They may sell clothing, but don’t get it twisted, Good Posture is not a fashion house. It’s the lifestyle brand of Los Angeles Renaissance man Theo Martins. And the brand releases clothing outside of the typical fashion calendar because, as the man himself told me, “if everyone’s moving right, let’s move left.” For that reason, Theo has turned down essentially every store that has asked to stock Good Posture—he doesn’t just want to be “another brand in another store with another cool logo.” Instead he would prefer to be in his “own world.”
Martins has been in the spotlight basically forever. He appeared in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad at eleven and began DJ’ing starting at thirteen. As a solo musician, he has released two EPs, a mixtape, and an album. He also thrives behind the scenes. This year he opened a cereal bar in the back patio of streetwear store Virgil Normal to celebrate his favorite food, and in 2015, launched his first collection for Good Posture.
To Theo, “posture” is just another word for “taste”—which, in Los Angeles, is the ultimate currency. Theo attributes his own taste, about which he is not the least bit modest, to being raised by first-generation Nigerians in Providence, Rhode Island. West Africans, he tells me, are known for their beautiful color palettes, which inspired his vibrant Good Posture t-shirts and sweatshirts (Theo’s East Coast roots also infiltrate the newest collection in the form of gorgeous fleece jackets).
Growing up in a family of five, money was tight. Theo developed a classic uniform early, and with Good Posture he was committed to making tasteful products that were also affordable. During our conversation, he twice cited IKEA as an inspiration. When I asked about his favorite item in the collection, he surprised me by saying: “my brother.” The star’s 17-year-old younger sibling modeled some of Theo’s favorite items on the Good Posture website, including a Garfield T-shirt. Beneath a photo of his brother in his suburban home, Theo writes: “I don’t recall hearing about the story of first generation Africans living in America, but this is a start.”
I last interviewed Theo two years ago. He cited Kanye as a major influence and it showed—in his taste for metaphor and grandeur, his stream-of-consciousness expression, his typically shy demeanor punctuated by surprising moments of aggression. This interview revealed a slightly more subdued, Theo, but his passion and commitment to individuality remain ever-fierce. As Theo put it this time around, he derives “great enjoyment in fucking up the way people perceive things.”
When and how did you first conceive of Good Posture?
Good Posture was conceived, truly, in 2012 when I first came to LA. It was initially supposed to be a title for a project or an EP, but I just held on to it. I liked the title, because I was really just trying to express that I wanted to do things that were tasteful. Good Posture, not even relating to posture, was just like an outlook on life, where things were really nice, really clean, and just very reflective of my views on culture, society, music, and whatever. That’s where it came from.
So I never used it as a title for a project, I just started designing, and doing cool stuff. And I would put, “created by Good Posture,” and it would make me feel really cool. And from there, I just continued to grow it and I started making products. And that’s where we are.
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How did you make the dream into a reality? Were there roadblocks along the way?
Yeah, they were incredible. Initially, I think a lot of the roadblocks were really just the way I thought about success, and the way I thought about being a musician and a designer, because I do plenty of things. Growing up, people who did a lot of things were usually ridiculed, because you looked like you were a jack-of-all-trades. I truly knew that I was good at these things, but I felt very insecure to stand out there and to be straightforward and say, “Hey, I have a gift or a set of skills here, and I’m proud of them.” So, I would say that initially … I was my own roadblock.
And it took me just making some action, and really defining what I thought of success and redefining that daily. I still truly work at that daily even as an artist. Just really making sure that I sit with the things, and challenge myself to think progressively, and to think the way I want to, and trusting my ideas give me strength over those hurdles that a lot of us as creators fall into.
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What does “posture” mean to you?
Posture is just taste, truly. True, true, and true. It’s just taste. And it’s my taste on things and I believe that I have incredible taste. And so I just like to emphasize that into words. And also, I feel like when people look at everyone, it’s like, “It changes my posture.” That’s great, because it immediately calls for you to question yourself, and humans do that regardless. If you have a shirt that says, “Does my butt look big?” you may laugh at it, but you immediately think about yourself, and if you look big or if you look weird or whatever. It’s such a personal experience that we all have.
