The man behind the plan: Feaster connects fashion, music

Emanuel Feaster. (Special to The Panther)

 A lot of college students go off to school undecided on a major and what they will do after graduation.

When Rock Hill resident and Claflin junior Emanuel Feaster enrolled at Claflin University, he was no different.

His clothing line “Just Know: The Brand” is being worn in surrounding states, particularly by individuals ranging from ages 16 to 21. Whether it’s the signature bar code graphic T-shirt, the crewneck, or dad hats, it has the potential to be one of the next best brands.

Feaster was offered a chance to go to Atlanta this past October. While there, he was introduced to some up-and-coming Atlanta musicians and fashion designers. In attendance were Ian Connor and Playboi Carti.

“Being down there in the ‘A’ was a cool experience. I figured with me going down there, that would be a perfect way to gain exposure from my end and see what all I should be doing,” said Feaster, who at 20 has already begun making a name for himself in both South and North Carolina and some parts of Georgia.

He has been into fashion and clothing since the age of 13; and it was because of music.

His favorite clothing brands right now, beside his own, are Off-White and Fear of God: The Denim Company. Some brands of clothing he learned about from songs; he would then do research on the brand to gain further knowledge.

“This right here was completely self-interest,” he said. “Me and two of my homeboys started this group back in 10th grade. We called it J.A.D, an acronym for ‘Just Another Day,’ dedicated to things we liked and enjoyed doing almost every day, such as producing music, rapping and fashion interest. That’s how we met, just having the same interest,” he said.

A few months after beginning JAD, Feaster started the clothing line Just Know. Unfortunately, a few months after getting their T-shirts launched, Feaster lost a dear friend in a car accident.

“Franklin … Frankie. That was my boy. He was someone that started supporting the team and me from the first day. I always felt like he was one of us, you know? He would tweet about the brand when all we had was T-shirts, bump our music, and anything else he could do to support, he did. He was a real one, real friend,” Feaster said. “After he passed, that was a wakeup call to us that let us know life is short and everything we do, we got to make count. That made us go harder.”

His fashion career began taking off the beginning of his senior year in high school by selling products such as T-shirts and hoodies to fellow classmates and school students of the surrounding areas. As they began to gain more support, his social media followers started to increase, more of their music received play throughout the city and more merchandise was being purchased. He started gaining more notoriety.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I got here. However, I knew with us going off to school, this would be better for the brand. Every one of us is doing what we must do. With me, starting up the fashion part of our brand, I’m constantly down here in Orangeburg; networking.

“I’m just trying to get bigger and better with more exposure. I eventually chose business as my major because I knew it’s a few ways you can go with that. I’ve learned ways to tie business and the brand together, because at the end of the day, all it is is business and a lifestyle as well,” Feaster said.

Upon graduating high school, the crew split up into three different cities: Columbia, Orangeburg and Spartanburg. You have everything dealing with music being handled in Columbia; the clothing line, networking, and marketing is being run in Orangeburg, and the creative designs are operated out of Spartanburg.

In October 2016, Feaster had what he calls to this day a “slight break.” While at a pop-up shop in downtown Atlanta, he met then-upcoming rapper 21 Savage and his producer Metro Boomin’ that day before being introduced to upcoming rapper Playboi Carti that night after a show.

“That night was one of the best nights of my life. That whole day as a matter of fact. We took about seven crewnecks, five hoodies and several dad hats to Atlanta,” Feaster said. “I went to Lil Yachty’s pop-up shop wearing my merchandise. It was actually his producer Burberry Perry that was feeling it. He ended up talking to us and telling Yachty about it before we sold a shirt to him and a crewneck to Burberry.”

For now, Feaster is focused on expanding the brand and more importantly graduating from college with his degree in business.

“I got to graduate college. I would be the first in my immediate family in a while to do that. I’m still going hard with the brand, but education is important and graduating is a must,” he said.