Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Ray.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Hustle City Clothing didn’t start as a clothing brand — it started as a tote bag and a theory. With a foundation in fashion design and merchandising, a very specific sense of humor, and a hunch that there were people out there who wanted apparel that didn’t take itself too seriously but was actually well-made, HCC was born.
We started small — really small — selling on resale platforms and doing grassroots market research by just talking directly to customers. Turns out when you make things that are a little irreverent, a little queer, and a lot fun, people have opinions, and those opinions are incredibly useful.
HCC is now a fully made-to-order, vertically integrated streetwear and apparel brand based right here in St. Louis. We design, produce, and fulfill everything in-house — from graphic tees to custom underwear to one-of-a-kind pieces — and nothing goes into production until someone actually orders it. Zero waste, zero guessing.
The brand’s ethos is what we call “Thoughtfully Inappropriate” — the kind of stuff that makes you laugh out loud and then wear it for five years. HCC is a queer-owned small business rooted in a city we genuinely love, making things we genuinely believe in. St. Louis has been better to this brand than we ever expected, and we’re just getting started.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth? Absolutely not. But the bumps are kind of the whole story.
Going through a fashion program in Chicago in the early 2000s was formative in ways both good and complicated. The industry has a deeply uncomfortable relationship with bodies, and being a young gay man in that environment meant navigating beauty standards that were never designed with your mental health in mind. I came out the other side with incredible technical skills and a very personal reason to build a brand that celebrates people instead of shrinking them.
Being openly queer in creative spaces has mostly been a superpower, but it hasn’t always been frictionless. Gay men don’t always get taken seriously when they step outside the lanes the world assigns them — and “gay streetwear brand in St. Louis” is not a lane anyone drew on a map. I drew it myself.
The most acute business challenge came earlier this year when my primary sales platform removed Hustle City Clothing without warning, citing content policy violations — for apparel that was, frankly, just honest about the human experience with a punchline attached. I lost the majority of my revenue overnight. It was a gut punch. It was also clarifying. I rebuilt around infrastructure I actually own — my Shopify store, my email list, my community — and I’m more stable now than I was when I was dependent on a platform that could pull the rug at any moment. Getting dropped was the best worst thing that happened to me.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Hustle City Clothing is a queer-owned, made-to-order streetwear and apparel brand based in St. Louis, Missouri. We specialize in apparel that lives at the intersection of sharp design, genuine craftsmanship, and a sense of humor that doesn’t apologize for itself. Our brand ethos is “Thoughtfully Inappropriate” — and we mean both words equally.
Everything we produce is made to order. Nothing goes into production until a customer actually wants it, which means zero waste, zero overstock, and every piece made with intention. Our catalog spans graphic tees, custom underwear, singlets, harnesses, and one-of-a-kind statement pieces — all produced in-house with professional-grade equipment and real garment construction skills behind every seam.
What sets us apart is the combination of things you don’t usually find together: the irreverence of streetwear, the technical quality of a trained designer, and a product range that actually serves the queer community without pandering to it. We’re not slapping a rainbow on a Gildan and calling it representation. We’re building pieces people wear because they love them, not because they feel obligated to.
We’re probably most proud of our custom jockstrap configurator — the only dynamic, fully interactive custom jockstrap builder we’re aware of anywhere online. It’s equal parts absurd and impressive, which is pretty on-brand for us.
HCC sells through our website at HCC314.com and at pop-up events throughout the St. Louis area. We love this city, we’re built for this city, and we’re not going anywhere.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Own your infrastructure before you need it. Every platform you build on top of — without owning the customer relationship underneath — is a house on someone else’s land. They can revoke your lease on a Tuesday with no warning and no appeal. Your email list, your website, your direct relationship with your customers: those are yours. Build those first, not last.
Start smaller than you think you need to. The made-to-order model exists for a reason. You don’t need inventory to have a business. You need one customer who wants one thing. Make that thing really well. Then do it again.
Know your craft at a level that embarrasses you a little. The technical skills I brought into this business weren’t incidental — they were the whole foundation. Whatever your product is, get uncomfortably good at making it before you scale anything.
And the one I wish someone had said out loud to me earlier: the market you’re afraid to market to is probably exactly the market that’s been waiting for you. The queer community, the weird community, the people who felt like no one was making anything for them — they are loyal in a way that trend-chasers never will be. Make the thing for those people. Don’t sand down the edges to make it palatable for everyone, because then it’s for no one.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://HustleCityClothing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hustlecityclothes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HustleCityClothing
- Twitter: https://x.com/HustleCitySTL
- Other: https://HCC314.com