So to use that, and to at least challenge the way people think about it, it’s great. Like, I even have this “Posture Orthopedics” shirt, and I have a phone number on the back and it actually dials to someone who picks up the call and takes reservations or appointments for posture. And it’s more so of a long play into some things that we’re working on. Just, even the way that people even question it, like, “Posture? What is this?” It’s just something that I love. I love just really allowing people to think.
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Your website declares that Good Posture “seeks to echo the ethos of taste and style as the primary objective as opposed to price point.” Can you unpack this a bit?
So what I mean by that in layman’s terms is, growing up in a first-generation Nigerian family, my parents specifically, have impeccable taste. And with their music selection, and their choice in words, and their choice in foods, and their choice in friends. It was always like they were very rich in their tastes. But I’m the second of five kids, so finances were very slim, and I think it challenged each of us to be very, very mindful, not of just what we were taking in, but just the quality of what we had. I only had one outfit to pick in high school. And I would pick out a really nice Tommy Hilfiger denim jacket. We would frequently shop at T.J. Maxx, and that’s where I would get all of my outfits; there and the Gap. Because it was really affordable and they were really stylish and really tasteful.
And everyone would always ask where I got my clothes from, but I just had a uniform. It was denim and it was a T-shirt or it was really simple. And that resonated with me, because it’s important for me to be able to speak for “that kid.” And I realized that’s my voice, and I preferred to make really tasteful things. It goes along with the same posture thing, where it’s like, “I want to make really tasteful things where I could fuck up. I want to make tasteful things that are really, incredibly affordable. It’s like the way MUJI works to the way IKEA works is incredible and I love that, because everyone’s talking shit about IKEA but everybody’s got something from IKEA in their house.
And people say what they want to say, but the reality is, I just want to make really well done things, and really tasteful things, and just fuck up the perception that it has to cost a lot of money. That doesn’t mean it needs to be cheap, but it should be just tasteful. You don’t need to have a lot of money in order to be tasteful. I mean, that’s truly what the ethos of everything I do is. You don’t need a lot to do really good things. Like f*ck what these motherf*ckers are talking about. Sorry, I was trying not to curse, but whatever.
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Your website also explains that Good Posture works outside of the typical fashion calendar by releasing collections as they become available. Why did you decide to do things this way?
So, I just make very small collections, and I put it out. Because the minute that you want to expand or do something big, you need the help of other people, or you feel like you need to stay on point. What difference do I make if I’m doing what everyone else is doing? It’s like, “What do I want to do?” I just want to make the clothes, and I want to release them, that’s it. I don’t even want to have this big old grandiose show. It’s like, just give people what they’re asking for. And it’s such a concept that is foreign to people, but it’s honestly the way humans work. It’s the way everyone works on a very simple basis: someone says, “Hi,” to you, you say, “Hi,” right back. There’s no David Blaine tricks there.
So, just really, if everyone’s moving right, let’s move left. It allows us to stand out and be really innovative with our style, and it also is a good challenge. I like throwing myself into the mess a little bit to see how it would work out. And because of that, I’ve said no to every store that’s asked me to stock Good Posture. I’ve said no to a lot of opportunities, but saying no is truly, it’s what feels right. I don’t do it for the kicks. If I say yes, then I’m just sitting next to another brand in another store with another cool logo. I’m better than that. And that’s how I feel about myself when it comes to music, and when it comes to design and when it comes to DJing, I’m not interested in competing, because we’re in two different spaces. I would prefer to just really be in my own world, and create really impactful stuff. And the people who enjoy it do, and the people who don’t, that’s cool too.
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Where do you glean your inspiration?
