By, The Curator
Recently we caught up with Johnny, the owner of lifeordeath, an upcoming and very accomplished streetwear brand on the East Coast. lifeordeath’s designs are top of the line and they also have a well established, cohesive brand identity. Personally, I find Johnny’s story really compelling and I’m sure you will too… enjoy!
The Curator Blog (TCB): What’s your name and where are you from?
lifeordeath (LOD): My name is Johnny Mon and I reside in Twinsburg, Ohio. It’s a smaller suburb about 20 minutes away Cleveland.
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TCB: Tell me a bit about yourself outside of lifeordeath, what’s your story?
LOD: My name’s Johnny Mon. I’m one year out of highschool, and work full time at the moment. I’m a pretty laid back person, I enjoy taking photos and creating in about 80% of my free time. When i’m not doing anything with lifeordeath, I’m usually hanging out with the same group of friends who are all pretty involved with the brand as well. Even when we’re getting fucked up we’re doing productive stuff like shooting/designing/figuring out future plans.
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TCB: How many years have you been running your brand?
LOD: We just hit our three year anniversary on July 19th, 2018.
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TCB: What is lifeordeath and how did you get the idea for it?
LOD: lifeordeath is a clothing and multimedia brand focused on creating as much cool shit as we can. It started as a pretty loose idea, and has grown monumentally in these past few years. I started it with my buddy Nessy back in the winter of 2014-2015. We always dreamt of making our own clothes and eventually started sending drawings back and forth and we just decided to actually do it and follow through. We ran it together for about 8 months and one of our other friends Jason joined in as well around month 5 or 6. After a few disagreements I offered to buy them out so I could have creative control. Frustrated, they left and didn’t take money. Since then Nessy, Jason and I are on good terms. Nessy now runs Ivy Clothing and is doing great things. Since that happened, I ran the company myself from May 2016-May 2018. My best friend, Jack Tozzi began modeling and helping me out creatively and eventually became a heavy role in everything and I offered him a spot for part ownership and he accepted.
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TCB: Is this your first time starting a brand or business?
LOD: Yessir! First and only for now.
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TCB: When did you realize that LOD had enough potential to continue putting time and money into?
LOD: I knew as soon as we dropped our first pieces. This brand is my reason to live. I got it tattooed on me when I was 18 as a promise to myself to never quit. This shit still has me going broke, but I know it’s gonna be worth it beyond my expectations.
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TCB: What do you think you’d be doing if you hadn’t started this brand?
LOD: I’d probably be dead. At my lowest points throughout highschool this was the only thing in my head that kept me going. I continued to think “but what about lifeordeath?”
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TCB: What aspects of the brand are your favorite to handle?
LOD: Definitely taking all of the promotional shots. We have so much fun shooting and editing all the pictures.
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TCB: Have you gone to college or taken any college classes?
LOD: Fuuuuuuuuck no. I’ve always hated school. I hate my life working full time but it still beats school.
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TCB: Unconventional education seems to be on the rise, especially recently. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think getting a degree is still necessary?
LOD: It all depends on what you want to do. It could definitely benefit me on the business side but I usually end up winging it at the end of the day anyways. For anything artsy, I think school is a waste of time and money. You can learn shit you actually want to on youtube in half the time.
TCB: Where do you draw inspiration from?
LOD: Usually movies and music. I like looping whole albums and capturing the album’s vibe with a design. It’s always a fun challenge.
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TCB: What’s your design process like?
LOD: I won’t try to design unless I have an idea in mind. When I have an idea in mind it usually will go pretty smoothly, but when it doesn’t its a long and frustrating process.
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TCB: Do you handle production yourself or outsource?
LOD: All one color tees are printed out of my basement, the rest are outsourced.
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TCB: What has been the biggest challenge that you’ve faced so far?
LOD: Funding without a doubt.
TCB: How do you get through rough patches when things aren’t going well for your brand?
LOD: Just keep fucking going. Shit’s still going rough in the grand scheme of things for us right now. But we’re putting all the time and resources into this and we are going to make it happen one way or another. Just never ever ever stop.
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TCB: What are a couple interesting things about your brand?
LOD: I do this with my bestfriends. It’s helped all of us grow closer and learn to dream. We also fund with minimum wage jobs.
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TCB: What do you think makes your brand stand out from the rest?
LOD: Our photos combined with our designs. I think all of our stuff is presented really well. Most brands have good designs but there pictures are literally taken off an iphone. It actually makes me cringe.
TCB: Are there any people or brands that you would like to collab with?
LOD: Of course, we have 3 planned between now and next summer with three really dope brands. In terms of the future, our dream collab would be with Foulplay.
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TCB: What is the most memorable experience you’ve had with your brand so far?
LOD: Seeing $uicieboy$ wear my clothes. And knowing that they’re genuine people. Scrim and Ruby are in the 10% of celebrities who aren’t looking to fuck me over and that means the world.
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TCB: Is there anyone that has helped point you in the right way, push you, or supported you more than others?
LOD: As of recently Jonny Melton of Ransom has been helping me a lot in terms of resources and getting us more exposure. He’s a really nice dude and i’m proud to call him my friend. LIFEORANSOM is gonna change a lot of things for us.
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TCB: Is there anything you wish you had known before you got into business?
LOD: Honestly, i’m sure there are some things I can’t think of at the moment. For the most part though, I don’t think so. I kind of like learning shit the hard way.
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TCB: What are two of the most important lessons you’ve learned while running LOD?
LOD: Never trust celebrities is a huge one, 90% of the famous people i’ve talked to are looking to finesse you. Second one is to know your market. Although I fuck with really dark shit, my demographic likes the more uplifting, happier designs and they typically sell way better.
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TCB: I’ve definitely noticed that people with more “influence” try to take advantage, without dropping any names, is there any advice you have on how to detect and handle these types of situations?
LOD: You must look at whatever deal/opportunity from an outside perspective. It’s hard to turn down an opportunity to work with someone you look up to. But if it seems sketchy at all, it usually is. It depends with every situation. I’m very open about all my business moves with my family, as is my partner with his. My family keeps it real as fuck and they’ll let me know if i’m about to get scammed.
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TCB: Where do you see yourself and where do you see your brand two years from now?
LOD: Hopefully i’m out of my fucking mom’s house and still creating as much as I can. I’d like for lifeordeath to be my job by the time i’m 21. The plan is for the brand to blow up this year before 2018 is over. I believe we’re on track for such.
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TCB: Any more immediate future plans for LOD?
LOD: WORLD DOMINATION!
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TCB: What type of advice would you give someone who is thinking about starting their own brand?
LOD: Just fucking do it! Nothing is stopping you from following your dreams.
Go check out Johnny’s brand and take a look at lifeordeath’s new drop!
Website: https://www.lifeordeathco.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeordeathco/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lifeordeathco
The Curator 
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