Our newest partnership spotlight is on Brown Rang Tees! Brown Rang’s mission is to introduce tees that capture the trendy and unique Desi humor, cultural pride, and self-expressive designs. Read more about them in our partnership interview below.
Q: When did you first know you wanted to start Brown Rang Tees and what was the point that really made you go for it?
A: Well in a nutshell, we LOVE being BROWN (Desi). There’s so much to being brown that we love from khaana peena (eating/drinking), naachna + style maarna (dance/fashion), shayari + movies aur drama (poems/Bollywood) etc. Aside from that, both of us realized that we still have and wear our favorite tees from all the places we visited, designs/quotes that represent us, and even some from high school (agh! We feel so old now!). So we put the two together and now have a large collection of tees that all Desis can relate to – hence Brown Rang. The main point to really just go for it wasn’t all for sentimental purposes though, but a way for all desis to reminisce the best aspects of the culture regardless of religion or country of origin.
Q: What is the inspiration behind Brown Rang Tees?
A: Family. Being first generation born and brought up in the U.S., there were so many things I found hilarious and awesome about our desi culture. I had these moments of “tea time”, which was actually “chaa” time when any guest came over. You would always hear that typical conversation take place: “oh no. Please don’t make anything for us. We have no time anyways”. “No you must have some Chaa at least.” “No really, we are in a rush…” And then 5 minutes later, the host would bring out a pot of tea and our guests would end up staying hours, hence our “always time for Chai” shirt. Another funny design inspired by family was growing pains. I swear it didn’t matter if it was a chapel (flip flop) or a belna, but my parents made sure I became a good citizen of the U.S. by using empty threats accompanied by the nearest object, which was usually a chapal or belna. Obviously, their intentions weren’t to hurt us physically; it was just their style of teaching us a lesson or temporary anger. Our families are one of our biggest supporters and the brains behind these designs, because we couldn’t have come up with them alone, so thanks Mom and Dad!
Q: How would you describe your brand in three words?
A: Desi. Comfort. Wear + Giving Back. We are literally adding a fourth word here. Conveniently enough, our slogan is 4 letters and it sums us up pretty well. We really wanted something that was simple and expressive. In 4 short words, we embody what our brand is all about. We can break it down for you:
Desi. = ALL South Asian (Desi) communities; regardless of country, religion, beliefs, culture
Comfort. = Provide premium apparel items (super soft and comfortable) that Desi people feel proud and comfortable wearing
Wear. = Offer our unique Desi designs on high-quality tees and hoodies; with the goal to ultimately expand the apparel line.
Giving Back. = Giving back to the community is a very important aspect of humanity as well as doing business. As we grew the business, we relied on the help of many different people and this help was usually given out of the kindness of their hearts. Because we understand the importance of always giving back in way or another, we embedded a “giving back” mentality within our business model.
Hence, how and why “Desi. Comfort. Wear. + Giving Back.”
Q: What are your favorite pieces right now and why?
A: So I can’t just have one favorite since I designed all of them, but if I had to choose the top 3, they would be in order from third best to first best: Badmaash (baby apparel), ABCD, and Nakhre Queen. Nakhre Queen and ABCD are my favorite because they are so bold. When I wear the ABCD shirt, I’m like “Damn right, I’m American Born, but I’m also a CRAZY DESI, so don’t mess with me” and likewise with nakhre Queen. My sass level just increases exponentially when I wear that shirt. I absolutely also have to mention my third favorite which is the “Badmaash” baby tee and its honestly my favorite shirt to give to all my nephew and nieces and even to my friends kids, because lets be real, when your desi, your basically everyone’s auntie and uncle. I swear, babies these days are so badmaash with their big eyes and chubby cheeks…they get away with everything! Some of my co-founders favorite shirts are…. Ghar (with a map of India) because he’s from the motherland unlike me, so he gets dibs for rocking it, as well as baesharam because.. Well, it speaks for itself
Q: What makes your clothing different from other brands and why would you recommend it to BollyX lovers?
A: You might think there is no difference in the clothing since we are also selling shirts, but WRONG! During the research process, we researched the heck out of the industry standards for tees and tested with many brands to finally come up with our super soft, premium, and affordable brand for our Desi tees. Not only that, but you also can’t find our unique message on any other shirts. Each design was carefully crafted to reflect the best parts about our culture and each can be related to one way or another to every Desi. We’d recommend it to BollyX fans/trainers/members because we know that if you love the dance aspect of our beautiful culture, you’ll love everything else from food, fashion, and one liners that, you too, can pull off once you know what they are. It’ll provide more depth into our culture than just dance and exercise. This is Desi. Comfort. Wear. + Giving Back., so come see what we’re all about!
Q: How does Brown Rang Tees encourage its wearers to “unleash their inner rockstars?”
A: We made sure to make our premium shirts bold and “in yo’ face” but also accurately/humorously represent you (or your likings). So that when you wear our apparel, you would automatically unleash your inner rockstar. For instance, if you wore a shirt that said “Always time for Patiala Peg”, you’re not walking away from your friends without having a few “Patiala Pegs”! Likewise with Tu rendhe; if you’re not going to show any sass or conviction when you wear that t-shirt, then you’re not wearing it right. You can’t rock our shirts without living up to what it is you’re wearing. So release your inner rockstar by getting the affirmation you need with our tees.
Q: What’s in the future for Brown Rang Tees?
A: Well, there are two major things we want to see in the future – one is related to our shirts and the other is a movement in our brown community. First, we’d like to grow our brand and mission through expanding apparel to more than just tees. You might have seen the baby line we just put out there! We have also included hoodies and long sleeves for the winter season, which is all pretty exciting! You can see more apparel types for more designs by helping us promote the brand. Secondly and more importantly is our mission. We hope to see a more unified brown community that can see past origin of country, religion, gender, or caste. We hope our brand helps this movement. Combining the two goals should lead us to be recognized and known as a well-established brand that offers unique, cultural, and expressive Desi designs that all South Asians communities can relate to; Brown Rang
Q: Anything else you’d like to add
A: Custom/bulk orders & Partnerships!! Since apparel printing is our specialty, we are able to pass the significant savings on to our partners and customers who place bulk orders! It’s one of the big perks we can offer; we have experience in custom/bulk orders for small (12 quantity) and large orders (500+ quantity). We’ve had customers who have ordered shirts for their Bachelor Parties, Brides mates/groomsmen, and family reunions! In addition, we love our partners and are always open to discuss unique collaboration ideas. We have successfully established partnerships with many Desi organizations from media partners (Brown Girl Magazine, Chai Tea Party Show podcast, Chugglian Radio) to fitness/dance groups (BollyX, Learn Bhangra App, Virginia School of Bhangra etc.) to school associations (George Washing University, California State University, Univ. Of Minnesota, Indiana Univ., etc.) to public figures and brand ambassadors (Monty is Live, DjKushDC, etc.). We want to help other organizations grow all the while helping us grow as well. We are driven by our vision and if we are able help another partner’s vision then that’s a win-win!
Thank you for reading through all of this! We hope you visit our website www.brownrang.com and fall in love with our designs and more importantly our mission and why we are doing this!
BollyX community members receive 20% off all purchases with the code bollyxBRT at check out! SHOP NOW!