I get my inspiration from Jerry Seinfeld, from my parents, from kids in neighborhood. Especially kids who like to appreciate the stuff that I do. And from my friends and my peers. We all can talk about stuff and make sure that we’re not going crazy, because we feel particular ways about the world and about what we’re doing. That’s really inspiring, because oftentimes it can feel a little bit lonely, where you’re like, “I don’t know if I’m tripping or not.” But to have those people around are what make you great.
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Who are your favorite designers right now?
Marc Jacobs is still top five for me. I think he’s incredible. I think Pharrell, on a taste level, has such great taste. And the stuff he does with Cynthia Lu, with Cactus Plant Flea Market is really innovative, and it’s cool, and that also challenges the way in which we look at design, and how we use it. I like Julian Conseugra from Stray Rats, he’s really great. Anwar Carrots is great. I mean, Charles Staunton from Virgil Normal is one of my favorite artists, I think he’s cool, he rides on his own wave. I mean we have the cereal bar there, too. I love people who are just really doing their own thing in such an innovative and unique way. And not really unique, it’s just, they’re doing what they want to do. I think that’s such a brave and such a beautiful thing.
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What is your favorite item in the current collection?
I mean, I think the favorite item’s my brother. I got to shoot him, and he’s like a spitting image of me when I was younger. He’s much more handsome, and much cooler. He’s so cool. And he asked to be in it and I was like, “All right, cool. I’m going to ship all these clothes tonight, and we’re going to shoot you in this collection.” And he was very excited, but he was my favorite piece. I love doing small, little things. We did some fridge magnets with the phone number on that you can call and talk to us. I did some Bic lighters, some race car stuff. I really enjoy everything that I make. Oh, the Garfield shirt is amazing, too, it’s like my favorite. And the daughter of the guy who voiced Garfield came to the pop-up to say that she loved the product, and bought some stuff. That was an incredible honor, and definitely emphasized, “Cool. We’re doing cool shit.”
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I love the fleece, but it’s kind of an interesting choice for an LA brand. Was it inspired by your East Coast roots?
Thank you for liking the fleece, that’s probably amongst my favorite pieces. I had sat on it for a year before I released it. Yeah, I definitely released that, because I was on the East Coast. I was in New York and I found a bundle of them, and I said, “You know, I’m going to make this and I’m going to put it out.” And the funny thing is I put it out and most of the people who bought it were from LA, which is crazy. I’m an East Coast kid at heart, and I think a lot of stuff growing up seemed like North Face, or like Mecca, FUBU, Tommy, Gap. Great use of color, like it’s either incredibly bold with your choices or you’re incredibly subtle, and I love straddling the line between having Posture out there or just never even noticing that it’s a shirt made by Good Posture and then you’re like, “Hm, that’s good.” And I feel like that’s very East Coast to me, I love that.
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I see that the Good Posture website has an “audio” section with a Soundcloud link to your music. Can you talk about the link between music and fashion for you?
Yes, darling. I’m a musician, as well. I design, as well. And we’re just creating our own world. I mean, I think as a musician, I struggled for a while, because I was trying to compete. And I was competing directly with people who were in a bigger system and had a different network, and it made me feel smaller. And I realized I had to apply my musicianship and my creativity with that, in my own world. But not try to … I opened a cereal bar, and it’s incredible, but I wouldn’t try and compare with a restaurant or another cereal bar, because the ethos of this space is completely different from anything else. And the minute I try to throw it in that water, it’s already corrupted, and it’s polluted, and it becomes invalid, so that’s it.
But, the audio section is really some stuff we’re working on, we have the Cereal & Such podcast. We do everything through Good Posture. There’s a record label that’s going to be launching with some music that I’ll be releasing this year. So it’s really just the umbrella, and more of the world that we’re spanning into of doing our own thing.
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When we last spoke about your work, you talked about your synesthesia. Does this impact your fashion design?
