It takes a bold mutherfucker to confidently rock a t-shirt with a beautiful scantily clad woman across the chest and it takes an even bolder mutherfucker to own and operate the company behind it. Seattle based TITS BRAND, more superbly known as Two in the Shirt is the invention of Marek Grubel. In less than four years, TITS has impressively and furiously found its way into mainstream streetwear and erotic culture with its racy designs of delicious models and adult entertainers. Engage in a conversation with Grubel, and it will only take minutes to feel his passion for the brand. According to him, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Take us back to when you conceived the idea for TITS brand.

TITS BRAND in my eyes was a needed brand at the time in the t-shirt graphic game. It was either skate or hip hop which created streetwear and no one was doing girls. Streetwear gave us the opportunity to start a brand that had a theme rather than selling tees based on logos.

How did you put the idea motion?

I created my logo, created 9 designs, set up the website, and had no fucking idea what I was doing. We launched the line at MAGIC in August 06’ and received lots of love from the smaller boutiques.

Back in the early-mid 90’s, streetwear brands like Fresh Jive, Fuct, Third Rail, & Pornstar were putting adult entertainers on their t-shirrs. What do you feel that you’re doing differently this time around?

I have never claimed to be the first to put girls on shirts, and luckily for me, those brands had already introduced a little bit of what I would later create a brand around. As far as doing it differently, we created a brand with a focus on just girls rather then having a few items in our line with the girls. We have never lost that focus and we have elevated design every season.

You actively show your line at adult trade shows like LA Erotica and AEE. Talk about the various synergies you recognize between street culture and the adult industry.

I see no synergies. The AEE crowd is a cooler toned down type of audience. The fashion/streetwear audience is a tough crowd. Everyone thinks they are cooler then the next guy. The difference between a porn convention and a streetwear convention is noticeably different in many ways. The adult crowd is cool because it’s a group of people soley there because of sex. I often feel like the streetwear crowd is a bunch of dudes admiring each other based on their shoes or hat. Personally, I like women to admire me because of my shoes or my hat!!!

Do you feel it’s important to be a part of the erotic community just as much as it is to be a party of the streetwear community?

I do, we feel like we have the type of brand that can expand into both niches and not conflict with one another.

You’re starting to produce more collaborative designs between cross-over artists & porn stars like Estevan Oriol, Evan Seinfield & Tara Patrick, and Revok1. Talk about this direction with the collabos and where you’re headed.

With our collaborations, we have luckily been in a situation of mutual admiration for each other’s works that make them a no brainer. We feel our brand hits so many audiences and doing these collaborations helps all involved to reach a new audience. With Estevan, I might reach a kid in east LA. With Revok, I might reach a kid in Australia that loves his work and vice versa.

What made sense for you in collaborating with our brand in creating the Sunny Leone TITS x YUHMM t-shirt series?

Sunny Leone is one of my personal favorites, which made her an easy choice. She is also a professional and easy to work with and that really fits the mold of what we do. The series will be one of the freshest collaborations yet.

Name some adult entertainers and/or other photographers/artists that you’d like to collaborate with in the future.

I would like to work with Jesse Jane on the porn side. In regards to photographers, Terry Richardson would be really cool. I look for obscure collabs that make sense but might not be the most obvious. I would love to do a collab with the SuicideGirls, but our ultimate collab would be Megan Fox. So, if your reading Megan, get at me!!!

We’ve seen some straight out knock offs of your designs by other brands. Some would call it flattery. What do you call it?

I consider it flattery. I also consider it marketing for our brand. What most brands don’t realize is when they knock us off, 2 things happen. 1) People know it’s a direct knock off and shit talk and 2) people thinks it’s a TITS shirt anyways. I hate that it happens, but it’s an open market. I have to trust that the buyers and the consumer is aware and will act/spend accordingly.

I know I get stares when I’m out in public with a TITS shirt on. How do you gauge how far you can take a design in terms of its explicit nature?

We push the envelope to a point, but that’s not to say that we wont cross that point eventually. No rules when designing for TITS BRAND.

We have seen some pushback from female labels creating designs that are apparently targeting your “Wifey” staple t-shirt. Do you feel that the design and messaging has a misconception of being misogynistic?

Again, more advertising for us, if you pop the word in Google and our shirt pops up along side theirs, only theirs is lower in the rank. Oh, and the designs by the hater women brands have no creativity. As far as being misogynistic, I feel anyone who thinks that is uncomfortable in their own skin. With more then 300k “Wifey” items sold, I highly doubt their opinion is in the majority. I know it is in the minority. Nuff said.

Music seems to be an important aspect of the company culture. Besides outfitting various artists with your clothes, do you see yourself playing a bigger role in the music game?

We are doing a big music project with a group called DYME DEF which is called ‘SEX TAPE’ and it is an album sexual in nature. What makes it unique is we are spinning shirt concepts from song themes/titles. If this business model proves to be profitable, we can apply this to any song/album.

Besides purchasing your products on-line at www.shoptits.com, where else can we find your line?

Every single country around the world, boutiques, malls, and your girlfriends closet.

What other types of products or innovations are you planning for the future?

TITS BRAND will be coming our with board shorts, beach towels, wallets, belts etc… as well as expanding our accessories line, but keeping our focus on our tee graphics.

Taste it:
twointheshirt.com