation/exportation issues with Canadian Customs. You think this is a lot, that’s not it. Now it’s night, and a big part of my job is to do some PR. Even if I feel tired, I need to go to these ‘industry parties’ and keep in touch with all the people in this business. A few drinks here and there, and it’s already 4am. Going back home, turn on the TV on TLC, watch some Cake Boss. And the cycle keeps on rolling like that, everyday…”

A fulfilled day indeed, I break a sweat just listening to Vinny as he nonchalantly describes his routine.

The Real MTV Cribs. Living Room of a Hustler.

We’re now standing in the back blocks of the legendary Chabanel garment district. The sun is still blazing hard and the humidity level has reached an Amazon-jungle high, to top it all off the smell of Indian curry weighs in the air like something out of Slumdog Millionaire. This is headquarters to the Success factory workshop. One would expect an army of underage children or migrant workers slaving behind those doors, but we only find Vinny and his assistant putting their entire soul into making every shirt and creating an entire supply to flood the world. Nike, eat your fucking heart out.

Between two batches of shirts, Mr. Success wipes the sweat from his forehead and takes a breather to tell us how he got into the grind: “It all started in 2007 when I was launching my graphic design website. It was a site that was promoting my creative services for other businesses that might need some branding/designing. So I created a limited run of, I don’t remember… maybe 30 t-shirts, that I was selling with my website on the packaging. Apparently, the t-shirts were a total hit, and the website was a total miss! I had more phone calls from people that wanted t-shirts than people who wanted some design services. So I started focusing on selling those t-shirts, and I remember, it was out of my car trunk! I would drive a good 45min to deliver ONE SINGLE t-shirt to the South Shore, then ride another 45min back to deliver another t-shirt in Hochelaga, then go Uptown for another custie…I guess that’s the story and the hustle that all started and what became….hmmm….Success. ”

All you so-called hustlers take notes, it’s not about standing on the corner anymore, it’s about doing the legwork and hopping time zones. “I traveled to many places trying to expand my retailers list, such as Boston, Philadelphia, NYC, Vancouver. I am always looking to expand, Europe is digging my brand a lot, I get a lot of orders from Eastern Europe.”

Darkness starts to slowly blanket the sky. The lamp posts light up, accentuating the multitude of different sized boxes packed into Vinny’s car, making his backseat look like a game of Tetris. I barely squeeze in the front seat and we head to Parc-Ex for some Butter Chicken Thali. After a hard day in the hustle, the man still manages to entertain me with a smirk on his face:

“I swear, my life is like a soap opera, it never ends. One time, I went to one of my suppliers, so I come up to the counter and I’m like ‘Hi, I’m coming to pickup an order for Success.’ But the girl at the counter is SUPER IMMIGRANT and she doesn’t get what I’m saying. I guess she heard ‘an order for SUCK SEX’ or something like that. She started laughing her ass off, couldn’t even breathe anymore. I thought she was gonna start choking and do the bacon dance on the floor. So she can’t find the invoice for ‘SUCK SEX’ (Of course, fucking idiot, it’s SUCCESS). She calls up her supervisor, and she goes like ‘I heave ang hoarder for suck sex, you knoh whaye to get the boxings?’ I guess her supervisor was as retarded as her, because I could hear laughter out of the phone like we were at a Dave Chapelle show. They kept on laughing their lungs out for about 10min, real talk, while I was standing there waiting. Don’t get me wrong, I love the immigrant accent and all, but when it comes to business, or time efficiency, gosh, PLEASE hire someone that can actually speak fluently French or English.”

Now we’ve been going back and forth all day, it’s dark out and all I can think about is topping my freshly digested Indian food with a 6-pack of Heineken for desert. At this point, I don’t think I can take anymore shirt printing, store displaying, boutique selling or box packing… even if the hustle intrigues me. So when I hear the next stop is an industry party where he needs to network, my liver lights the fuck up. The last grind of his day is finally here, where Vinny is going to hit the club, shake hands, make contacts and surely reach the road to Success.

Shit… us bums at Mook-Life.com are just gonna hit the club, find some beers and harass some shorties in order to reach the road to some “Suck, Sex” (holler at an immigrant, mami). 1.

Success Clothing ‘Secret Society’ Ad Campaign by A&A Films

For the 411 on Success Clothing peep game: http://www.wegotsuccess.com

Thumbnail, Skate & Fashion Show pics by Alexandru Steau.