MÖTLEY CRÜE Bassist SIXX Discusses ROYAL UNDERGROUND Clothing Line

Deb Rao of Glam-Metal.com recently conducted an interview with MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Glam-Metal.com: What kind of age bracket are you hoping to market the Royal Underground clothing line to?

Sixx: Well, you know, that it is interesting because you do what you do from your heart. You don't really sit there and go, we are going to sell only to this age bracket. But at the same time, it is a fine line with a price point that reflects that the materials are a higher end, because we really have a higher end, which includes elaborate construction, elaborate leathers, and cashmere tops. Our jeans are phenomenal, the construction of them, the washes, and the designs are elaborate. So we don't belong on Melrose. We realize that we fit into a certain niche. Neiman Marcus has been extremely supportive, as well as Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, Fredericks in Los Angeles. There is an age bracket that goes there that I wasn't necessarily aware of that skews as young as it does, and also surpasses the age limit that I thought would wear cool clothes. Let me give you an example. When we were at Neiman Marcus recently, they said the men's section on Friday or Saturday night in the store is visited by shoppers that are basically 21 to 40 years old. They are looking for cool, hip, and comfortable clothes. The men's market is growing faster than any other market there is right now. I think men are getting to the point, where they are comfortable accepting themselves a little bit outside the box, but at the same time, not wanting to be outside the box to the extent that it doesn't really feel comfortable to walk down the street. For us as designers, Kelly [Gray, Sixx's partner] and I are constantly using that strategy in men's wear.

Glam-Metal.com: I have noticed that men are really starting to take pride in what they wear. Whether it is work, or playing sports. The key is having the outfit be comfortable and easy to wear. What kind of clothes did growing up inspire you?

Sixx: For me, growing up in the Seventies, we shopped in Thrift stores. We manipulated clothing, reconstructed it, whether it was different kinds of threads, different kind of fabrics, and we built our own clothing to make a statement. In the early MÖTLEY CRÜE days, we were wearing women's boots, because they were the only style that we thought was edgy enough to push the image that we wanted to push. Now with Royal Underground I have the opportunity to design clothing for that fits that criteria but is made specifically for men. It has been hard for us. I mean you can wear blues jeans and a tee shirt, or that is about it. Or you have to go up to suits.

Glam-Metal.com: You have done such a great job marketing MÖTLEY CRÜE. The band has remained one of the top metal bands for over 25 years. What have you learned from your business dealings with MÖTLEY CRÜE to help with the marketing of your new Royal Underground line?

Sixx: The Royal Underground line is all across the country. We have been going to different stores. We get to the retail stores, we go in, and we walk the stores. We talk to the sales people. We ask them, what is working and not working and why they feel that our clothing line is valid. We asked them, where do you see us? They say we see you sitting in there with Dolce. There is a very similar thing that we did with MÖTLEY CRÜE. We used to do record in-stores. We used to really love that because, we would be in the city where we would be doing in stores, and the record company would say to us, "They want you to release a song like TOTO for radio." We would say, "Dude you don't know what you are talking about. Kids in the street, they are looking for fuckin shit to rip their ass off." We confirmed where we were as artists. Sometimes you need that instant feedback. You can get that off the Internet now. But sometimes it gets a bit misconstrued. When we were a young band, and we would get out there face to face with people, it helped to confirm what we were doing, what we were passionate about and what was real. We are finding that now when we walk into the retail stores, they say, "We can't wait for your stuff. It is going to be perfect." The managers at the retail stores are telling us, that they are excited about it, and that is how we know that Kelly and I are doing the right thing.

Read the entire interview at Glam-Metal.com.