Merchandise & Commercial explained

In this post, we dive deep into the meaning of the TGF Paradox Long Sleeve and how we came up with the design. Also we discuss the importance of the time 2:55 and all the people that helped craft this idea along the way to make our first commercial. 

Giving further detail, when we first planned to make this new season to our merchandise none of the ideas stuck. We really wanted to make something impactful and that stood for us and incorporated our roots. A little time passed then bam! We thought of an idea that would focus on the preciousness of the time we have on this earth and split second moments that shaped our company as a whole. We wanted to play with the idea of time travel and the significance of those spilt second moments shaping our lives. A little more time had passed then we came up with the idea of going back and looking at the first action that got The Ghetto Flower to start. 

Giving more insight, The TGF Paradox Long Sleeve portrays our TGF character “Flower Man” going back in time to give Tayo (TGF CEO) the message to start the Ghetto Flower. The time on the watch reads 2:55 on the Flower Man’s watch, which is the time Tayo had tweeted which was the first action that got The Ghetto Flower to become what it is today (also to note the watch is the Flower Mans time traveling device). This long sleeve is coined the term “Paradox” because its message is a constant loop connected to the past and physical present.

As stated before, Tayo sent out a tweet at 2:55PM 3 years ago saying “If you are a like minded individual and would like to be apart of what I am crafting… DM ME YOUR EMAIL ASAP “ in which ultimately got The Ghetto Flower to start. We coined this tee the term paradox because without us looking up the time to make this shirt, (Which is the time Tayo had tweeted)

Would The Ghetto Flower be even a thing today? Thus, creating a loop in time. The present affecting the past and the past affecting the present. Time is not constant; it’s relative to your perspective. If your physical body was in the future would your perspective of time be considered the present? Time is ultimately an illusion but a split second can change your timeline forever, which is the main focal point of the merch and what we are trying to express in this campaign. Pretty much a movement to manifest time and don’t take it for granted with the actions you choose. Essentially with the whole idea of the design of the merch is that we are playing into the idea that The “Flower Man” in the shirt symbolizes us going back in time to give Tayo the message to start TGF but in the real world the action was us looking up the tweet instead of physically going back in time like the shirt suggests. It pretty much is a play on time travel and the meaning of a paradox.  

“A Collection about time”

When we thought of crafting a commercial, we really wanted to think of something that will catch peoples attention and is a short inviting thrill rather than a boring promotional piece. With our thought set on focusing about “Time” as the main component in our merch launch, we instantly thought of ideas of time travel and played around with the different scenarios of the present effecting the past. After we found a clear idea and lane to go down, we started crafting the look and design of the commercial. Hands down our biggest inspiration for this commercial was a close friend of TGF, Family Jordan. He definitely paved the way for us to make this commercial because we had seen a video that he dropped in which he used VFX to display his merch like we have done in this video. His video was so inspiring, we definitely took notice and wanted to pay homage and credit to were its due. But after we formulated the idea of using VFX in the commercial, we instantly got in contact with another close TGF friend Xray to take on the task of shooting this commercial and brining more brighter ideas to the table to make this commercial what it is today.  

We know this merchandise and commercial is very intricate and complex but one thing to always remember is that everyone perceives things at different times. If you don’t understand the full meaning, you will within time. We love all our supporters, friends, artists and everyone that made this idea jump off the page and actual physical concept.  

MUCH LOVE, TGF TEAM 

Credits

Art Direction:

Melissa Gutierrez

Photographer

Jonathan Killroy

Photography Shoot Design

Melissa Gutierrez

DJ King Inesse

Model

DJ King Inesse  

Music By

GOLD HAZE

Commercial Shot By

Xray Productions

Commercial Directed By

Q & Xray Productions

Commercial VFX

Jemma Tansley

 Commercial Inspired By

Jordan Castillo