Yeah, we did speak about Synesthesia, that’s so true. I really hate to delve in that, because everyone talks about that as a way of sounding like they’re deep, but I love it. I’m very much color-driven and influenced, and I don’t care what’s in fashion, I don’t care what’s in style. Also, earlier another designer that I really admire is Virgil Abloh from Off-White. He’s a West African, too. He’s Ghanaian, I’m Nigerian, and I see so much of the usage of color in his work. And just, “anti,” in his work, just doing what he wants to do, and I appreciate him for doing that, because he does it on such a large scale, and still manages to make it work, and still manages to come alive, and that’s very few and far between. I don’t really see any first-generation Africans designers doing what he’s doing. So, for me it’s inspiring to see it. I don’t think people give him enough props, but he’s a good pal and I think he’s doing incredible work.
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Because you’re Theo Martins, you must have a billion creative projects going on. What else are you working on right now?
I mean, we just opened Cereal & Such, which is my own cereal bar. We serve cereal, tea, coffee, and we have a lot of cool social events here. It’s literally situated in the heart of Virgil Village. There is very bad parking on the street, there are cop sirens all the time. It’s very much in the neighborhood, and I love that, because we want to function as the mom and pop space, and the in-between space. We’re not trying to compete to be anything else other than a little beautiful place, which you can hang out at, and eat your food at, and converse with other like-minded people. I’m finishing some music. I’m doing some creative direction on some cool projects. I did something with Big Boi from Outkast. I was working with Lil Yachty as well. And so it’s cool to really sell ideas, and try stuff out, and get your ideas on other people and see how they respond to it.
Then what I’m just really focusing on: the space. We’re going to be recording a live episode of the Cereal & Such podcast. I’ll be releasing some music. I’ll be playing some live shows. I’ll be trying to relax. I don’t know, I’m just having fun, really. It’s all intuition-based and like, “I got to go hot.” It’s all about feeling, like how it feels, and that’s it.
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Who is the most stylish person to you?
I would say that my mom. She’s really cool. Her use of color at Nigerian events are Aśo, which is like Nigerian clothing. But the attire is always beautiful. I mean, most West Africans have such beautiful color choices and palettes. But, I love the way my mother dresses, she’s great. My oldest sister, Theresa, is one of my favorites, because she’s the one who really put me on to J.Crew and Gap and taught me how to tuck in my shirts when I was 17 and dressing real crazy. She was like, “Here, here’s J.Crew. These are colors you should look into.” And she’s always been very simple in her approach, like wearing a really nice cable-knit sweater and some jeans and a pair of flats, and I always loved that about her.
Who else? Who else is really stylish? My little brother, too. I think they’re great. My family’s great. I think my family has incredible style, I admire them. Even my dad. He doesn’t have bad style, but he’s very simple and I take that from him a lot. It’s like, “What are the basics?” I take his sense of style in the fact that he just likes good things, but he’s not trying to be complicated in his outfits. And that often results in some bad outfits on his part, but I take the ethos to that and when I make Good Posture, I want to wear clothes that makes me feel the best, and that are the most comfortable, and most straightforward. For me, it’s got to be clean and it’s got to be nice.
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What can we expect from Good Posture in the future? What is your dream for the brand?
Just more of what I’m doing. I don’t think it’s anything special. It’s just something at a level and we’re just working at it every day. So, more cool clothes and like cool collaborations. I’m doing something with Urban Outfitters this summer. What else am I doing? I mean, we’re going to do some cool stuff with Cereal & Such. And, the dream for the brand is really, I just want to be able to continue to do what I’m doing right now, on a larger, and larger, and larger scale.
Also, acting as well, too. Do another film or two. But yeah, my dream is just for the brand to continue to grow, and expand in such natural way. A great idea would be to be like IKEA, where it’s like you’re a private company, you have great ideas, you put forth great art. That’s it. No one questioned it. You don’t have to answer to nobody. You keep it moving. Be able to play cool shows, and put forth great art in a way that I define it.