Johnny Cupcakes is "Applicant of the Week" at Inc., partners with The Hundreds

The man of the hour, Mr. Johnny Cupcakes
Johnny Cupcakes photo by me

John Earle, better known to us as Johnny Cupcakes, is Inc.'s Applicant of the Week for the 2009 Inc. 500 | 5000 (click here for more info). For those who don't know the Johnny Cupcakes story, here's their recap:

After dropping out of college in 2000, Earle worked at both a silk screening shop and a record store, where he acquired the nickname "Johnny Cupcakes." While making shirts at the silk screening shop for the metal band he was in, he made a couple of shirts with "Johnny Cupcakes" written on them as a joke, replacing popular icons like the skull and crossbones with cupcakes. The shirts turned out to be immensely popular with coworkers and customers, and eventually, Earle sold so many he was able to quit his job and sell shirts full-time.

"One person would tell ten people, and ten people would tell a hundred," says Earle. "Word spread fast, and the shirts developed this cult following." Earle then took the shirts to trade shows, where he received offers from Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom, Hot Topic, and Macy's, but decided not to sell. "As much as I want the entire world to see these t-shirts I created, I'd made a lot of sacrifices—broken up with my girlfriend, left my band, dropped out of school—and I wasn't about to sell my soul just to make some quick money."

With a strong aversion to selling out, Earle continued to sell his limited-edition t-shirts online, and opened stores in Hull, Mass. in 2005, Boston's Newbury Street in 2006, and Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles in 2008. He takes a special pride in his unique shirts, an emphasis on personal attention to detail, and the inclusion of his family and friends in his strictly independent business that still relies on the rapid word-of-mouth.

"I'll sit down with my customers, take them out to eat, hang out at the shop with them. You don't see Ralph Lauren or Marc Jacobs playing kickball or eating pizza with their customers," he says. "When these kids camp out for days to get limited edition shirts, my own mom will go out with brown bag lunches to hand them out to customers. My sister will give out freeze-pops. I want to give people something to talk about. I want them to feel something when they walk into my stores."


Speaking of Mr. Cupcakes (exclusive video interview with him is coming soon!), he's collaborated with t-shirt company The Hundreds for their new hardcore line:

The Hundreds Hardcore Johnny Cupcakes t-shirt

According to High Snobiety: "The t-shirts will be released on May 28th at The Hundreds LA and SF in store."

And also via High Snobiety, a cute graphic:

The Hundreds vs. Johnny Cupcakes

And interesting tidbit from the High Snobiety interview: (note from Rachel: I have witnessed this firsthand!)

Jeff: Is there still an good amount of foot traffic coming into the stores who are not familiar with your brands?

Johnny: Oh yeah. Every day we have people coming in looking for food. You cant tell that we don't sell food. It says "Johnny Cupcakes." Its too big a store to sell t-shirts. Its smells like food. Employees wear aprons. People carry food boxes. People stand outside and debate about it up to five minutes. "Lets just wait and see what happens." Some people get really mad. I've had grown ass men with kids who come into my store and say to my face I'd like to see this place last more than a month. "Good luck. You're gonna need it."

They just get really mad that they got tricked walking into my store and there was no food in there.

Everyone loves food in America and its kinda cool that the store is disguised and tricks people. About 80% of the people thinking its food end up leaving with something.

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